Resources for working with Young Adults

With such a complex field it is great to have a list of of these sites all in one place, including personal and professional sites that explore church leadership, preaching and sermon writing. Below are resources for understanding better the changing context of ministry with emerging and young adults and for discerning what might be effective for Christian mission in the 21st century:
  1. A list of 99 important books for Christian theologians and other religious intellectuals at http://theologydegreesonline.com/important-books/
  2. Religious affiliation is declining, especially for people under age 30: National Public Radio is broadcasting a series of reports "Losing Our Religion" about the rising number of the religiously unaffiliated. A third of people under age 30 report no religious affiliation! Listen to a discussion about the reasons for trend toward no religious affiliation: https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/14/169164840/losing-our-religion-the-growth-of-the-nones Listen to young adults discuss the loss of faith: https://www.npr.org/2013/01/15/169342349/more-young-people-are-moving-away-from-religion-but-why
  3. The NPR series interviews Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community - an influential work describing the decline of membership in all  institutions of American society and the weakening of all institutions in American society: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bowling-Alone/Robert-D-Putnam/9780743219037
  4. Sex, booze & Facebook: College bars are no longer popular as meeting places; read and reflect on profound changes in the lives of emerging and young adults that can be traced to the influence of mobile technology and social media: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/fashion/for-college-students-social-media-tops-the-bar-scene.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
  5. Dating is very different today - it may be disappearing. Read about "hook up" culture of emerging adults: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/fashion/the-end-of-courtship.htmlwww.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/fashion/the-end-of-courtship.html
  6. Perhaps the most insightful reckoning with technology and social media and of the losses for intimacy and community is MIT professor Sherry Turkle'sAlone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Listen to an interview with the author: https://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163098594/in-constant-digital-contact-we-feel-alone-together
  7. The way forward begins by acknowledging that our Christian institutions may be experiencing a "dark night of the soul": In "Dark Night of the Church" by L. Roger Owens and Anthony B. Robinson (Christian Century, Dec. 26, 2012) learn from St. John of the Cross and reframe Christian leadership as spiritual direction: enabling us as a church to sit in safety and acknowledge the brokenness of declining institutions and the ineffectiveness of many religious programs in a time of rapid cultural change. Note that reading the article online requires a paid subscription https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-12/dark-night-church
  8. If religious institutions are broken or declining, then who can be saved? As a doctoral student at Princeton Theological Seminary, David Lohse ministered in several New Jersey congregations; today, as a professor at Luther Theological Seminary, he reflects on institutional inertia, the renewal of the Church, and what we all might learn from the book and film Moneyball about asking better questions for the future of the Church: https://faithandleadership.com/david-lose-its-time-think-differently
  9. See especially Christian Smith's Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. There is a related DVD that is an engaging discussion starter - view the trailer: https://youtu.be/iqGkiToWBs0
  10. What's in your cup? Do you know about "Darkwood Brew"? This weekly webcast originates from a Midwestern coffee house and features a jazz band, live audience, social media interactions, and Skype interviews with theologians and ministers from a variety of churches and traditions: "What's in your cup? Do you know about "Darkwood Brew"? This weekly webcast originates from a Midwestern coffee house and features a jazz band, live audience, social media interactions, and Skype interviews with theologians and ministers from a variety of churches and traditions: https://www.darkwoodbrew.org
  11. Two dedicated organizations which work to better the community through volunteering and health awareness: QuitDay.org, whhich works hard to keep young adults and teens from smoking cigarettes and raises awareness on the dangers of smoking (https://quitday.org/), and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, which also raises awareness so that young adults stay away from addictive habits (https://drugfree.org/).