Youth Ministry and Parents

We finally have a book that weaves together family systems thinking, family life-cycle stages, and adolescent development into a practical manual for ministering with parents and adolescents. Leif Kehrwald has developed the vision and practices for expanding the scope of youth ministry to include ministry with parents and the entire family. Leif's wisdom and experience as a parent of teenagers, as a youth minister, and as a family minister fill every page of this book. Read this book to deepen your own understanding of parents and adolescents. Use this book to develop practical strategies you can implement now! This is an essential book for every parish minister, not just the youth minister!

Youth Ministry and Parents helps youth ministry leaders move beyond awkward—even antagonistic—relationships between parents and youth leaders toward mutual support and shared commitment to nurturing growth and faith in young people. Any youth minister who has struggled to know how to understand and work with parents will find in these pages solid knowledge, real-world experience, faith-filled wisdom, and practical ideas to strengthen her or his ministry with young people and their parents.

Filled with wisdom, real-life stories and practical tips, this book is a must-read for every youth minister. It's also an easy read, due to Leif Kehrwald's conversational style and natural inclination toward encouragement and support. If you are new in ministry, this book will be a career saver. If you're a veteran, you'll be thrilled to have all these insights, references, and bits of information in one place.Reading this book was like having a conversation with a good friend. I found myself nodding my head in agreement, highlighting quotations, and bookmarking favorite pages. I kept wanting to read just one more chapter, until I finished the book! Leif has made a wonderful contribution to the fields of youth ministry and family ministry.

This book is just what we need in Catholic youth ministry to put our values and beliefs about family into practice in our parish communities. The stories, humor, and examples in this book make me feel at ease in trying new ways to reach families. The research and resources give me the tools I need to really make the connection. I can't wait to tell people about this practical and enjoyable resource that will improve our ministry with youth and their families.

Leif Kehrwald has long been in the forefront of melding family ministry and youth ministry, and Youth Ministry and Parents: Secrets for a Successful Partnership is a further significant contribution. Leif uses the real experiences of youth ministers to illustrate solid research on youth and families, and he provides very practical strategies and ways to implement this important dimension of comprehensive youth ministry. This is a definitely a resource to use over and over again!

Through stories from personal experience and exhaustive research, Kehrwald makes a strong case for ministry to the whole family versus a teen-only focus. While he didn't add much new to the subject of family-based youth ministry, the book is well-written and reads quickly. He offers many practical ideas for building parent and teen relationships that I look forward to trying, and it's worth getting if you don't already have something on the subject or if you're looking for a few new ideas.