Defiant Hope, Active Love What Young Adults Are Seeking in Places of Work, Faith, and Community
I’ve spent the past twenty years of my academic life studying and teaching issues and themes around Christian faith and young adults, as well as practicing in the field of youth ministry. I have had the privilege of hearing and engaging with research projects from gifted scholars in the youth ministry field from around the world. It was with great interest, therefore, that I read Defiant Hope, Active Love by Jeffrey Keuss and his team from the Pacific Northwest. I was interested in this book for several reasons:
1) I know the Pacific Northwest is an area of the country where Christians are a minority of the population. I was curious to see what this study would say about young adults and the Christian faith for places around the world that are more like Seattle than, say, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
2) Writing on youth or young adult ministry isn’t often rooted in empirical research. It often marries solid data with narratives that flesh out that information more richly. I was curious to see what their findings revealed.
3) Having been involved with European research grants and projects, which are more plentiful in this field there than in the U.S., I was interested to hear from an American group that received grant money to study young adults and their perceptions of the Christian faith.
In all of this I was curious: Would this project reveal aspects about Christian ministry with young adults that would be helpful elsewhere? Is this project adaptable for places in the world that look like the Pacific Northwest in terms of demographics and values? Would there be helpful insights to ministry with young adults that might be adapted for work locally? Having lived abroad for the past ten years, would this project reveal aspects of American life and faith issues with young adults I missed while away?
Approaching this book with such curiosity and anticipation, I was left frustrated and unsatisfied. I finished the book with the feeling that, instead of being a planned and thoroughly presented piece of research, it was a set of short essays written by different authors with different motivations compiled into book form. Within these chapters, there are gems worth studying more closely. There are insights worth discussing and having conversations with fellow pastors or young adult ministry leaders.
But if I had to explain the point this book was trying to articulate, I would not be able to effectively communicate that. Is it about race and faith in young adults? Is it about wealth gaps and how that impacts young people today? Is it about mentoring? It certainly wasn’t about women in ministry. While I am biased on this subject, the authors wrote one paragraph on women in leadership positions and how that impacted (positively) the health and longevity of ministries with young adults. Only one paragraph? Please say more! So, yes, frustrated, unsatisfied, and grappling with the desire for more without really having a handle on what was presented in the first place.
Compare this with the work of Dr. Steven Argue and his book from Fuller Seminary, Young Adult Ministry Now. I can cite the implicitly known need of young adults for belonging, identity, and purpose, now documented by research. I can cite Argue’s research findings on the need for young adults to have their transitional season of life acknowledged by the church. They are in a tumultuous time as they navigate changes in friendships, choices of health, places of employment, and relationships–all while navigating what role faith plays amid those transitions.
There are a few highlights in Keuss’ book that are worth noting. Keuss himself offers a powerful critique and rousing call for Christians to live differently as he observes the wealth gap between young adults and older generations. It would be well worth it for Keuss and his team to return to this topic and the observed benefit of having women-led ministries with young adults to articulate a more compelling and prophetic book to inspire and lead people in ministry.
Another positive aspect of this book was the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. One could approach each chapter as an independent essay and engage in these questions with study groups in churches or as leadership teams. Finally, the quantitative data collected could be an aspect of interest that might be helpful as one considers how the issues in the Pacific Northwest compare to ones in other locations.
Instead of presenting a conglomeration of disparate essays under one cover, held together more by grant funding than thematic content, it would behoove Keuss and his team to be more selective and expansive on those topics that would provide assistance to youth ministry leaders. This book had gems of prophetic insight, but I was left wanting more.
