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Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church

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I am shocked that this book has not received a review yet. Dean does a masterful job in her book locating youth ministry practice in theology, rather than in popular methods of education or developmental theory. She does use developmental theory to ground her theology, but it is theology that drives her book. I am convinced that youth ministry needs to become much more theological and jettison the pragmatic methods in order to become faithful to the gospel. Dean outlines an approach to youth ministry that intertwines the passion found in almost every young person with the Passion of Jesus Christ. A wonderful book that is well-deserving of your time if you are invovled in youth ministry.

Be warned: this book is fairly academic in tone and style. It has extensive footnotes and was originally written as a Masters thesis. So, this is not a light, easygoing read. But if you are unfamiliar with the academic genre, this book is worth taking the time to read. Also, Dean comes from a mainline background, so some of her references and assumptions might be unfamiliar to those outside the mainline tradition.

A worthwhile read. Every full-time youth pastor should read this book.

In a nutshell: 1. Mainline denominations are having trouble reaching youth. 2. Youth are passionate people. 3. The gospel is fundamentally about passion -- Christ's passion. 4. Our churches lack passion. 5. Solution for reaching youth boils down to the church becoming passionate about the gospel.

But Dean says all this much better than I do. Listen to this (p. 25): "What if mainline Protestantism's disappointing track record with young people (in and beyond the church) has not been primarily a failure of models, educational strategies, historical cycles, or institutional support, but a failure of theology? Is it possible that the "problem" facing youth ministry reflects all too accurately a malaise infecting mainline denominations generally: a flabby theological identity due to an absence of passion? That would be ironic. Most young people come to us brimming with passion. Could it be that, instead of fanning this youthful zeal into holy fire, we have more often doused it, dismissed it, or drowned it in committee meetings? The theological challenge youth pose to the church is blunt: Are we who we say we are? Do we practice passion, transformed by a Love who never disappoints, and live by a faith so convincing that we stake our lives on it? Or are we just another sagging social convention, like Dracula, that needs young blood to survive?"

The whole book is written with that much passion. Dean argues, passionately, that if we are to speak meaningfully to youth, we must first connect the passion of Christ with the passion of youth. When that happens, the result is a passionate faith.

Care about youth? Care about the state of the church? Read this book. Yesterday.

This book is one of the best I've read on what is truly at stake and essential in youth ministry. It does come with a warning though: One adult volunteer I gave it to found it overwhelming at first read. So I highly recommend it for those in the field and in the habit of talking about these things, but recommend perhaps wading in with some other ones (maybe The Godbearing Life, which Dean co-authored) before tackling this one. But do reach that point, if you at all can.

Kenda Creasy Dean explores an area most youth workers do not want to go near - The passion of teenagers, the search to find something worth dying for. This is not an easy read or a step-by-step roadmap, but challenges the concepts on which we base youth ministries.

Dean's thesis is that our churches lack passionate youth because we are not passionate about the death of Christ for our sins and his resurrection (i.e., His passion). It goes as follows:
1. The Passion of Christ shows God's passion.
2. Youth who understand this lives passionate lives that bring God glory
3. Our youth are not living passionate lives which bring God glory
4. Therefore, we must not be emphasising the gospel; the Passion of Christ as we should be.

I wholeheartedly agree with the direction this author is trying to take and welcome such a refreshing voice that believes that youth groups should be about more than pizza parties, they should be gospel centred in preaching as well as practice.

The reason I only gave this book containing this great thesis is as follows:

1. I had hoped to be able to give this book to my youth leaders, but the style is too long and scholarly. It could have been said in much fewer pages as she seems to bring up the same ideas more than once. I believe that this book was her thesis paper converted into a book. It does not easily lend itself to group reading outside of academia.

2. The author does not deal with scripture very much at all. I found this unusual since the book was calling us to theological depth in emphasising the atonement. I believe that one cannot be truly successful in developing a Christian theology for youth ministry unless the ideas are cultivated from Scripture. That is not to say I believe her ideas heretical, they are (mostly) biblical. It's just that the reader is forced to take Dean's good ideas as just that, speculative ideas. If she had interacted more with scripture the reader could have walked away with a greater confidence knowing the thesis is based on revelation and not mere speculation.

I liked what she is saying and recommend the book to those who have time to read and are engaged in leadership positions in youth ministry.

Creasy Dean writes at a time when the Church is declining, when people do not find the Church attractive any more and when the world around us is offering, with passion, unreliable solutions for problems, while the Church is loosing its passion and therefore its people.
She shows a real concern for the passionless Church that has no power to attract passionate youth to its life and most of all has no solution for the young passionate hearts that are searching for "something to die for".
This is a very complex book written with a highly academic style and the roots of her book are based in theology. She is able to find logical and theological solutions for issues that youth are dealing with, in today's society, and all of her solutions are closely related to Christian Passion, in fact to Jesus Christ's Passion. She is placing the youth ministry with all its vulnerabilities in practical theology in stead of looking for the available secular options.
Creasy Dean stresses that in order to have a live Church there must be a live group of youths that are involved in the life of the Church, and in order to have this, the Gospel must be preached with passion, the Church activities must have a motivation and passion at least equal to youth passion, and that passion is found in Christ's passion alone.
Since the adolescent age group, is the most vulnerable age group of mankind, is the age group where the personal identity is formed, and youths are desperately searching for something worth living for or something worth dying for, they want to "love something worthy of suffering, and to be so loved" (p.2).
As adolescents are trying out many different types of passion, they very often end up being badly hurt and suffering consequences that may last for years, Creasy Dean is promoting the only valid type of passion "who is really worthy of sacrifice, who really does love us selflessly and extravagantly - the Love who never disappoints, who will not let them down, and who will not go away" (p 20) and this is not just any type of passion or a very special passion, is the passion of Jesus Christ.

In the first section of the book, "Shared Passions", Creasy Dean is showing the power of Christ's passion as subversive, as something to die for. She is pursuing a line of passionate love, a love that motivated Jesus Christ to come and die for humans; and now the challenge that she puts before us is to love and serve Christ unconditionally, "because if Jesus isn't worth dying for, then he's not worth living for, either" (p 32).
Adolescents have very often been involved with the "wrong crowds", and than end up suffering for the wrong passions and not only the youth from "bad homes" or from areas with integration and/or social-economic problems but youth from all social classes end up in a very difficult state, and that is due to the fact that they are not exposed and introduced properly, to the only passion that will match their passion, Jesus Christ's passion. By contrast, "Adolescents who develop Christian identities really are menaces to society. An adolescent who knowingly shares in the freedom of God, who participates in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, inevitably unmasks culturally accepted forms of domination, greed, and fear" (p 34)
Creasy Dean is saying that if the Passion of Christ is loosing its intensity in Christian theology or "if the Christian risk factor - the Cross- were to fade from the forefront of Christian Education" (p 36) than Christians will not be able to withstand the pressure of alternate passions that are being promoted everyday on our door steps, at schools, playground and even in the Church.
On the other hand, some Churches have tried to downgrade their theological standards, the importance and uniqueness of the Cross, in an attempt to be more relevant to the society and by doing that they have also downgraded their passion in ministry and their passion in Christian practices. As a result, they failed to help youths fulfil "their need not only to hope for the future, but to be forgiven in the present; their acceptance not only of Christian love, but of Christian oddity", and that is because "without a doctrine of sin, divine-human reconciliation was unnecessary, allowing ministry to convert divine passion into a form of righteous energy directed toward human reconciliation" (p 45).
In their search for identity, adolescents are confronted with various public characters, which might seem as the "ideal person to be like" and they start copying, entering a process of identification, only to realise soon or later that have been let down and disappointed. Creasy Dean comes and rightly suggests that the only person worthy identifying with, that will never "let down", that will never cause disappointment, that will always "be there", is Jesus Christ.
Now, those adolescents that wish to identify with Christ enter a process of transformation in order to identify their passion with Christ's passion until Christ's love and passion is reflected by their lives and His will of spreading the Good News is fulfilled.
Through out the history there has been a conflict between generations in the church, but there has been a greater conflict between adolescents and the older generation, and that is due to the fact that the passionless Church has a problem with passionate youth. As the youth passion is a vulnerable "burning passion" which requires the same kind of passion in response, is true to say that youth many times make sinful mistakes even in their process of identifying with Christ and the Church tends to associate sin with passion.
As the process of identity with Christ's passion goes on, youth encounter another problem: the lack of identification and as a quick response to that problem they "borrow" personalities, "thoughts and feelings from those around us who seem more competent and in control, or whom we admire or even fear and than substitute their thoughts and feelings for our own" (Mass Robin p 62)
A passionate Church will always have the ability, resources and determination to allow youth with their natural passion to identify with Christ's passion. "When the passions of adolescence meet the Passion of Christ, a figure-ground shift takes place: the developing ego moves back in order to make space in the foreground for the passion of God" (p 69) and that is all a passionate Church will ever dream to have from their youth.

The second section of the book, "Dimensions of Passion", deals with the "Divine Passion" which is revealed as "God's Fidelity", "Transcendence" and "Communion" that addresses the adolescent's desire for "Steadfastness", "Ecstasy" and "Intimacy" which meets their developmental needs for "Acceptance", "Feeling part of Greatness" and "Camaraderie".
It is absolutely truth to say that all of us are "longing for fidelity", but for youth in their developing stages fidelity is valued more than anything else. A passionate Church with a passionate youth group must have a few people that will correctly fill the need of "being there" for youth in their times of struggle as well as in their times of victory. If the Church is not there to fill this need for youths, than they will go outside the Church to find someone that will be ready to listen and "be there" even if they have Christ who is there for them and will never disappoint, but as Creasy Dean says they need a "community of affirming, others must "be there" for them, demonstrating steadfast love on their behalf" (p 77).
Youth "longing for fidelity" is so demanding, that they would expect the person they trust to be there for them in any moment of need, still, even if the person they trust is 100% dedicated, there will come a time when that person will not be there in the hour of need and youth must learn that ultimately is God's fidelity they need.
Adolescents often trust their inexperienced feelings, allowing feelings to direct their judgement and based on that position they validate various Christian activities. If they are in ecstasy while worshiping it will automatically come under the heading that God is present and active in their worship, therefore Christianity is valid.
These moments of ecstasy are like a two-sided knife, it can do well, but at the same time can be a dangerous ground due to the risk of feeling manipulated by ecstatic experiences, and this may make them to run away from anything that might look or fell mystical and mysterious.
In their "longing for transcendence" youth with an impatient passion will realise "after many false starts... that not just any ideology will do; not all truths are equally trustworthy, not all causes are "to die for", not all gods offer fidelity that invites our own" (p 109). Creasy Dean suggests that adolescents will always want someone to communicate with, to be attached to, to care for, to be there for them, to express their passion with, to be in fact connected to and although sex is not their aim, in order to get the required fulfilment of fidelity and intimacy, it might end up with sex believing that it will satisfy their soul emptiness. Some will, probably, tacitly force the "hand" of their partner by having sex only to have the assurance that the partner will not leave.
But without the right passionate Church, that will gently lead youth along the way of knowing Jesus Christ in a personal and intimate way, in their "longing for communion" may end up with loads of physical experiences and with an emptiness in their souls, that will make them lose the trust in themselves and people around them and with a great danger that the emptiness they experience might never be filled.
The book demonstrates that the adolescent hearth is "longing for communion" (spiritual friendship), and if the Church is not there to fulfil that need then youths will try and fill the gap with secular apparently matching responses to their needs.

Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean offers a provocative challenge to the church: do ministry and "be" a church which pursues the passion of every generation. The passion of Jesus Christ was the event which changed the course of human history. Dean offers tremendous insight into what that means for us to day in the church. Dean suggests that there is untapped passion in the lives of students and these students are already between the walls of the church. If we want them to stay there, we need to engage their passion. The passion which can lead them in ways that we can only dream about is the passion which comes from a faith in Jesus Christ. This book will help youth pastors, pastors, parents, educators, and anybody who loves students catch a vision for a church that will change the world by witnessing to the love of Jesus Christ. This will require the sacrifice of some of what we hold dear, but then again...is not that the call of Christ. This is a must have volume for your shelf. Read it, know it, learn it, and then live it.

Maybe I'm slightly biased, but it seems that everything that Kenda puts out is gold. Kudos and a fantastic book. Prepare for a great read, you won't want to put this one down.

Practicing Passion: Youth And The Quest For A Passionate Church by Kenda Creasy Dean is a refreshing view of youth ministry that inspires readers to search out passion in ministry. Kenda Creasy Dean asserts that passion is a key component of adolescence. She sees passion as an important way for youth to relate to Christianity as a whole as well as to a church's congregational life. Dean roots her preaching of passion in theology by observing that "passion is the point at which adolescent experience and Christian theology intersect (56)." Typically there is a negative assessment of passion in relation to youth culture, where sowing wild oats is looked down upon. However, Dean believes that this passion can be rerouted, harnessed and then be a used as a valuable tool for youth ministry.

Teens have trouble connecting to Christianity because they view it as nice hobby rather than a passion that stirs our emotions and deserves a radical response. Dean wants church members and leaders to lead teens into valuable experiences to teach them that Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus and this relationship is one which is worth dying for. This relationship of getting to know Jesus Christ as Lord and sharing in his passion will in turn lead teens to life a passionate life. Dean stresses that adults must also be engaged and allow themselves to experience a passionate life. Youth will see the passion within their leaders' lives and want to share in that meaningful experience.

Dean seeks to teach church leadership to be agents of God to help form the spiritual lives of the youth within the church. The youth minister should be involved in the process but should not be the lone worker seeking to shape the lives of the youth in the congregation. The whole community of Christians must join in to shape the spiritual lives of the youth within a church. Dean asserts that the youth should know that they are an integral part of the church rather than a separate entity that will one day graduate into being a part of the church.

In order to encouraging churches to show fidelity to youth by being there for them and with them, Dean urges churches to avoid the "one eared Mickey Mouse Model of Ministry" where the youth group is attached to the church only on the peripheries. However, perhaps unintentionally, that particular model seems to be the one that most churches gravitate toward. The "one eared Mickey Mouse Model of Ministry" is a picture with two circles, one big (like Mickey's head) and a smaller one on the periphery (Mickey's ear). The big circle represents the church body, or adult church; while the small circle represents the youth group. The representation serves the purpose of drawing attention to how many churches seek to allow their youth ministry and church body as separate and apart from each other. Regrettably many churches unwittingly engage in this model of youth ministry which robs the youth of the church from valuable formation from being incorporated into the church body as a whole.

Dean stresses that teens must be able to witness the passion of church members from all ages in order for their maturation process to be holistic. Youth ministry that is separated from the body of the church (like the Mickey Mouse ear) will ultimately be incomplete and thus be more prone to minister burn out and frustration. Youth ministry that involves the entire community of faith in forming the spiritual lives of youth by incorporating them into the passionate story of faith will be able to survive the tests of the world and live within the fidelity of the Church. The world constantly tempts youth to find solace in passions of the flesh which contradict the passions of the spirit which are found in the body of faith.

Dean continually reminds the church that youth are inherently filled with passion and so ministry to youth must acknowledge that passion and seek to fill it with the passionate story of Christ. Teenagers must have something positive to fill their passions with because in there development into adulthood they are seeking a life of love, being loved and loving. Youth actively seek out passionate experiences. The Christian life is one which can be full of passion that is directed toward a life of discipleship following after the example of Jesus. Churches that have the passion of Christ at their core will be more apt to incorporate this passion into the youth within it. Such a life of passionate faith will not only resonate to youth in today's culture, but will also inspire adults who live within our postmodern age who seek emotive responses to faith as well as rational. Adults within the church are sure to be interested in what Dean portraits as passionate faith relationship which is intimately connected to the passion and ministry of Jesus.

Dean does an excellent job of expressing that adolescents are formed by being involved and included within a passionate community of faithful believers. Dean rightly notes that youth seek the company of people who live bold lives full of passion. Youth within a church will take notice when its church body puts a strong emphasis on a passionate life in relationship with Jesus. Teens will see this passion expressed in the daily lives and action of the church body. However teens will also be acutely aware if passion is only given lip service to and never attained.

Youth have a sense about them for honesty and if they sense the church is in any way false or simply blasé in their faith claims, they will seek to fulfill their hunger for a passionate life elsewhere. Youth inherently seek out faith which desires to live in deep relationship with a community and with Jesus. This heightens the importance of the church body for the spiritual formation of the youth within their church by including them in the body and thus supplying them with the identity inherent to the church. By finding their identity within the passionate church this will in turn help to fan their flame of faith and enable them to ignite a passionate, faithful life.

Dean expresses the ideal situation within the book which may intimidate some ministers who feel they themselves have lost a bit of their once youthful passion. However it is encouraging to all ministers who seek to work with youth to be ever vigilant in seeking out ways to understand, engage and contextualize the pre-existing passions of youth so that they can be used to help form their faith, rather than serve as a detriment to faith building.

In Practicing Passion Kenda Creasy Dean addresses an integral part of youth ministry that tends to be over looked. Dean communicates a new way of participating in youth ministry by establishing the dimensions of Passion. She asserts that the core longings within youth for passion are seen in their longing for fidelity, transcendence and communion and they can find these this perfectly in God as well as being part of a community of faith who strives to imitate these traits. Dean asserts that a church without passion is like an amputee with the phantom pains of passionate suffering which motivates us to service.

Dean dispels that youth ministry's primary purpose is to ensure the church of tomorrow. Instead it must create a place where passion is transferred from those who posses a passionate and vibrant faith to those who seek it. Dean asserts that "the passions of young people serve as signs of a deeper, human longing for love that is most fully addressed by the Passion of the Christ". (15) Dean admonishes the church to serve as a community of disciples that display Christian disciplines and practices which act as scaffolding for the new faith that is being formed within youth. Adult Christians who display passion within their lives serve as living evidence of a life redeemed and become messengers who embody the message of grace.

By being consistently present in the lives of youth, adult leaders teach their students about the fidelity of God within the Christina life. Passion can be taught to youth thru avenues that relate to their world such as play, sabbath, and worship. Youth can quench their thirst for intimacy only within the passionate life found within love received and given to God. Youth realize innately that our creator knows the recesses of the youthful heart better that anyone else.

By teaching youth the paradox of the transcendence of God and that God still maintains imminence with the church leaders can instill a sense of awe within youth that will provide fuel necessary for a full passionate Christian life. The Church bears the responsibility to teach and display lives that display the power of the cross. Their influence can incite fervor within new believers that will lead youth to proclaim the grace they received. Passionate youth are vibrant witnesses of Christian faith who obsessively seek to carry on the tradition of practicing passion.