This brilliant book by Jake Kircher is a game changer for anyone interested in teaching teenagers. We all know that the standard three or even five-point sermons aren’t working anymore. Not only do they fail to hold students’ attention while you’re talking, they can’t remember much afterwards even if they did attempt to listen.
Even students involved in youth ministry often miss a basic understanding of the core of the Gospel and don’t know much about the Bible. Not only that, but many teens who claim to be Christians don’t lead lives that are different from their non-Christian friends. And there’s no need to mention the all-too-familiar problem of students walking away from their faith in college.
Welcome to a post-Christian world.
In his book, Jake shows how the way we teach can make a difference. He challenges us to think hard and deep about why we teach, what the point is of teaching students about Jesus. Is Jesus Himself truly front and center of our teaching? That’s a question in this book that challenged me deeply.
He also stresses the importance of exploration, instead of providing students with (easy) answers. For many of us, this is not easy. If we’ve found the answer, we want to share it. The truth is that asking questions is better than answering them nine out of ten times.
In my favorite chapter, Jake shows what exploration looks like and what learning styles have to do with this. For some of you, this may be a complete 180 from how you’re used to teaching. Prepare yourself, because it’s gonna be messy!
There’s so much food for thought in this book, I guarantee you that reading it once won’t be enough. You’ll want to read it again. And then once more, because you’re ready for the next level of understanding.
I read a lot of books – by a lot I mean well over 150 books in 2014 alone – but I don’t come across game changers that often. Teaching Teenagers in a Post-Christian World
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