Sticky Faith, Youth Worker Edition: Practical Ideas to Nurture Long-Term Faith in Teenagers
Most churches in America would give anything to develop a deep, growing faith in kids that "sticks" and continues to mature long-term. That interest is dwarfed only by parents' desire to develop a deep, growing faith in their own kids. Yet both national leaders with broad spheres of influence as well as local, grassroots practitioners are waking up to the reality that almost half of their graduating seniors will drift from God and the church after high school. As leaders and as parents, we're not satisfied with that. We suspect you're not either.
In response to this problem, the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) conducted a national longitudinal study following over 500 high school seniors during their first three years in college. The goals of this research were to understand the dynamics of youth group graduates' transition to college and to identify the relationships and best practices in youth ministries, churches, and families that can help set students on a trajectory of lifelong faith and service.Â
In Sticky Faith, the team at FYI presents youth workers with both a philosophical framework and practical programming ideas that develop long-term faith in teenagers. Each chapter presents a summary of FYI's quantitative and qualitative research, along with the implications of this research, including program ideas suggested and tested by youth ministries nationwide. This resource equips youth ministry leaders with what they need to help foster a faith that sticks long after young people leave the youth room.
