Deep Ministry in a Shallow World: Not-So-Secret Findings about Youth Ministry (Youth Specialties) (Paperback)

by Chap Clark (Author), Kara Powell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Whether you re struggling to make anything work in your youth ministry or finding that most things are clicking along, this book will help you develop a practical theology to ask what is happening, what should be happening, and how you can make it happen. Each chapter is followed by discussion questions to help you process in a group or on your own.

From the Back Cover
Deep Ministry in a Shallow World will show you a new way to prayerfully reflect on the questions you face in your youth ministry every day so you can find the answers that will take it to deeper places. That’s because authors Chap Clark and Kara Powell have gathered significant research findings that will help shift your ministry paradigm.

Did you know that:

• the typical strategies we use to build relationships with kids might actually cause them to trust us

less because of what this generation has endured?

• recent research on communication could help us move past the witty talks and funny stories we work so hard to develop and instead actually connect the Bible to kids’ lives?

• studies show that offering students “just Jesus” and not helping them at home, school, and in their neighborhoods might not help them very much at all?



The authors’ research also led to their development of the Deep Design problem-solving process—a revolutionary model that will give you better tools than ever before to address every last issue you’ll encounter in youth ministry.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310267072
• ISBN-13: 978-0310267072
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #453,834 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome! Must read!, March 2, 2007

By	Howard J. Snyder "youth pastor howie" (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Okay, I have to say that after the first couple of chapters I wasn't overly impressed. But once they started to apply the principle to each of the cases in subsequent chapters, it blew me away. I would say this is a MUST READ for those in youth ministry today, if you want to have a Deep Impact in the midst of most ministry examples out there that don't get past the shallow stage.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU MUST READ THIS, December 1, 2007

By	Luke E. Price "cmguitars" (Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book with many good ideas. I didn't like it at first but as I read more of it I realized that the reason their method works is because it molds to your individual youth ministry. Unlike Purpose Driven Youth ministry which gives Field's layout this book helps you create your own layout that matches your Ministry perfectly. It's a must read more so than Purpose Driven.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deep Program Evaluation, September 29, 2007

By	M. Cleaver "youth minister, amateur theologian" (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Co-written by Chap Clark and Kara Powell of Fuller Theological Seminary, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World: Not-So-Secret Findings about Youth Ministry hits its target of providing youth workers with a resource to help them deepen their ministries. The book takes the discipline of practical theology and cloaks it in terms that will allow youth workers to put it into practice.

The authors contend that most ministries compensate for a lack of depth by implementing at least one of three flawed solutions: by doing more of the same thing, doing what worked for someone else, or by doing whatever they found in a book. These changes typically fall short because of the various variables relating to context, expectation, or surface-level change. Rather than prescribing how to do youth ministry, Clark and Powell offer a strategy for discerning what to do within a specific ministry context.

Drawing on theory taken from practical theology, four steps are offered: 1.) Evaluating where you currently are in ministry 2.) Reflecting on scripture, history, research, and experience to open up some new and creative options 3.) Examining how others address the situation you are faced with (without simply copying their program) and 4.) Deciding how you will take your ministry deeper by using insights gained in steps 1-3. Once the new strategy is implemented, you find yourself back at step one with the need to re-evaluate if you met the goals that were set out at the beginning. This practical theology loop allows for constant refinement and evaluation of a ministry. The book offers multiple examples of how one might go about using their method in areas such as mentors, mission trips, and worship.

From reading the title and the description, I expected a book that hit a little harder on the topic of overall youth ministry philosophy. Those who are looking for such a book will be disappointed. The book primarily focuses on purposeful program evaluation, and it does a good job of that. If you intend to use this book for the purpose for which it was written, you should not be disappointed. Clark and Powell should help countless ministries begin the trek out of the shallow end and towards a Deep Ministry.