Notes
Notes
Chapter 1 The Big Questions Every Teenager Is Asking
. Harvard Medical School, “Data Table 1: Lifetime Prevalence DSM-IV/WMH-CIDI Disorders by Sex and Cohort,” “National Comorbidity Survey (NCS),” 2007, https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/ncs/index.php; and Borwin Bandelow and Sophie Michaelis, “Epidemiology of Anxiety Disorders in the 21st Century,” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience 17, no. 3 (September 2015): 327–35.
. M. É. Czeisler et al., “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation during the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, June 24–30, 2020,” Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report 69, no. 32 (August 14, 2020): 1049–57, http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1.
. Mathilde M. Husky et al., “Twelve-Month Suicidal Symptoms and Use of Services among Adolescents: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey,” Psychiatric Services 63, no. 12 (October 2012), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5100004/. The suicide rate among US children and young adults ages ten to twenty-four rose 56 percent between 2007 and 2017. Sally C. Curtin and Melonie Heron, “Death Rates Due to Suicide and Homicide among Persons Aged 10–24: United States, 2000–2017,” National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief, no. 352, October 2018, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db352-h.pdf.
. Forty-five percent. Katherine Schaeffer, “Most U.S. Teens Who Use Cellphones Do It to Pass Time, Connect with Others, Learn New Things,” Pew Research Center, August 23, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/23/most-u-s-teens-who-use-cellphones-do-it-to-pass-time-connect-with-others-learn-new-things/.
. JingJing Jaing, “How Teens and Parents Navigate Screen Time and Device Distractions,” Pew Research Center, August 20, 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/08/22/how-teens-and-parents-navigate-screen-time-and-device-distractions.
. Jaing, “How Teens and Parents Navigate Screen Time and Device Distractions.”
. Amanda Lenhart, “Chapter 4: Social Media and Friendships,” Pew Research Center, August 4, 2015, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/08/06/chapter-4-social-media-and-friendships/.
. Covenant Eyes, Inc., “Porn Stats: 250+ Facts, Quotes, and Statistics about Pornography Use (2018 Edition),” 14–15, file:///C:/Users/mtimm /Downloads/covenant-eyes-porn-stats-2018-edition.pdf.
. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report 2017,” 36, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/trendsreport.pdf.
. Estimates predict that by 2060, young people under eighteen will be roughly one-third Hispanic, one-third White, and hovering around 10 percent each for African American, Asian American, and multiracial groups. This means the percentage of multiracial young people in particular will double by then. While about two-thirds of all census-counted US Americans are White today, projections estimate that percentage to drop to under 44 percent by 2060. Adapted from Kara Powell and Kat Armas, “America’s 2020 Ethnic Reality—And What It Means For You,” Fuller Youth Institute, January 16, 2020, https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/americas-2020-ethnic-reality, which is based on data compiled from S. L. Colby and J. M. Ortman, “Projections of the Size and Composition of the US Population: 2014 to 2060: Population Estimates and Projections,” 2015, https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf, and “Quick Facts,” US Census Bureau, 2018, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045218.
. Candice L. Odgers and Michael B. Robb, Tweens, Teens, Tech, and Mental Health (San Francisco: Common Sense Media, 2020), 17; citing statistics from “Immigrant Children,” Child Trends, 2018, https://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=immigrant-children.
. Gary J. Gates, “In U.S., More Adults Identifying as LGBT,” Gallup, January 11, 2017, https://news.gallup.com/poll/201731/lgbt-identification-rises.aspx.
. Gates, “In U.S., More Adults Identifying as LGBT.”
. Jody L Herman et al., “Age of Individuals Who Identify as Transgender in the United States,” Williams Institute UCLA School of Law, 2017, 2, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Trans AgeReport.pdf; and Michelle M. Johns et al., “Transgender Identity and Experiences of Violence Victimization, Substance Use, Suicide Risk, and Sexual Risk Behaviors among High School Students—19 States and Large Urban School Districts, 2017,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68, no. 3 (2019): 67–71.
. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report 2017,” 10–11.
. “Spotlight on School Safety,” YouthTruth Student Survey, 2018, https://youthtruthsurvey.org/spotlight-on-school-safety/.
. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of teens of color, including 73 percent of Hispanics, say they are at least “somewhat worried” about a school shooting, compared with 51 percent of White teens. Nikki Graf, “A Majority of U.S. Teens Fear a Shooting Could Happen at Their School, and Most Parents Share Their Concern,” Pew Research Center, April 18, 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/18/a-majority-of-u-s-teens-fear-a-shooting-could-happen-at-their-school-and-most-parents-share-their-concern/.
. “Vaping of Marijuana on the Rise among Teens: NIH’s 2019 Monitoring the Future Survey Finds Continuing Declines in Prescription Opioid Misuse, Tobacco Cigarettes, and Alcohol,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, December 18, 2019, https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2019/12/vaping-marijuana-rise-among-teens.
. University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, “National Adolescent Drug Trends in 2019: Findings Released,” December 18, 2019, http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pressreleases/19drugpr.pdf.
. “Vaping of Marijuana on the Rise among Teens.”
. Our estimate that 40 to 50 percent of high school graduates will fail to stick with their faith is based on a compilation of data from the following various studies. A 2011 study of young adults indicates that approximately 59 percent of young people with a Christian background report that they have dropped out of church. David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), 23. According to a Gallup poll, approximately 40 percent of eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds who attended church when they were sixteen or seventeen years old are no longer attending. George H. Gallup Jr., “The Religiosity Cycle,” Gallup, June 4, 2002, https://news.gallup.com/poll/6124/religiosity-cycle.aspx; and Frank Newport, “A Look at Religious Switching in America Today,” Gallup, June 23, 2006, https://news.gallup.com/poll/23467/look-religious-switching-america-today.aspx. A 2007 survey by LifeWay Research of over one thousand adults ages eighteen to thirty who spent a year or more in youth group during high school suggests that more than 65 percent of young adults who attend a Protestant church for at least a year in high school will stop attending church regularly for at least a year between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. In this study, respondents were not necessarily seniors who had graduated from youth group. In addition, the research design did not factor in parachurch or on-campus faith communities in their definition of college “church” attendance. Data from the National Study of Youth and Religion indicates that 20 to 35 percent of Roman Catholic and Protestant teenagers who were religious become young adults who are no longer religious. Christian Smith with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 109–10. In a Pew study of faith transition for US adults in general, roughly half of the US population changed religion at some point in their lives. “Faith in Flux,” Pew Research Center, February 2011, http://www.pewforum.org/2009/04/27/faith-in-flux/. In a more recent compilation of research, forty-two million young people are expected to leave the Christian church (across Roman Catholic, mainline, and evangelical traditions) between 2020 and 2050. “The Great Opportunity,” Pinetops Foundation, 2018, www.greatopportunity.org.
. “In US, Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace,” Pew Research Center, October 17, 2019, https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/. Generational theorists Neil Howe and William Strauss are credited with designating millennials as those generally born between 1980 and 2000. Other birth-year designations for millennials have been developed, but they tend to overlap heavily with the birth years of 1980–2000. See Neil Howe and William Strauss, Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (New York: Vintage, 2000).
. Martin B. Copenhaver, Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered (Nashville: Abingdon, 2014), xviii.
. First shared in Kara E. Powell, Brad M. Griffin, and Cheryl A. Crawford, Sticky Faith Youth Worker Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 143–44.
Chapter 2 Learning to Listen for Answers
. Generally, young people from racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to receive mental health care than White adolescents, and boys are less likely to get help than girls. Further, there is evidence that mental health stigma tends to be higher among young people of color. See Janet R. Cummings and Benjamin G. Druss, “Racial/Ethnic Differences in Mental Health Service Use among Adolescents with Major Depression,” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 50, no. 2 (2011): 160–70; and M. J. DuPont-Reyes, A. P. Villatoro, J. C. Phelan, K. Painter, and B. G. Link, “Adolescent Views of Mental Illness Stigma: An Intersectional Lens,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 90, no. 2 (2020): 201–11.
. By “intersectionality,” we mean the interconnected nature of social categories such as race, class, and gender that can be experienced by an individual or group. The term was originally coined by Black feminist scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, cofounder of the African American Policy Forum, and has come to be used widely across many disciplines, including practical theology.
. Narrative analysis “focuses on stories” and “examines human lives through the lens of a narrative, honoring lived experience as a source of important knowledge and understanding.” Michael Quinn Patton, Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice, 4th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2014), 128. Narrative analysis is typically considered a flexible approach that employs various methodologies and analytic strategies. See D. Jean Clandinin and F. Michael Connelly, Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 154; and Sharan B. Merriam, Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, 3rd ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009), 32–34, 202–3. We also drew from Nancy Tatom Ammerman, Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013); Jenny Pak, Korean American Women: Stories of Acculturation and Changing Selves (New York: Routledge, 2012); Dan P. McAdams and Erika Manczak, “Personality and the Life Story,” in APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 4, Personality Processes and Individual Differences, ed. Mario Mikulincer and Phillip R. Shaver (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2015), 425–46, https://doi.org/10.1037/14343-019; Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, “Methodological Design and Procedures for the National Survey of Youth and Religion (NSYR) Personal Interviews,” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003, https://youthandreligion.nd.edu/assets/102495/personalivmethods.pdf; and Almeda Wright, The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).
. Our racial/ethnic backgrounds include African American (1), Latina (2), Asian American (3), and White (4). Interviews were conducted from summer 2019 to summer 2020.
. Specific state representation included eighteen from California (Los Angeles and five other cities in LA/Orange County); two from Michigan (Grand Rapids area and rural); four from North Carolina (four communities across the state); one from Texas (Dallas area); and two from Maryland (suburban DC area). Our sample skewed toward later high school in order to hear from young people who were developmentally more able to reflect on their experiences and the 3 big questions.
. We are especially grateful to Gabriella Silva for conducting various coding analyses with transcript data and to our project expert advisors, who included Steven Argue, Scott Cormode, Joi Freeman, Jenny Pak, Montague Williams, and Almeda Wright. Jake Mulder provided overall Living a Better Story (LABS) project leadership and additional protocol construction input.
. Twelve focus groups were conducted with thirty-five teenagers to solicit input and clarification on narrative wording. Groups took place in California, North Carolina, and Michigan. Among these participants, the racial/ethnic makeup included fifteen White, seven Latino/a, eight Asian American (Chinese, Filipina, Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean), and three African American.
. The literature review team was led by Aaron Yenney and included Kat Armas, Roslyn Hernández, Helen Jun, Quanesha Moore, Gabriella Silva, and Sam Zheng Ning.
. The Sticky Faith Innovation project was funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. and explored the development of a cohort-based ministry innovation process with churches from across the country. Insights from the project are peppered throughout the book, thanks to the work of the project team led by Steve Argue and managed by Caleb Roose. Steve and Caleb wrote about this process in Sticky Faith Innovation (see fuller youthinstitute.org for details and to purchase copies). Tyler Greenway performed linguistic inquiry and word count analyses on responses from the 2,092 participants—insights that appear periodically alongside our interview analyses.
. For the sake of confidentiality, all participant names have been changed and at times other details have been altered in stories. While we stick as close as possible to original language, we have edited participant quotes for readability and occasionally have combined statements to smooth them out (we’re sparing you a lot of “likes” and “ums”). We believe what you are reading remains true to the thoughts and perspectives shared in interviews and focus groups.
. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein, rev. ed. (1949; repr., New York: HarperCollins, 1954), 97–98.
. Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad M. Griffin, Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2016), 91–92.
. This definition and the following insights are derived largely from M. H. Davis, Empathy: A Social Psychological Approach (New York: Routledge, 1994).
. These research insights from the Sticky Faith Innovation project were originally published by our FYI colleagues Steven C. Argue and Tyler S. Greenway. See their “Empathy with Emerging Generations as a Foundation for Ministry,” Christian Education Journal 17, no. 1 (2020): 110–29.
. Adapted from former Fuller Seminary professor David W. Augsburger, Caring Enough to Hear and Be Heard (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1982), 12.
Chapter 3 Jesus Offers Better Answers
. We’ve chosen to use the term discipleship most commonly in this book, but depending on your tradition, you might be more comfortable with terms such as formation or spiritual formation.
. “Trust” was included with belief when its usage was oriented more toward belief language than relationship.
. For example, Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17; Luke 5:27; John 1:43.
. Our yes to God is a response to God’s yes to humanity through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:19–20). Also see E. Stanley Jones, The Divine Yes (Nashville: Abingdon, 1975), 13, 15, 22. According to theologian Karl Barth, God’s “first and last word is Yes and not No.” Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. 2, part 2, ed. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1957).
. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Phil. 3:12; cf. Phil. 2:12; Rom. 12:1–2).
. N. T. Wright suggests that character is the “What now?” for Christians. Or our teenagers might wonder, What today? How does my faith relate to today—what’s in front of me today? See N. T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2012).
. Matthew 22:37–40; Mark 12:29–31; Luke 10:25–37.
. Micah 6:8.
. Luke 14:27; cf. Mark 8:34–35.
. See Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, trans. Reginald H. Fuller (New York: Macmillan, 1959). Note that in communities of color, the theme of suffering for God can become another means of oppression. Jacquelyn Grant argues against “the sin of servanthood” for African Americans, given the historical baggage and contemporary realities “servant” carries for people (particularly women) of color. See Jacquelyn Grant, “The Sin of Servanthood and the Deliverance of Discipleship,” in Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering, ed. Emilie Townes (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993).
. This framework roughly follows an adapted practical theology method first introduced in Chap Clark and Kara Powell, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World: Not-So-Secret Findings about Youth Ministry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006).
Chapter 4 The Big Question of Identity
. Steven Levenson, Benji Pasek, and Justin Paul, Dear Evan Hanson (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2017), 8.
. Kelby Clark, “How Gen Z Is Changing the Face of Modern Beauty,” ViacomCBS, March 7, 2019, https://www.viacom.com/news/how-gen-z-is-changing-the-face-of-modern-beauty.
. For the most part, the current answers we enumerate in this chapter, as well as in chapters 6 and 8, emerge from a blend of our literature review and our interviews. On those rare occasions when the findings from previous research and our interviews didn’t align, it’s fair to say we preferenced our interviews (because they offered face-to-face interaction with diverse teenagers today).
. Andrew Root, The End of Youth Ministry? Why Parents Don’t Really Care about Youth Groups and What Youth Workers Should Do about It (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 183.
. Claudia is describing “code switching,” or the (often demanding) practice of alternating between different languages or different manners of speech based on your audience.
. Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 191–94.
. Sarah Weise, InstaBrain: The New Rules for Marketing to Generation Z (Independently Published, 2019), 39.
. Malcolm Harris, Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials (New York: Little, Brown, 2017), 3–12.
. Joi Freeman, conversation with the author (Brad Griffin), July 16, 2020. Find more of Joi’s work on Gen Z at remnantstrategy.com.
. Jennifer D. Rubin and Sara I. McClelland, “‘Even Though It’s a Small Checkbox, It’s a Big Deal’: Stresses and Strains of Managing Sexual Identity(s) on Facebook,” Culture, Health & Sexuality 17, no. 4 (January 14, 2015): 512–26.
Chapter 5 ENOUGH: Jesus’ Better Answer
. Dante (not his real name) was part of a focus group, and therefore his profile does not appear in appendix A with interview participants.
. Marianne Meye-Thompson, John: A Commentary, New Testament Library Series (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2015), 141.
. Early church father Chrystostom argues that Andrew’s response doesn’t trust that Jesus can work with such skimpy offerings. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistles to the Hebrews: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, part 14, ed. Philip Schaff (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2004), 150.
. John 6:10 indicates that there were about five thousand men gathered; factoring in women and children (always a good idea!), the overall crowd size was likely somewhere between ten to fifteen thousand. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014), 265.
. Marva J. Dawn, In the Beginning, GOD: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009), 44.
. The Greek word is παιδάριον (or paidarion, pronounced “pah-ee-DAR-ee-on”), which is neuter, meaning it’s a non-gendered noun.
. Devin English, Sharon F. Lambert, Brendesha M. Tynes, Lisa Bowleg et al., “Daily Multidimensional Racial Discrimination among Black U.S. American Adolescents,” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 66 (January–February 2020): 8.
. Brenda Salter McNeil and Rick Richardson, The Heart of Racial Justice (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004), 88.
. Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014), 6.
. These disciplines are illustrative and are by no means comprehensive.
. Nathan T. Stucky, Wrestling with Rest (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020), 7.
. Eugene H. Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 52.
Chapter 6 The Big Question of Belonging
. David Arnold, The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik (New York: Viking, 2018), 394.
. Douglas Nemecek, “Cigna U.S. Loneliness Index,” Cigna, May 2018, https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8294451-cigna-us-lone liness-survey/docs/IndexReport_1524069371598-173525450.pdf. According to this study, loneliness has reached “epidemic levels.”
. Julianne Holt-Lunstad et al., “Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 10, no. 2 (March 1, 2015): 227–37.
. Eric Klinenberg, “Is Loneliness a Health Epidemic?,” New York Times, February 9, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/sunday/loneliness-health.html.
. Claudia Hammond, “The Surprising Truth about Loneliness,” BBC, September 30, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180928-the-surprising-truth-about-loneliness. Hammond reports on a 2018 survey of fifty-five thousand people from around the world.
. Nemecek, “Cigna U.S. Loneliness Index.”
. D. Anderson-Butcher and D. E. Conroy, “Factorial and Criterion Validity of Scores of a Measure of Belonging in Youth Development Programs,” Educational and Psychological Measurement 62, no. 5 (2002): 857–76.
. Benjamin Hanckel and Alan Morris, “Finding Community and Contesting Heteronormativity: Queer Young People’s Engagement in an Australian Online Community,” Journal of Youth Studies 17, no. 7 (August 2014): 872–86; andYvette Taylor, Emily Falconer, and Ria Snowdon, “Queer Youth, Facebook and Faith: Facebook Methodologies and Online Identities,” New Media & Society 16, no. 7 (November 1, 2014): 1138–53.
. Bonnie Hagerty et al., “Sense of Belonging: A Vital Mental Health Concept,” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 6, no. 3 (1992): 172–77; and Bonnie Hagerty et al., “An Emerging Theory of Human Relatedness,” Image: The Journal of Nursing Scholarship 25, no. 4 (1993): 291–96.
Chapter 7 WITH: Jesus’ Better Answer
. Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone (New York: Penguin Random House, 2017), 158.
. Tommy Givens, “Reimagining the Gospel in Relationship: What Does the Gospel Mean for Teenagers and Friendship?,” Fuller Youth Institute, January 4, 2014, https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/articles/reimagining-the-gospel-in-relationship-part-1.
. Andrew Root writes, “In the life of a disciple, friendship is a hypergood. . . . It’s what we’re created for, to be God’s friend.” Andrew Root, The End of Youth Ministry? Why Parents Don’t Really Care about Youth Groups and What Youth Workers Should Do about It (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 224.
. Christine Pohl, Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 2.
. Willie James Jennings, Acts, Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017), 8.
. Carl McColman, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2010), 165–66.
. See Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein, rev. ed. (1949; repr., New York: HarperCollins, 1954), 35, 116.
. Gerhard Lohfink calls this a “contrast-society,” in Gerhard Lohfink, Jesus and Community: The Social Dimension of Christian Faith, trans. John P. Calvin (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 56, 62.
. For an incredibly helpful article about the ways this can play out in multiethnic youth ministries, see Trey Clark, “Unity Does Not Equal Uniformity: Lessons Learned in Multiethnic Youth Ministry,” Fuller Youth Institute, October 6, 2017, https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/articles/unity-uniformity. Also see Christena Cleveland, Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2013).
. Kathy Khang, Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2018), 41.
. Mitzi J. Smith and Yung Suk Kim, Toward Decentering the New Testament: A Reintroduction (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018).
. Gregory Boyle, Barking at the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017), 3.
. Mother Teresa, Where There Is Love, There Is God: Her Path to Closer Union with God and Greater Love for Others, ed. Brian Kolodiekchuk (New York: Image, 2012), 330.
. Smith and Kim, Toward Decentering the New Testament, 177.
. Pohl, Living into Community, 4.
. Scott Cormode developed the background content for this section on hospitality as part of FYI’s Sticky Faith Innovation project.
. Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996), 129.
. In our Growing Young research, we uncovered the practice of “keychain leadership,” equipping young people with significant responsibility and access to influence within their church. See Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad M. Griffin, Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2016).
Chapter 8 The Big Question of Purpose
. “Like a compass that always points north, a purpose in life consistently orients and motivates an individual toward a personally significant aim.” Kendall Cotton Bronk, Purpose in Life: A Critical Component of Optimal Youth Development (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer Science & Business Media, 2014), 6. The positive effects of purpose for teenagers and young adults include lower risk of self-destructive behavior and a markedly positive attitude that generates an eagerness to learn about the world. William Damon, The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), 31.
. Emily Esfahani Smith, The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters (New York: Penguin Random House, 2017), 24.
. See William Damon, Noble Purpose: The Joy of Living a Meaningful Life (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2003).
. Bronk, Purpose in Life, 7.
. Roberta Katz, “How Gen Z Is Different, According to Social Scientists,” Pacific Standard, April 2, 2019, https://psmag.com/ideas/how-gen-z-is-different-according-to-social-scientists.
. Martin E. P. Seligman et al., “Positive Education: Positive Psychology and Classroom Interventions,” Oxford Review of Education 35, no. 3 (2009): 301.
. This definition of agency is adapted from Kara Powell and Steven Argue, Growing With: Every Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2019), 136.
. Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace, Generation Z: A Century in the Making (New York: Routledge, 2018), 32–33.
. Sophia Pink, “I Drove across America to Find Out What Makes Gen Z Tick,” Pacific Standard, April 8, 2019, https://psmag.com/ideas/road-tripping-to-understand-gen-z.
Chapter 9 STORY: Jesus’ Better Answer
. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014), 59.
. Dan P. McAdams, The Art and Science of Personality Development (New York: Guilford Press, 2015), 240, emphasis original.
. Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981), 216.
. Eugene H. Peterson, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 44.
. The most observant Jewish believers followed Paul. Those more intellectually sophisticated rallied around Apollos, a Hellenized Jew who likely helped found the church in Ephesus with his mentors, Priscilla and Aquilla. Michael J. Gorman, Apostle of the Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction to Paul & His Letters, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017), 234; and L. M. McDonald, “Ephesus,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship, ed. Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter Jr. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2010), 319.
. Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014), 22–23; and N. T. Wright, “How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?,” Vox Evangelica 21 (1991): 7–32, https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/how-can-the-bible-be-authoritative/.
. There are more or less complex versions of this, including the simplest of creation, fall, new creation. We’ve also really appreciated Michael Novelli’s Shaped by the Story: Helping Students Encounter God in a New Way (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008).
. Samuel Wells, Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2004), 65.
. The “Life Story Interview” approach was developed primarily by Dan P. McAdams and has been widely used, critiqued, and amended. See Dan P. McAdams and Kate C. McLean, “Narrative Identity,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 22, no. 3 (2013): 233–38, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413475622. See also Daniel Taylor, Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories (St. Paul: Bog Walk Press, 2001), 165.
. Shalom (pronounced “shah-LOME”) is a Hebrew word in the Old Testament often translated “peace” but intended to mean holistic flourishing. “Evidently justice has something to do with the fact that God’s love for each and every one of God’s human creatures takes the form of God desiring the shalom of each and every one.” Nicholas Wolterstorff, “The Contours of Justice: An Ancient Call for Shalom,” in God and the Victim: Theological Reflections on Evil, Victimization, Justice, and Forgiveness, ed. Lisa Barnes Lampman and Michelle D. Shattuck (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 113.
. We are grateful for Jeremy Del Rio for this helpful definition of justice, which we used in Chap Clark and Kara E. Powell, Deep Justice in a Broken World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 10.
. Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” (speech, New York, NY, April 4, 1967).
. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1993), 118–19.
. Kurt Ver Beek, “The Impact of Short-Term Missions: A Case Study of House Construction in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch,” Missiology 34, no. 4 (October 2006): 485.
. A major thanks to David Livermore, leader of the Cultural Intelligence Center, and Terry Linhart of Bethel College (Indiana) for collaborating with us in developing this model. See Kara Powell and Brad M. Griffin, Sticky Faith Service Guide (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 19.
. P. A. Fry, “The Development of Personal Meaning and Wisdom in Adolescence: A Reexamination of Moderating and Consolidating Factors and Influences,” in The Human Quest for Meaning: A Handbook of Psychological Research and Clinical Applications, 2nd ed., ed. P. T. P. Wong (New York: Routledge, 1998), 91–110 as referenced in Kendall Cotton Bronk, Purpose in Life: A Critical Component of Optimal Youth Development (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer Science & Business Media, 2014), 95.
. MacIntyre, After Virtue, 216.
. Peterson, Eat This Book, 44.
. Buechner, Wishful Thinking, 118–19.
Chapter 10 Conversations and Connections in Tough Times
. Margaret Renkl, “These Kids Are Done Waiting for Change,” New York Times, June 15, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/nashville-teens-protests.html.
. Our thinking about this has been shaped by scholars who study resilience in young people, in particular the work of our Fuller colleagues Pamela Ebstyne King and Lisseth Rojas-Flores with the Thrive Center for Human Development. See more about their and others’ work at the thrivecenter.org.
. One longitudinal study found that high school seniors who were able to create meaning through processing difficult high school turning points showed higher levels of psychological well-being than those students who failed to construct meaning, even when controlling for well-being scores obtained three years earlier at the start of high school. Royette Tavernier and Teena Willoughby, “Adolescent Turning Points: The Association Between Meaning-Making and Psychological Well-Being,” Developmental Psychology 48, no. 4 (2012): 1058–68, https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi =10.1037%2Fa0026326.
. You might, of course, have an answer to the question. But even if you do, it might be wise to step back and probe a bit before unleashing your “right” answer. Feeling heard may be more important than the answer itself, at least at the moment.
. This quote and the content for this section were drawn from Kara Powell, “Processing the Tragedy of School Shootings,” Fuller Youth Institute, February 15, 2018, https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/process ing-the-tragedy-of-school-shootings. For additional resources, see the Child Mind Institute’s resources for trauma and grief, https://childmind.org/topics/concerns/trauma-and-grief/, and the Institute for Collective Trauma and Growth, https://www.ictg.org/, in particular their section on faith-based resources.
. Some portions of this section are adapted from material written by Scott Cormode for the Sticky Faith Innovation project.
. Walter Brueggemann describes the rhythms of the psalms as moving from orientation to disorientation to reorientation. Sometimes laments include all three; other times they start and end in disorientation. See Walter Brueggemann, The Psalms and the Life of Faith (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995); and Walter Brueggemann, Spirituality of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002).
. One caveat here: pay attention to any lyrics that seem to glorify death or suggest suicidal thinking, especially as an escape from pain. You may want to address this with the student and, if you have concerns about a student’s safety, contact a parent or guardian.
. Justice advocate Lisa Sharon Harper writes, “Shalom is the stuff of the Kingdom. It’s what the Kingdom of God looks like in context. . . . To live in God’s kingdom, in the way of shalom, requires that we discard our thin understanding of the gospel.” Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2016), 13–14.
Appendix A Our Interview Participants
. Asian American participant culture of origin (varying from first- to fourth-generation family immigration background) included Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean. One African American student also indicated part Caribbean family heritage. Arab American is included as a preferred group term, though it does not currently exist as a US Census category. White is used as a broad category for participants of European descent. Race/ethnicity was self-reported, and some young people knew more about their ancestral heritage than others.
. Socioeconomic status was self-disclosed based on the following scale: How is your family doing financially? Responses included: we have more than enough money; we have enough money; we are struggling to make it from month to month; I’m not sure. We translated these roughly as upper middle, middle, lower, and unsure.
Appendix B Over 170 Questions to Ask a Teenager
. Our question protocols drew from work by Nancy Ammerman, Jenny Pak, Dan McAdams and Erika Manczak, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, and Almeda Wright. Jenny Pak and Almeda Wright consulted directly on protocol development. Early protocols were piloted with local teenagers for question clarity and length, and our team completed the full interview cycle with four pilot participants before finalizing the protocols. Research and question lists we adapted from include the following: Nancy Tatom Ammerman, Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013); Jenny Pak, Korean American Women: Stories of Acculturation and Changing Selves (New York: Routledge, 2012); Dan P. McAdams and Erika Manczak, “Personality and the Life Story,” in APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 4, Personality Processes and Individual Differences, ed. Mario Mikulincer and Phillip R. Shaver (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2015), 425–46, https://doi.org/10.1037/14343-019; Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, “Methodological Design and Procedures for the National Survey of Youth and Religion (NSYR) Personal Interviews,” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003, https://youthandreli gion.nd.edu/assets/102495/personalivmethods.pdf; and Almeda Wright, The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).