Sustainable Youth Ministry releases today – a book offering novel analysis and blueprints for senior church leadership, youth ministers and lay leaders seeking to build a strong, lasting youth ministry.
Written by leading national consultant and pastor Mark DeVries, Sustainable offers practical, uncommon advice for common youth ministry problems, as well as step-by-step plans to build a durable, deep-impact youth ministry. It’s DeVries’ second book that tackles strengthening youth ministries.
“Churches, in general, desperately want a thriving youth ministry, but time after time fall victim to the same mistakes that lead to sporadic and inconsistent results,” said Mark DeVries.
“Instead of focusing on tasks and trends, Sustainable encourages church leadership to invest in systems, structures and climates that together build a battle-proof youth ministry.”
Published by InterVarsity Press, Sustainable is available at bookstores and online at Amazon.com and at Youth Ministry Architects (www.ymarchitects.com).
Sustainable’s proven solutions draw from DeVries’ 30 years experience as a youth minister and lessons learned from his most recent work as founder of Youth Ministry Architects – a national consulting firm that has helped more than 85 churches restructure and build successful youth programs.
“Youth ministries everywhere are in crisis. One thing we know for sure is that the ideas we have used for the last twenty years are tired,” said Randy Frazee, Senior Executive Pastor, Oak Hills Church, San Antonio, Texas.
“Mark DeVries offers fresh ideas that work – and that last. Don’t expect a quick fix. These are real, long-term solutions that produce transformed students and healthy youth ministers.”
Specifically, the book addresses the following issues with predictable – not roll-of-the-dice – solutions:
- “Quick-fix” approaches to youth ministry that create unrealistic expectations for youth ministries and youth staff;
- Youth minister turn-over and burn-out that squashes the consistency students need for a deep-impact experience; and
- A sense of “stuckness” that results from today’s tasks overriding strategic, long-term planning.
“With a generous spirit and irresistible metaphors, DeVries offers a clear-headed approach to building planned, predictable and productive youth ministry,” said Kenda Creasy Dean, parent, pastor, and Associate Professor of Youth, Church and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church (Eerdman, 2004).
“This book will replace thirty already sitting on your shelf.”
About Mark Devries
Mark DeVries (M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary) is founder of Youth Ministry Architects and associate pastor since 1986 for youth and their families at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He has trained youth workers on five continents and taught at a number of colleges and seminaries.
DeVries authored Family-Based Youth Ministry (1994/2004), coauthored The Most Important Year in a Woman’s Life/The Most Important Year in a Man’s Life (2003), and contributed to Youth Ministry Handbook (2000), Starting Right (2001) and Reaching a Generation for Christ (1997).
About Youth Ministry Architects
Youth Ministry Architects is the nation’s leading provider of youth ministry consulting, partnering with churches and youth ministries to customize strategic plans for building successful youth ministries.
About Sustainable Youth Ministry
Released October 2008 and written by Mark DeVries, Sustainable Youth Ministry (225 pages, $16) offers practical tools and strategies that lay a strong foundation for a church’s youth ministry. Published by InterVarsity Press, Sustainable is available in paperback at bookstores and online at Amazon.com and Youth Ministry Architects.
Contacts:
Anne Hancock
or Kristen Hayner, 615-254-0575
