Overview

Helping the next generation live for Christ As Christian adolescents develop into adults, they face unique questions and challenges. But this stage of life also provides unique opportunities for all who care about the spiritual flourishing of the next generation. Created in partnership with the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, Formation for Mission empowers those who interact with teenagers and young adults. Gathering wisdom from a diverse variety of veteran teachers and weaving together research--informed social, theological, and practical insights, each chapter examines essential features in the missional development, formation, and contexts of young people. Questions for reflection and discussion move the conversation forward. Each generation is commissioned to pass the faith on to the next and help them live for Christ, enter congregational life, and engage in Christian mission. With cultural awareness and sensitivity to the challenges of today, Formation for Mission offers hopeful advice to those who are invested in supporting the spiritual thriving of emerging adults.

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9781683596158

Table of Contents

Reviews

Formation for Mission is a timely, well-researched, and informative analysis of 'emerging adults' in today's context. I appreciate the emphasis on a spiritual formation that focuses on the God of mission, is grounded in the grand narrative of Scripture, and leads to vibrant and engaged followers of Jesus. Most importantly, this publication fills a gap by addressing the changing demographics in the US, the resultant contextual realities inherent in diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds as it relates to guiding and engaging emerging adults. I look forward to making good use of this excellent resource. --Cas Monaco, vice president of missiology and gospel engagement, FamilyLife In every generation, congregations cry out to know how to reach young people. Formation for Mission provides exactly this insight. Deftly weaving together the concepts of mission, spiritual formation, and emerging adulthood while accounting for the many psychological, sociological, behavioral, and cultural crosscurrents that intersect them, it offers an unblinking view of what it is like to be an emerging adult in twenty-first-century America. At the same time, it offers an honest assessment of the American church, letting congregations know that if they want to meet emerging adults where they are then they must jettison inward-focused portions of the Christian subculture and recommit themselves to the self-giving mission of Jesus Christ by becoming mentoring communities that create intentional space for young adults. The authors and editors are clear that only when a congregation is willing to submit itself to being formed in God's mission can it be used by the Holy Spirit to form emerging adults as disciples. It delivers all this with exactly what we have come to expect from work published out of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center for Evangelism: strong scholarship that is engaged with a deep bibliography, nuanced in its thinking, grounded in fresh empirical research, sensitive to the lived experience of those it addresses, faithful to the gospel, and eminently practical. --Mark R. Teasdale, E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Through a deep grounding in research that uses historic developmental theories as a foundation to a current understanding of the emerging adult life, Formation for Mission offers a fresh perspective on incorporating emerging adults into the missional vision of the church. With the incorporation of contemporary contexts of racial and ethnic reconciliation, sexual ethics, and communal outreach, as well as the conversational encouragement of discussion questions, this book is a must-read for those leading and serving in ministry and missions as well as for those who prepare them. This will be an essential text for many years to come! --Laura Barwegen, associate professor of Christian formation and ministry, Litfin School of Mission and Ministry, Wheaton College This book is written for so many people. The missiologist who seeks to reach people, the planters/pastors/leaders who daily help in the spiritual formation of young adults, parents who most days feel so inadequate in understanding this new generation. Essentially, all those who care about the spiritual lives of emerging adults. In this book, the authors remind leaders that working with young adults is not an either/or situation but a both/and. Both outreach and discipleship, hand in hand. Cutting through the fog of confusion and predictions surrounding young adults, the authors remind us, where there is crisis there is also opportunity. It's a thoughtful and well-informed analysis that will be considered a primer for those working with this life stage. Do yourself a favor and add it to your 'must read' list! --Elizabeth Liz Rios, founder/president, Passion2Plant Network It is no secret that increasing numbers of young people are leaving the church behind as they enter into their adult lives. But as pastors, lay leaders and others recognize, the answer to retaining and perhaps bringing them back to the church remains elusive. In Formation for Mission, Mary Lederleitner, Andrew MacDonald, and Rick Richardson bring together scholars and practitioners who present needed insights on the lives of emerging adults and examples of how successful 'missional development' can take place. Those who are concerned about the spiritual lives of young Christians would do well to study this book and use it to imagine new approaches to ministry with emerging adults. --Richard Flory, executive director, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture So many reports today leave us disheartened over narratives that ensnare the lives of young adults, leading to an exodus from congregations and the relinquishment of faith commitments that historically have given meaning and coherence to the Christian life. How refreshing then to find our colleagues at Wheaton thoughtfully recrafting alternative pathways. There is so much that offers hope and so much to ponder in this text from the microcosm of the classroom to the macrocosm of transnational networks that you can't help but feel afresh the compelling invitation to give your life anew to the mission of God. I was gobsmacked to find theories I have known for decades take on new meanings; enamored to gain understanding that can take me further up and deeper in; and thrilled to find our sisters and brothers of color inviting us to missional spaces to encounter the world with different eyes. I can't wait to put this text before students and let the conversations begin! --Chris Kiesling, professor of discipleship and human development, Asbury Theological Seminary

Formation for Mission is a timely, well-researched, and informative analysis of 'emerging adults' in today's context. I appreciate the emphasis on a spiritual formation that focuses on the God of mission, is grounded in the grand narrative of Scripture, and leads to vibrant and engaged followers of Jesus. Most importantly, this publication fills a gap by addressing the changing demographics in the US, the resultant contextual realities inherent in diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds as it relates to guiding and engaging emerging adults. I look forward to making good use of this excellent resource. --Cas Monaco, vice president of missiology and gospel engagement, FamilyLife In every generation, congregations cry out to know how to reach young people. Formation for Mission provides exactly this insight. Deftly weaving together the concepts of mission, spiritual formation, and emerging adulthood while accounting for the many psychological, sociological, behavioral, and cultural crosscurrents that intersect them, it offers an unblinking view of what it is like to be an emerging adult in twenty-first-century America. At the same time, it offers an honest assessment of the American church, letting congregations know that if they want to meet emerging adults where they are then they must jettison inward-focused portions of the Christian subculture and recommit themselves to the self-giving mission of Jesus Christ by becoming mentoring communities that create intentional space for young adults. The authors and editors are clear that only when a congregation is willing to submit itself to being formed in God's mission can it be used by the Holy Spirit to form emerging adults as disciples. It delivers all this with exactly what we have come to expect from work published out of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center for Evangelism: strong scholarship that is engaged with a deep bibliography, nuanced in its thinking, grounded in fresh empirical research, sensitive to the lived experience of those it addresses, faithful to the gospel, and eminently practical. --Mark R. Teasdale, E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Through a deep grounding in research that uses historic developmental theories as a foundation to a current understanding of the emerging adult life, Formation for Mission offers a fresh perspective on incorporating emerging adults into the missional vision of the church. With the incorporation of contemporary contexts of racial and ethnic reconciliation, sexual ethics, and communal outreach, as well as the conversational encouragement of discussion questions, this book is a must-read for those leading and serving in ministry and missions as well as for those who prepare them. This will be an essential text for many years to come! --Laura Barwegen, associate professor of Christian formation and ministry, Litfin School of Mission and Ministry, Wheaton College This book is written for so many people. The missiologist who seeks to reach people, the planters/pastors/leaders who daily help in the spiritual formation of young adults, parents who most days feel so inadequate in understanding this new generation. Essentially, all those who care about the spiritual lives of emerging adults. In this book, the authors remind leaders that working with young adults is not an either/or situation but a both/and. Both outreach and discipleship, hand in hand. Cutting through the fog of confusion and predictions surrounding young adults, the authors remind us, where there is crisis there is also opportunity. It's a thoughtful and well-informed analysis that will be considered a primer for those working with this life stage. Do yourself a favor and add it to your 'must read' list! --Elizabeth Liz Rios, founder/president, Passion2Plant Network It is no secret that increasing numbers of young people are leaving the church behind as they enter into their adult lives. But as pastors, lay leaders and others recognize, the answer to retaining and perhaps bringing them back to the church remains elusive. In Formation for Mission, Mary Lederleitner, Andrew MacDonald, and Rick Richardson bring together scholars and practitioners who present needed insights on the lives of emerging adults and examples of how successful 'missional development' can take place. Those who are concerned about the spiritual lives of young Christians would do well to study this book and use it to imagine new approaches to ministry with emerging adults. --Richard Flory, executive director, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture So many reports today leave us disheartened over narratives that ensnare the lives of young adults, leading to an exodus from congregations and the relinquishment of faith commitments that historically have given meaning and coherence to the Christian life. How refreshing then to find our colleagues at Wheaton thoughtfully recrafting alternative pathways. There is so much that offers hope and so much to ponder in this text from the microcosm of the classroom to the macrocosm of transnational networks that you can't help but feel afresh the compelling invitation to give your life anew to the mission of God. I was gobsmacked to find theories I have known for decades take on new meanings; enamored to gain understanding that can take me further up and deeper in; and thrilled to find our sisters and brothers of color inviting us to missional spaces to encounter the world with different eyes. I can't wait to put this text before students and let the conversations begin! --Chris Kiesling, professor of discipleship and human development, Asbury Theological Seminary

Author Information

Mary T. Lederleitner is founder and executive director of Missional Intelligence and author of Cross--Cultural Partnerships and Women in God's Mission: Accepting the Invitation to Serve and Lead. Andrew MacDonald is associate director of the research institute at the Billy Graham Center and a frequent contributor to blogs and journals such as Christianity Today's The Exchange. Rick Richardson is professor of evangelism and leadership at Wheaton College, director of the church evangelism and research institutes for the Billy Graham Center, and an Anglican priest. He is author of You Found Me: New Research on How Unchurched Nones, Millennials, and Irreligious Are Surprisingly Open to Christian Faith.

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