reThink - A Book For Parents, Not Just Pastors

Because of our moving around over the years, our children have been involved in a variety of youth ministries. While most of the time our children have found them fun, my husband and I have questioned where the focus was in some of the groups. It seemed to be more on games, social outings and improving outreach attendance than on sharing the gospel and discipling teens.

At the same time, it’s been easy to pick out the children whose parents have emphasized the importance of God and discipleship in His truths at home. Their conduct is often in stark contrast to those whose parents have dropped theirs off, looking for wholesome religious activities and perhaps a babysitting service for their potentially wayward son or daughter.

So when someone recommended I read the book reThink by Steve Wright, I wondered what light this youth pastor could shed on the observations my husband and I had already made. After all, the book is addressed to other youth pastors, encouraging them to reevaluate the model their ministry is based on.

Turns out, reThink is a darn good read for parents of students of all ages. It does a great job of laying a biblical foundation that parents are the ones with the primary responsibility of teaching their children about God, His salvation message, and living the life of a devoted Christ follower. The church, with its youth pastors, student ministries and culturally relevant activities, needs to work toward bringing parents on board by equipping them with how to carry out their God-ordained mission.

The book first sounds the alarm, quoting both secular and Christian-based research showing just how many children are leaving the faith after graduating high school or college. The numbers are scary. Scarier yet is the conflict many churches feel between being culturally relevant and biblically faithful. The question is put point-blank: has it become more important to be trendy than to present the Word?

This is not a book that presents a problem and then walks away from it. I love the way reThink champions the family and provides a model for the church to partner with parents. Steve Wright discusses how to plan, organize and navigate the transitions necessary for reshaping both student ministry and parental discipleship.

reThink is an enjoyable book, written from a youth pastor’s perspective but capturing a much wider audience. If you want to know what you should be collaborating on with your church, this is it.