Shaping the Journey of Emerging Adults: Life Giving Rhythms of Spiritual Transformation
by Richard R. Dunn and Jana Sundene
ISBN 978-0-8308-3469-3
Intervarsity Press
Reviewed by Clint Walker
Before I go much further, I have to say that when it comes to speaking about the work of Rick Dunn and Jana Sundene I am a little prejudiced. I spent my first year in college at Trinity College, where they were both youth ministry professors.
It was in those youth ministry classes where I first sensed God working on my heart to go into full-time Christian service, and it is in those classes my freshman year where I surrendered to God's call to ministry. I left Trinity after my freshman year for a number of reasons, but I will always be grateful for Rick and Jana's Spirit-led ministry, and their willingness to model what is taught here with me as a young adult as well.
Shaping the Journey of Emerging Adults begins by setting the scene for where we are in our culture with young adult ministry. Included in this section are topics such as a discussion of extended adolescence, as well as unique cultural challenges to emerging adults in the twenty-first century.
True to their philosophy of ministry that is written about in other books, and that they have taught in their classrooms, their model of helping emerging adults grow spiritually is completely and utterly relational, and life-on-life. Eschewing gimmicks and flashy programs, Rick and Jana encourage people to be grounded in a deep faith, and then as they grow to walk with others (especially young adults) through the highs and lows of their spiritual journeys.
Through this book you will hear the authors discuss opportunities to seize and pitfalls to avoid in the discipleship journey. It will be helpful for ministers of any generation to not just read this information once, but to spend time with this text over and over again.
Most importantly, however, as you read this book you will sense the passion and love of Dunn and Sundene leaping off of the pages of this book. Grab this book, read it, highlight it, and ponder it over and over again. It is good stuff.
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