What I Wish My Youth Leader Knew About Youth Ministry: A National Survey (Paperback)

by Mike Nappa (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Standard Publishing Company (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0784709114
• ISBN-13: 978-0784709115
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,020,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A youth worker's must read!, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

Mike Nappa's book is insightful, comprehensive, and challenging to traditional models of youth ministry. It's a must read for youth leaders and pastors who want to increase the effectiveness of their ministries! This book deals with everything from games to worship to small groups to volunteers and more. Mike lets us know how teens feel about all of these areas of our ministries, what they really don't like, and what they wouldn't want us to change in a million years. How did he find out? He asked them. This book doesn't try to change the message we present, instead it challenges the methods we use to present the message.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read!, January 4, 2008

By	Katie Horn (Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book contains countless statistics about what teenagers really think about the youth ministries in their churches. Mike doesn't just give you some facts and figures, he tells you what that means for your ministry and drops in some ideas on how to make a teen-friendly ministry.

I really enjoyed reading the youth quotes along the edges of the page and the "Personal Reflections" question section at the end of each chapter.

Reading this book is like picking the brains of your teenagers for what they REALLY think. Just because they're nodding doesn't mean they're impacted by your sermon...ever seen a teenager with a caffine high?

The numbers and percentages are organized by age and gender, instead of grouping all your grade levels together. There's a big difference between seventh graders and tenth graders who want to spend more time in worship. The survey also included youth leaders, and this book compares the two. For example, 75% of youth leaders think kids want mostly praise songs during worship time, but only 49% of the kids want to sing primarily praise.

This is a book I would love for all the youth ministers I know to read.

Now if we could only get one on adult's opinions of "big church"...