WHEN THE CHURCH STOPS WORKING
“Root and Bertrand make clear that we must put away our strategies and gimmicks and wait on the Lord all over again. I pray we all would follow this brilliantly antiprogrammatic counsel.”
—Jason Byassee, senior pastor, Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto; coauthor of Faithful and Fractured: Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis
“We’re all feeling the crisis of church decline and frantically trying to fix the problem. This groundbreaking book proposes that we’ve misdiagnosed the problem and that our supposed treatment is actually making things worse. It offers both a better diagnosis and a helpful, human way forward.”
—Mandy Smith, pastor and author of Unfettered: Imagining a Childlike Faith beyond the Baggage of Western Culture and The Vulnerable Pastor
THE CHURCH AFTER INNOVATION
“There’s something satisfying about a story that is this big, bold, and revealing about how our cultural presumptions came to be–especially when so beautifully told. When Christians fall in love with ideas of leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship, we can be sure they have ignored for too long the secular economic context in which they live and breathe. A timely wake-up call.”
—Brian Brock, University of Aberdeen
“This book will help you to consider the possible costs of chasing innovation and entrepreneurship–for you and your church. It provides significant insights and questions regarding some of the most pressing challenges of our time.”
—Angela Williams Gorrell, Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University
Churches and the Crisis of Decline
“Perhaps you’ve met Barth the intimidating theologian, but have you met Barth the pastor to pastors? Root introduces today’s church to the Karl Barth it never knew, artfully putting this theologian in conversation with a church that is fearful about the future. If you are worried about the fate of your church (and who isn’t these days?), this is a book you must read.”
—Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School; United Methodist bishop, retired; author of Aging: Growing Old in Church
“A marvelous achievement. Root draws on the work of Karl Barth (the pastor), Charles Taylor, and Hartmut Rosa to identify the current captivity of the church to secular metrics. He proposes a way forward that waits on the hope that comes from outside of us and among us as one of us in Jesus Christ. This is a must-read!”
—Richard R. Topping, Vancouver School of Theology
THE CONGREGATION IN A SECULAR AGE
“Root is one of our leading practical theologians. In this book he continues his ongoing dialogue with Charles Taylor, providing us with a fascinating and timely exploration of time, church, and culture. Root clearly lays out the implications of thinking about time and speed and the ways in which we build communities, think about theology, and ultimately become more faithful disciples. A book well worth reading.”
—John Swinton, University of Aberdeen
“Root serves as a guide for current congregations often lost in the time and space of the wilderness of high modernity. He shows us how to suspend the relentless rush of time and points the church toward a path from our present captivity in the rat race of modernity to the life-giving vitality of the love of God. This book is required reading for the next generation of Christian leaders. Root provides a clear and resounding perspective on why and how the church matters in a secular age.”
—Pamela Ebstyne King, Thrive Center for Human Development, Fuller Theological Seminary
THE END OF YOUTH MINISTRY?
“After half a century of advice books on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of youth ministry, Root is the first practical theologian to seriously tackle the ‘why’ of youth ministry–why even do youth ministry in the first place? Using a Kierkegaardian fable as his foil, Root explores deficient ways we justify youth ministry, and then dives headlong into joy as the reason it matters. Root has made a career out of challenging the youth ministry industry, but this is his most important youth ministry book to date. The end of youth ministry? Hardly. This is where it starts.”
Kenda Creasy Dean, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary
THE PASTOR IN A SECULAR AGE
“We are embedded in and pervaded by what Charles Taylor called a ‘secular age.’ The implications of Taylor’s analysis of secularity are enormous, but few have taken up the challenge to look through Taylor at ministry in our world. Andrew Root has, and he has done so successfully and spectacularly. We need to take up the challenge with Root, listen to him, and extend his insights into our local churches.”
– Scot McKnight, professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
“In a world longing for enchantment but too cynical to accept it, pastors can understandably feel irrelevant and confused. In The Pastor in a Secular Age, Andrew Root provides a helpful overview of how our world became so disenchanted and what it might look like to attend to God in a world that has forgotten how to do so. As a spiritual director, I continually encounter people who are longing to sacralize their lives and who desperately need help learning to find God in the events and emptiness of life. Root harks back to the holy event of God’s presence and asks us to consider the power of a ministry that can both sit in the silence of emptiness and point to the sacred in wonder.”
– Danielle Shroyer, spiritual director and author
EXPLODING STARS, DEAD DINOSAURS, AND ZOMBIES
“With the skill of a master storyteller, Root once again pokes at the boundaries of ministry practice and theology, pressing us to see beyond our constrained, artificial limits to precisely out where young people (and their pointed questions) live. If all the universe is bound up in relationship, as Root urges, this fundamental face-to-face relationality becomes a key that unlocks the mystery of the connection between faith and science—without doing away with that mystery. Thankfully, we can finally kill the false rivalry and instead put faith and science in dialogue. Now, instead of fearing these conversations with young people, I can’t wait to start them!”
— Brad M. Griffin, youth pastor, director of the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary, and coauthor of Growing Young
“This is an exceptionally important work for youth workers ministering with today’s emerging generation of young people. It’s important because it will profoundly impact the youth minister who commits to really engaging the thesis of this book. It’s important because the content in this book is at the core of how young people are thinking about faith in a world of science.
In a postmodern world, which declares that we can’t really be sure about anything, Root’s critical realism rooted in orthodox Christian history and thought rings profoundly true and Christocentric. This book led me to contemplate the astonishing mysteries of the cosmos, the reality that we are even alive as human beings created in the image of God. And it inflamed my passion to follow Jesus Christ in ministry shaped by the relationality of God’s own being and divine action. I loved this book.”
—Mike King, president and CEO of Youthfront, author of Presence Centered Youth Ministry
FAITH FORMATION IN A SECULAR AGE
“This is not a ‘youth ministry’ book. This is a book that holds up a mirror to the contemporary church to help us see how we’ve come to reflect the culture around us and how that has changed our approach to faith formation. While this shift has had significant impact on youth, none of us are immune. With his typical combination of careful scholarship, pastoral wisdom, and lively prose, Root not only diagnoses the problem but also constructively charts a way forward. If we care about the future of faith formation, every seminarian should be reading this book.”
—James K. A. Smith, Calvin College; author of You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit
“With a little help from Charles Taylor’s notion of transcendence, Root offers a corrective to mere ‘authenticity’ in a kenotic theology that views Christian formation not as affiliation but as union ‘in Christ’ in ministry. More than any living writer, Root has sparked the theological imagination of a generation of youth ministers. In a field of practice notorious for ‘tips, tricks, and techniques,’ this book promises not an easy way forward but one that is faithful nonetheless.”
—David F. White, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
THE GRACE OF DOGS
“Beautifully written, touching and profound, this book makes reasonable what we already sense—that our dogs love in a way that goes much deeper than we think, and that teaches us something about what it means to be human. The Grace of Dogs, written by one of my favorite contemporary theologians, is perfect for dog lovers and those who love them. It will open your eyes to what’s really going on between us and our canine family members.”
–Nadia Bolz-Weber, author of Accidental Saints
“Like all the best writing (and theology), The Grace of Dogs comes from deep in the author’s personal experience. It will make you smile, shed a tear, and nod in recognition. You’ll find yourself reflecting on the most wonderful things in life… from the sincerity of a child to the wag of a black lab’s tail, from the grace of dogs to the grace of God.”
–Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration
BONHOEFFER AS YOUTH WORKER
“Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker reads like the labor of love that it is, introducing Bonhoeffer as a fellow pastor who shares your passion for young people’s journey of faith and your conviction that Christ’s church should receive youth without using them. Andrew Root is at his best here.”
– Kenda Creasy Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary
“I have quite literally never read a youth ministry book anything like this: full of history, story, theological articulation, and implication. Absolutely fascinating.”
– Mark Oestreicher
CHRISTOPRAXIS
“Christopraxis represents a major new departure in practical theology by one of the field’s best young scholars. A guiding star for pastors and academics alike.”
– Richard R. Osmer, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Andy Root lays exciting new groundwork for practical theology. His review of the current field is incisive, and his constructive proposal, based in critical realism, pays refreshing attention to the centrality of divine action in Christian ministry. For the future of practical theology, this is the book to read and conversation to join.”
– Russell Haitch, Bethany Theological Seminary
THE RELATIONAL PASTOR
“I have long suspected the ‘folk ecclesiology’ of most evangelical churches could not support missional and/or incarnational ministry for the long haul. Andrew Root’s The Relational Pastor helps me see this problem anew in a helpful way. In the process he points a way forward to a robust theology that grounds the church in our God who has become flesh in Jesus Christ. What this means for personhood, relationship and community is astounding. Thank you, Andrew Root. I needed this book.”
– David Fitch, B. R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology, Northern Seminary, and author of The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness
“Several years ago, I encountered the work of Andrew Root, and while it was primarily focused on youth ministry, it radically changed the way I engaged my own work as a congregational pastor. With The Relational Pastor, Root takes the seeds of what I saw and coaxes them into a full-fledged tree, teeming with wonderful fruit. “By reorienting our perspective from relating to others as ‘the sum of their decisions’ to ‘a mystery to be encountered,’ Root has offered ministers of all stripes the opportunity to live and encounter the incarnation, not as a doctrine to be learned but a reality to be lived.”
– Rev. Landon Whitsitt, author of Open Source Church
“So much of what passes for pastoral ministry resources these days is either thinly veiled pragmatism or a sentimental call to return to a bygone era. Thankfully, Andy Root defies that trend. Instead, he has developed a deep and robust theology of pastoral ministry that engages the imagination and invites embodiment. He achieves this by interacting with compelling research drawn from a wide variety of disciplines that he then interprets in (and for) the context of the local church. The Relational Pastor is an important book whose time is now.”
– Tim Keel, senior pastor of Jacob’s Well Church and author of Intuitive Leadership
A THEOLOGICAL JOURNEY THROUGH YOUTH MINISTRY (4 part series)
Book Four: UNLOCKING MISSION AND ESCHATOLOGY IN YOUTH MINISTRY
Synopsis: In Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry Root argues that youth ministers should teach teens to recognize that as Jesus’ disciples they are participating in the very action of God to bring forth the future of God. He argues that our service to him on this earth (mission) is a sign of the new reality that Jesus will bring when he returns (eschatology).
Book Three: UNPACKING SCRIPTURE IN YOUTH MINISTRY
Synopsis: Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry focuses on how to teach and present the Bible in the lives of teenagers. Andrew Root argues that teens are constant interpreters — always asking the questions, who am I? and what do others think of me? — and so youth ministers must teach them to interpret the actions of God as revealed in the Bible. This view is different than teaching biblical knowledge — memory verses and Bible facts — and it’s different than teaching them to interpret the Bible themselves. Rather, they are to view the Bible as a tool for interpreting God’s actions and then respond with their own actions.
Book Two: TAKING THE CROSS TO YOUTH MINISTRY
Synopsis: You know that the ideas of sin and salvation are central to our faith, but how do you effectively teach these concepts to teenagers? In Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Andrew Root will help you re-imagine how you present the power of the cross to students as you journey with Nadia, a fictional youth worker wrestling with this question.
Book One: TAKING THEOLOGY TO YOUTH MINISTRY
Synopsis: Have you ever wondered, “What’s the point of youth ministry?” In Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Andrew Root invites you along on a journey with Nadia—a fictional youth worker who is trying to understand the “why” behind her ministry. Her narrative, along with Root’s insights, helps you explore how theology can and should influence the way you do youth ministry.
THE THEOLOGICAL TURN IN YOUTH MINISTRY
“The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry is a practical theology winner. Newcomers to practical theology will applaud its interplay of experience, reflection and action. Veterans to the field will give its masterful synergy of breadth and depth a standing ovation.”
– Kara Powell, executive director, Fuller Youth Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary
“I am euphoric over Kenda Creasy Dean and Andrew Root’s book, The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. We have been perplexed by decades of accumulating and overwhelming data indicating that the Christian church in North America is failing to form disciples among adolescents who stay connected to their churches. Root and Dean skillfully illustrate the essential role practical theology plays as an imperative correction toward authentic Christian formation of young people. The authors describe and advocate for a theological turn that will not only prove to be a key factor in transforming the way we engage youth ministry but also result in widespread ecclesial change. Today’s young adults are eager to engage in deep theological reflection that allows them to wrestle with the issues that can truly bring meaning to their lives. The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry is a seminal work that will stir up the prophetic imagination of youth workers.”
– Mike King, president of Youthfront and author of Presence-Centered Youth Ministry
“An important step in the right direction. Who says teenagers can’t understand the theological thrust of, say, Karl Barth? They can and they must.”
– Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame, author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
THE CHILDREN OF DIVORCE
“Winsomely written, achingly honest, and fearlessly hopeful. Root’s analysis of divorce as an ontological–not just a sociological–crisis for children is dead-on, as is his advice for congregations who must name and address this soul-splitting reality. With his incomparable ability to blend story and theology, Root delivers a beautiful and wise book that is for anyone touched by divorce.”
– Kenda Creasy Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Andrew Root’s insightful analysis gives voice to my own journey as a child of divorce, and to the experiences of countless others I’ve observed. This book beautifully integrates the ontological pain of divorce with the redemptive power of Christ and the church.”
– Kara E. Powell, Fuller Youth Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary
THE PROMISE OF DISPAIR
“This is theology at its most down-to-earthas faith centered in the cross of the incarnate One ought always to be, but too seldom is. Andrew Root writes beautifully and persuasively about belief because he already knows so intimately the profound unbelief, both personal and societal, that is faiths human matrix. One hears gospel in this book! You will be refreshed by its unstinting honesty about our darkness in all its forms and enlivened by its testimony to the light that is accessible only to those who enter the darkness.”
– Douglas John Hall
RELATIONSHIPS UNFILTERED
“Relationships Unfiltered is the single most important youth ministry book in a generation.”
– Tony Jones
“If you only have time to read through one book with your leadership team…, this is the one.”
– Mark Cannister
REVISITING RELATIONAL YOUTH MINISTRY
– Ray S. Anderson
– Kenda Creasy Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary
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