Religion and Theology

The book is a sequel to Purpose Driven Youth Ministry. It addresses the twelve essential steps in building a purpose driven ministry. The twelve steps are as follows 1) committing to essentials, 2) dealing with discouragement, 3) establishing a heart foundation, 4) being with them, 5) becoming family friendly, 6) dealing with difficult people, 7) understanding submission and supervision, 8) working with a team of leaders, 9) investing in student leaders, 10) evaluating youth ministry programs, 11) navigating the phases of change, and 12) defining a realistic job description for your first two years.

The author started his youth ministry in 1979 in his home church, Orange Presbyterian. His youth pastor, Jim Burns, saw that the author was a potential leader. He gave the author an opportunity to lead a small group of junior high school students in the church. Then eventually, the author was given some teaching responsibilities. Doug Fields played a major role on the junior high leadership team until he graduated from high school in 1981. After Doug finished college, he led a youth ministry. He had practically no experience or expertise leading a comparatively large organization. After two or three years, he emerged an innovative and tactful spiritual leader, inspiring people from all ages.

For the sake of simplicity, the discussion will be limited to the first three chapters of the book. Chapter 1 deals with commitment to essentials. According to the author, running a youth ministry is filled with long, tiring, often unrewarding, complex, unique, intense, humorous, joyfilled, and painful experiences (Fields, 200221). Running a youth ministry is a difficult task because of its spiritual character. As the author observes

Youth ministry  like the Christian life  is a race that requires both training and endurance. Fortunately, our endurance and strength increase as we run the race and follow the course God has set out for us. Our success in the youth ministry race has a lot to do with developing a big-picture perspective  (Fields, 200221).

Where should the leader start As the author notes
Instead of making immediate changes, keep a record of all potential changes as soon as you think of them. This allows you to give them prayerful consideration. Hang on to your list. Continue to be a critical thinker in the arena to which God has called you, but realize you dont have to apply all of the ideas that come to you. Slow down (Fields, 2002 24).

Commitment is the first step towards spiritual change. The second step is to deal with discouragement. Discouragement may be natural but inherently dangerous. According to the author, discouragement is

A reality in all ministry, not just the youth ministry. Where people live, sin exists. Where sin exists, problems abound. Where problems abound, discouragement follows. Count on it When you say yes to ministry, you also say yes to periods of discouragement. Anyone who doesnt admit to occasional seasons of discouragement owns a timeshare on Fantasy Island (Fields, 200245).

In every ministry, spiritual leaders must establish a heart foundation. This is spiritual intimacy  the commitment to the essentials of faith and religion. The heart foundation is the feeling of spiritual unity  it is what drives the ministry to commit itself to God.

The book is a practical guide to the essentials of youth ministry  what youth leaders should do to become effective transmitters of faith. The book is also a personal guide to deep Christian spirituality.