Top Five Must-Read Books for (Lutheran Youth) Leaders

You may have noticed that my dedication to weekly blog posts totally lapsed since the flood! I spent almost a week out of town at a youth conference in Winnipeg with some kids from church, and that totally threw off my groove. :) I'm still recovering from spending one night on a hot church floor, four nights in a non-air conditioned Manitoba-summer-hot dorm, and one night on a bus, but we had such a good time. Two of the youth were new to our group, 'adopted' from a smaller nearby church, and it was a joy to spend time with them, get to know them a bit, and watch the entire group gel.

We spent one afternoon helping clean up along the banks of the Seine River, joking about wildlife such as gators, killer rabbits ala Monty Python, and killer deer. I learned today that apparently in Winnipeg there's a law against provoking alligators...does that mean there are actually some there?! Glad I didn't know that at the time... :P

Our group at Grand Beach, Manitoba

At the youth gathering, there was a bookstore. It  prompted a post I've been thinking about for a while, and a sequel post I hope to do, which will be about materials that should either be avoided, or read with great caution, discernment, and simply for research purposes. For today though, here are five indispensable books for anyone who wants to make sure their church is teaching solid theology. Children and youth are not the future of the church, they are as much a piece of the church now as any adult, and all elders, pastors, teachers, and volunteers should be aware of these resources.


NUMBER 1: The Lutheran Study Bible (LSB)
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that Lutherans value the teachings of Martin Luther over the teachings of the Bible. Actually, while I suppose some misguided Lutherans might do that, really what we, or I specifically, since I can't speak for all Lutherans, value are Luther's explanations and teaching of Biblical theology and parts of Christian doctrine like the Creeds. The LSB is a wealth of information brimming with footnotes, prayers, historical information, a checklist for reading through the Bible cover-to-cover, and extra resource pages. For instance, if you want to know why Lutherans believe what Lutherans believe about communion, turn to the page between Revelation chapters 19 and 20 in a copy of the LSB, and you will find a whole page on communion, cross-referenced to the applicable Bible verses. SO HANDY! Anyone in leadership should have this valuable resource, and read it regularly to explore all of the helpful explanations.


The rest of the books are all in no particular order because I think each of them is as valuable as the others, and they're all different enough that I highly recommend reading them all.


Broken: 7 "Christian" Rules that Every Christian Ought to Break as Often as Possible by Pastor Jonathan Fisk
Read this book and then figure out who in your youth or young adults' group needs to read it, buy a box full, and hand them out like candy that won't rot their teeth or their souls. Beautifully illustrated with steampunk-esq sketches and sprinkled with Star Wars references, Pastor Fisk details seven dangerous trends in North American pop culture Christianity and firmly squelches them with scripture. I've been watching his videos and reading his blogs on Worldview Everlasting for quite some time now, I enjoy his geeky, sarcastic, theologically-sound teaching, and his passion for sound doctrine. When you go to the CPH website to order your copy of the LSB, make sure you pop at least one of these into your cart...


Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do To Stop It by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer
Last fall we gave a copy of this book to each of the youth groups that came to our retreat, and all of the leadership at our church read it. It's published through the excellent ministry 'Answers in Genesis' and while it discusses some deep stuff, it's fairly small and the print is fairly large, making it not too intimidating for people who don't really like to read. Go prayerfully read it now, please! Another excellent book by Ken Ham is The Lie: Evolution, which explains why it's so vital to know and understand God as Creator, and how/why the world tries to undermine Him. It helped me get through geology in my first semester at university, and now there's a revised edition, which I'll have to add to my wishlist. :)


Eutychus Youth: Reaching Youth on the Ledge by Dr. John Oberdeck
Another great resource from CPH, including a study guide, is a dense, well-written, super informative book. The youth gathering actually brought in Dr. Oberdeck to do sessions for the leaders, although they were the same as the one that Trevor and I went to at the LCMS youth symposium in California a year and a half ago, I still picked up a few things that I either hadn't hear last time, or had forgotten. :) Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a dangerous thing that is undermining Biblical Christianity. So, so, so good. I even have an extra copy that I'll lend you if you're around here...


The Creation Answers Book by Batten, Catchpoole, Sarfati, and Wieland of Creation Ministries International
This handy little book doesn't really need to be read in order - it can just be pulled out and referred to when a specific question about something pops up. Chapter titles include things like "How did the animals fit on Noah's Ark?" and "How did all the different 'races' arise?". It's an brilliant resource to have on hand, and I can't recommended the work of Creation Ministries highly enough.


Bonus book for Alberta Residents!
Tour Guide: Royal Tyrrell Museum by Margaret Helder of the Creation Science Association of Alberta
I haven't read this myself yet, but I have it on very good authority that this is an excellent tool for countering the evolutionist propaganda that is fed to hundreds or even thousands of Albertan school children every year. We're hoping to take a group of youth to Drumheller in the fall, perhaps in conjunction with this event that Creation Ministries is putting on, and are planning to use this book as our tour guide. Check out the book and let me know what you think!


Well, hopefully this suggested your reading list for the rest of the summer! :) If you've read all of these already, then please comment, because I'd love to hear from you! I hope that these suggestions deepen your faith, grow your desire for solid spiritual food, and equip you as a church leader. Youth ministry is my baby, and I'm passionate about doing everything I can to make sure that our kids are getting the best spiritual nourishment they possibly can get. Enjoy!

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So You Think You Hate Religion But Love Jesus? Or: The Dangers of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and Lukewarm Theology

Doctrines of faith seem foreign to teens, and when polled, most believe in a form of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism;

1.      God exists, created and ordered the world, and watches over human life on earth.

2.      God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

3.      The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

4.      God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.

5.      Good people go to heaven when they die.

MTD bears little resemblance to the historic Christian faith...it might be called American civic religion.(Quoting Dr. John Oberdeck from Eutychus Youth: Applied Theology for Youth Ministry)

There’s a video going around the web in which a young man, Jefferson Bethke, rhapsodizes about how he hates religion, but loves Jesus. It came to my attention when several of my former youth were passing it around Facebook, commenting on how moving they found it, so I watched it. I was deeply unsettled that youth I thought I knew well would fall prey to Bethke’s smooth patter. I almost don’t even know where to start with his clearly heartfelt mishmash of statements that are so contradictory and ill-informed that it requires a professional theologian to untangle and thoroughly address. However, as a Lutheran and an English major, a couple of things caught my attention right away.

The most significant and dangerous contradiction spoken by Bethke is that he “hates religion but loves Jesus”. In fact, Christianity, the believing in Jesus Christ as Saviour, is a religion. What is the definition of the word religion? According to the Oxford Dictionary, religion is:

Belief in or acknowledgement of some superhuman power or powers (esp. a god or gods) which is typically manifested in obedience, reverence, and worship; such a belief as part of a system defining a code of living, esp. as a means of achieving spiritual or material improvement. (www.OED.com)

I am aware that the word religion has developed certain cultural context that is not reflected in the dictionary definition of religion; this is simply because the culture is using the wrong word, much like the espresso versus expresso debate; a misuse of language. I believe that religiosityis what Bethke is so passionately denouncing. Religiosity is “affected or excessive religiousness” (www.oed.com) and it is what St. James describes:

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. (James 1:26 ESV courtesy of www.biblegateway.com)

St. James goes on to explain what religion is:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:26-27 ESV www.biblegateway.com)

My religion is Christianity; to love my neighbour as myself because God first loved me (Luke 10:27 and 1 John 4:19) and to not conform to the world (Romans 12:2). My denomination is Lutheran; based in law and gospel doctrine, as laboriously and scripturally researched and taught by Martin Luther. I’m not a member of an emergent church movement that believes you can have a perfect life here on earth; be happy, healthy and wealthy by following the Prayer of Jabez, or following seven steps to success, or by being simply spiritual and letting doctrine fall by the wayside for fear of offending someone. I have come to be deeply, deeply thankful that I am part of a church body that does not ‘politically correctify’ the Bible in order to be more culturally relevant or seeker sensitive. These trends in Christian pop culture are dangerous and misleading.

There is no such thing as a perfect Christian; not me, not Bethke, not Luther. However, Christians with a firm foundation in scripture and a solid theological background recognize this trend of lukewarm theology for what it is. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a dangerous and growing movement, rising from the lack of a firm theological underpinning in the larger Christian church. This lack of teaching develops young adults like Bethke who “hates religion” and who has fallen to a MTD-esque belief that he can be spiritual and in a relationship with Jesus without being part of a religious body. The Christian church is a religion; there is simply no escaping that basic fact no matter how Christian pop culture may try to spin it.

The most alarming thing about this video, aside from the flawed theology, is how quickly it spread. It has well over fifteen million views, and it seems as though people were so engaged by Bethke that they missed the crucial step of testing this video against scripture. It seems as though feelings invoked by spirituality have become more important than scriptural knowledge.

... solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14 ESV www.biblegatway.com)

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (2 Peter 1:5-7 ESV www.biblegateway.com)

Global Christian culture is on a dangerous path, and only a firm grounding in scripture and good theology will keep us, and our youth, from being misled by slick marketing and sketchy feel-good pseudo-doctrine.

Check out this video for another Lutheran view on Bethke's video:

http://youtu.be/TbsadOQK_6A

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