Abandoned

 

If we want to reach them with the Gospel, we must know them. But just when we think we know them … BAM! … reality hits and we realize that a culture changing at breakneck speed is changing adolescents just as quickly. And if we don't keep up with the change, we wind up clueless. A new book from my good friend Chap Clark serves to remove the blinders and drop the scales from our eyes by taking us on an eye-opening, practical and hope-filled journey into the real place where our teens live. Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Baker Academic, 2004, ISBN # 0-8010-2732-2) is a wonderful and deeply insightful book "for those who are willing to consider how life is different for today's high school students compared with past generations."

 

If you've been around youth ministry for any amount of time, then you're already familiar with Clark. He's a youth worker, seminary professor, academician, and a man of deep and mature faith who writes out of his years of experience with kids in a manner that reflects sound scholarship. The book's compelling and engaging content come from Clark's many years working with teens. But at its core is what he learned when he functioned as a "participant observer" during his six months as a substitute teacher at Crescenta Valley High School. Clark calls readers to understand the changing adolescent world, particularly the causes of adolescent hurt and reality of "systemic abandonment"—what he labels "the defining issue for contemporary adolescents." But Clark doesn't stop with a diagnosis of the problem. He goes further by offering valuable strategies to turn the tide of systemic abandonment, yielding a book that helps parents, youth workers and educators understand and minister to students.

 

- Walt Mueller

 

 

The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding grants permission for this article to be copied in its entirety, provided the copies are distributed free of charge and the copies indicate the source as the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.

 

For more information on resources to help you understand today's rapidly changing youth culture, contact the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.

 

                ©2004, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding