Chapter 1: “Becoming Christian-ish”
To ask youth workers and parents: 1. When you read on book’s first page that “we’re responsible,” did you count yourself among the “we” being referred to? If so, how did it feel? If not, who do you...
View ArticleChapter 2: “The Triumph of the “Cult of Nice”
To ask youth workers and parents: 1. What’s wrong with Moralistic Therapeutic Deism? What’s the big deal? (For further reflections on this question, see...
View ArticleChapter 3: “Mormon Envy”
To ask youth workers and parents: 1. What is your reaction to the way Mormon teenagers are formed in their families and faith communities? Is there anything you want to learn from this approach to...
View ArticleChapter 4: “Generative Faith”
To ask youth workers, educators and parents: 1. All churches try to “hand on” Christian tradition to new generations and newcomers to faith–a process the early church called catechesis. Sunday...
View ArticleChapter 5: Missional Imaginations
To ask youth workers, educators, and parents: 1. We’re halfway through this book. In the opening line of Chapter 5, Dean says: “Some would argue—maybe you are among them—that Moralistic Therapeutic...
View ArticleChapter 6: “Parents Matter Most”
To ask parents, educators, and pastors: 1. Does sharing your faith with teenagers (or your own children) feel intimidating? Why or why not? 2. Dean uses the work of Biblical scholar Walter...
View ArticleChapter 8: “Hanging Loose”
To ask parents, educators, and youth leaders: 1. On p. 165, Dean describes the Celtic idea of thin places, “places where God reached through heaven’s floorboard and grabbed humans’ attention.” Think...
View ArticleChapter 9: “Make No Small Plans”
To ask youth workers, educators, and parents: 1. “When we heard that having a highly devoted faith, by definition of the study, meant relinquishing our comfortable, generic Christianity, we—like the...
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