Youth ministers were once missionaries, meeting teenagers where they gathered in schools, malls, and parking lots. But over the past decade, something changed. Youth workers have struggled to connect with anxious kids glued to their phones and have found themselves filling the role of therapist for adolescents coming of age on the internet.
We need a new approach. A veteran in youth ministry, Andrew Root explains how the church got here—and why soothing teenagers hasn't alleviated their mental health crisis. It is not their inner lives but their relationships that need mending, Root argues. Youth workers can guide young people toward true connection and healing through art rather than through therapy and medication.
Providing both robust theology and practical solutions, Does Youth Ministry Have a Future? is indispensable for pastors, youth workers, and campus ministers serving the anxious generation.
