Customer Reviews

Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide...

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Maybe I'm the odd one out: it looks like I'm the first to not give Joiner's book 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon reviews. Although written well enough to be easily accessible and readable, with many good insights and some inspiring stories, there are other books now available which have deeper theological and Biblical grounding for inviting a transformational understanding of children, youth and family ministry for the 21st century.

Joiner mostly uses a traditional, didactic, pedagogic model of youth ministry while citing some creative divergences from traditional archetypes. But, he seems to hesitate in fully partnering with families so that the church's FIRST call is the spiritual development of ADULTS, moms and dads, so that parents have the spiritual maturity, resources and life skills to be the primary faith mentors and companions for their children. For example, his section on "Elevating Community" (p185ff) is written in reference to other significant, committed, adults (beyond parents) that are "used to influence youth" within traditional age-segregated peer group programming in the church. This is a good thing, but Joiner does not take the next step, calling for a cultural-shift model of full, inclusive, intergenerational community, where the WHOLE FAMILY is uplifted, engaged holistically in the life of the church and equipped to be the faith mentors in the home. When Reggie Joiner does write about equipping parents it comes across primarily that the church is the educator for effective parenting versus enabling parents to effectively live in authentic discipleship and embracing children into their daily faithful lives of loving God and others in Christ's name.

As I see it, the full power of FAMILY ministry is when the whole church has ownership to include and embrace youth and children in the full life of the congregation; and parents fully engage their lives in living the Christ-life authentically with their children from day to day. In this sense, Reggie Joiner does not talk about an incarnational walk along side youth as Jesus Christ does with us. Adults are called to be the presence of Jesus alongside their children and the youth of the church: loving, honoring, respecting, and caring for them for Christ's sake and not just as a means to make sure they are influenced to have faith some day.

An incarnational ministry of adults with children is scriptural and powerful. How about even one reference of the church community being the body of Christ for children and families? Where is one reference of the concept or term "mentor"? Was that an intentional omission? How about referring to service as being faithful to the call of Jesus to love one another as I have loved you, and not referring to service as a something to use for the purpose of producing faith?

"Thinking Orange" is a book with creative phrases and gimmicky terms, but I think there is much depth and challenge left out for those who use it as their main reference book for transforming church ministry with children, youth and families.

If interested, check out books and cutting edge insights by Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean!

Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide...This read may not say it all, but it couldn't have left out much. For church leaders who want the details on a revolutionary idea that has proven itself over 10 years, here it is. I've searched for ways to energize families to raise spiritual champions since I read George Barna's great book on that subject 6 years ago. Mr. Joiner has set the table. No longer can we say, "Can that really be done?". The future of churches who partner with families to make a difference in our culture is extremely bright! (like a lamp stand).
Wayne King

I recently started reading the book "Think Orange" by Reggie Joiner. It talked about the power of combining church (yellow) and family (red) to produce a more powerful force (orange) than either could be alone. After a funny and offbeat introduction, Reggie begins his dicussions with some "Orange-ology". He explains that "The premise of this book is simple: As long as churches do only what they are doing, they will get only results they are presently getting." The same goes for the family. There are failures in both homes and churches -- churches are losing influence and families are disintegrating -- so what is the solution? Step up the force on both sides? Or how about combining forces for a whole new way of thinking? This is Thinking Orange. This is not another "family based ministry" approach. This is a way of thinking that could lead to radical and controversial changes. Many churches and families are already working on the same thing -- trying to raise good and Christ-centered kids. But, as Reggie explains "working on the same thing at the same time is not as effective as working on the same thing at the same time with the same strategy" (p26).

This book is so full of new things to think about and ponder, it's good if you take it slow and steady. Journal as you read -- because you'll want to incorporate the things Reggie is sharing. A great resource.

Thanks!
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Thinking Orange involves a fairly simple concept: combine the yellow force of the church and the red force of the family to help children grow in their faith. Reggie Joiner, CEO of the ReThink Group, outlines this approach to ministry in his book Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide.... The idea is that both of these forces are powerful; both of them are vital for the spiritual formation of children and students, but they are much more potent when they are combined, when they work together.

This line of thinking is hard to challenge. Joiner presents his argument carefully with lots of supporting data, biblical exposition, and stories from his own ministry at North Point Community Church. His argument is convincing from a practical ministry standpoint because I have seen that families need the help of church leaders to be better parents and churches need to work more closely with parents. When we work on our own, we do limit our influence with kids.

The concept is great, but the implementation is difficult, especially in an established church. I do believe that it can happen. I believe churches can work more closely with parents, equipping and encouraging them as they attempt to grow. I would like more practical plans, but The Orange Leader Handbook: A Think Orange Companion has also been released that will help with the implementation side.

Articulated in a clear,empassioned way, Reggie Joiner and his staff at REThink Group have share their strategy that hleps local churches evaluate what's really important in ministry to kids, parents and students. While churches lose 80% of their 18 year olds (barna research) Think Orange vision casts a proven concept/model of what a churches can do to realign their ministry to youth/kids/volunteers/families to be ON TARGET with lifestyle of families today. Less is more. Empower your church to be impactful and engaged and experience growth.

We have come to expect when anything that comes from Reggie Joiner is done it is going to be done with excellence, and this book was no different.

Orange is sweeping the country, family ministry has become one the great buzz words moving around as well, and yet, there seems to not really be a clear definition of what "Family ministry" is or looks like.

Until now!

Reggie does a great job going into a very articulate description of how he views family ministry and definitely helps set up up some guide post along the way to achieving what has become known as "Family Ministry".

Orange has become a staple book in my arsenal of books. I enjoyed reading it as it created and help lead to many great questions for myself as to the effectiveness of what and how we have been doing in the children's ministry world.

"As leaders and parents, our primary calling is not to keep our children in the church, but to lead them to become the church." - Think Orange.

So go ahead and pick up this book, kids depend on it, parents depend on it, families depend on it. "The most powerful thing you can do for parents is to provide kids in your ministry with another adult who will say the same things in their kids lives that they're trying to say as a parent." - Think Orange.

How effective would Christian ministry to children be if churches and families adopted a co-operative strategic approach? In this book Reggie Joiner outlines how significant the impact can be. Many parents leave the spiritual stuff to churches, but what hope does a church have of making a significant difference in a child's life with just one hour per week?

The approach which Reggie advocates begins with aligning church leaders and parents to lead with the same end in mind. Next, it is necessary to craft core truths into engaging, relevant and memorable experiences. Parents need to be enlisted as partners in the spiritual formation of their own children. Every child needs to be connected to a caring leader and a consistent group of peers. Finally, consistent opportunities must be created for students to experience personal ministry.

As I read the book, I could not help wondering about what should happen in situations where most of the parents have no interest in spiritual matters; however, it seems to me that that is likely to be a rare situation. I am very impressed by the clarity of the strategic approach outlined in the book, and I strongly recommend it to anyone involved in ministry to children or teenagers.

I thought this book was great! I have felt at times that I was a voice crying in the wilderness that churches need to better partner with families to really have a lasting effect children. Reggie left no stone unturned when it comes to the many facets of family ministry. There is enough here to keep a family ministry team talking for weeks. I have already loaned my copy to someone else in ministry.

After having heard Reggie speak on a few occasions, I was looking forward to reading this book. I was not dissapointed! If you've heard him speak and learned from what he had to say, you will want to read this book. If you haven't heard him speak, get this book and you'll want to.

I'll admit that Think Orange has a text book feel about it which kind of turned me off at first, but it's an easy read that had me going back to hi-light certain passages and take notes. Reggie does a great job of explaining why the church and the family are better working together and of telling you how to go about developing that working relationship. If you are involved in family or youth ministry in any way or if you want to learn things that will help you be a better parent, get this book.

This is an excellent book that teaches how the church and the family must work together to influence the next generation for Jesus.