Recent Reads {Sticky Faith}

Sticky Faith by Dr Kara E. Powell & Dr Chap Clark - Truth is, I've read this through at least a couple times now. I first read it sometime last year, but over the past three months, I've been leading a small group at church that has been watching the accompanying video lessons, reading the book, and discussing it.

In a nutshell, the FYI team looked at polls and interviews focusing on young adults that had been involved in their church youth groups as teens, and tried to determine if there were any patterns or insights as to which of those kids stuck with the Christian faith they'd been raised with, returned to it after drifting, or walked away. As Christian parents, we definitely want our kids to have "sticky faith" - the kind that is their own (not just borrowed from the parents or youth pastor) and will sustain them through the difficult decisions and circumstances they will face in college and beyond. This book highlights the kinds of interactions, relationships, and attitudes that make the most positive impact on kids - and suggests and encourages ways to guide kids towards making their faith solid and lasting. Of course, we can't do that for them, but we can live out our own faith as an example; we can help our churches develop healthy and vibrant ministries to youth; and there are many things that we can do that make it easier for kids to work through the inevitable questions and growing pains in ways that build their budding faith.

Some of the research findings may surprise you or challenge you. The value of teen missions trips was one that sparked quite a bit of discussion within our group. You may also find, as we did, that there are many things you're doing right as parents and as a church, and be encouraged by that.

Each chapter includes several questions to help the reader apply the information, or for getting group discussion started. In our group, we also used the available video with five teaching sessions. There is also a youth worker edition of the book (which I also have read) that shares much of the same information, but presented for the benefit of youth pastors and directors of youth ministries.



(Book #20 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)

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