Purpose-Driven® Youth Ministry

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Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry is an easy-to-read textbook on youth ministry by a proven professional. Drawing from the same principles as Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church, Fields (who is Warren’s youth pastor at Saddleback Community Church) gives the foundational principles for youth ministry, explaining the different stages of faith commitment in adolescents, and providing strategies for a complete youth ministry.
Good: This book is an easy read, and doesn’t require theological or professional ministry experienceto understand, and yet is thorough. Any person who has basic relational skills and a heart to reach kids will be set to go after reading this book.
Bad: Fields is constantly uses lists and acronyms to teach his points. Examples: the different stages of faith commitment (core, committed, congregation, crowd, and community); spiritual lifestyle H.A.B.I.T.S. (hang time with God, accountability with another believer, Bible memorization, involvement with the church body, tithing commitment, study of the scripture); his method for discovering spiritual gifts called S.H.A.P.E. (spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences). A little of this goes a long way, and if you try to take it in too quickly it will fry your brain.
Opinion: This is the best book on youth ministry that I’ve read. Fields leaves no bases uncovered, from working with parents to handling discipline. I wish I had read this book before my first youth pastorate. It would have saved me many mistakes.
Best Quote: Two come to mind, but they’re related to the same thing: “Leadership separates a purpose-driven youth ministry from an event-and-activity-driven youth ministry.” The second one is this: “Better to have two high-standard student leaders than fifty students who want to plan activities while they live any lifestyle they please.”