This is primarily a book about young people and the church and seeks to ask whether young people are disappointed with Jesus or in fact disappointed and disillusioned with the church. It is written in a very informal and accessible manner by Gavin Calver, who is the son of Clive Calver, who was a leading light in British Evangelicalism, notably the director of the Evangelical Alliance for many years. Growing up in such a “goldfish bowl” environment had a very damaging effect on his spiritual growth, but it proved pivotal in enabling him to possess his own faith. Gavin is now on the leadership team of Youth for Christ.
Calver takes us on a journey through adolescence and offers advice on how the church can nurture young people through this treacherous time. It is also autobiographical in tone as he tells us how he came through to the other side into adulthood. He also offers anecdotal evidence of good and bad experiences of young people in the church. There are plenty of warnings here as to how increasingly church is viewed as being out of touch with post-modern society and with the youth of today especially.
On the journey through adolescence he offers us sound and timely advice on how to deal with young people at different stages in their development. He starts with the story of his birth and primary education and how to start with Christianity was a “given” and not open to debate but that as he moved up to secondary school new ideas are taken on board and his family faith is put into question for the first time. He concludes that he never had enough faith of his own simply because most people assumed that he was going to turn out just like his father.
In this time of transition to secondary education, Calver argues, the church needs to be there with encouragement and practical help where the child is seeking to find an identity and to express their personality in their new peer groups. He says that they need to be given chances to serve in church and given responsibilities that reflect their new found maturity, even though there will be challenges along the way. He posits that it is better to make church more accessible at this time so as not to push adolescents away from church into other things that will try to fill their “God-shaped holes”. There is much sound advice for youth workers as to how to deal with difficult young people.
He then goes on to tell us what he chose to try to fill his God-shaped hole: football, alcohol and girls. His story is not unique. Unfortunately many young Christians find the lures of the world much more appealing than the rules and rituals of their family religion. He tells us how the church should be more appealing to young people and offers us insight into what it feels like to be the adolescent in these tough times.
I would recommend this book for parents who are trying to raise their children biblically and who naturally hope that their offspring will come to faith in Jesus. It offers reassurance and affirmation that they are not struggling in vain and offers insight into how to let children develop their own faith rather than relying on their parents' faith.
It's also a great book for young people in Christian families especially if they have doubts or if they battle with some of the problems the author did. It is encouraging to know that someone else has come through that and survived and is now on fire for the Lord and doing great things for God.
It should be read by youth workers in churches as it offers very warm pastoral guidance on how to deal with troublemakers and how to love them and not push them away.
This is a very fresh read and easy to get into and you can't help but love this rogue who turns to Jesus and sees his life change and is now seeing the Lord change other young peoples' lives too. Calver is clearly free of inhibitions in terms of how he represents his faith and as such he is bound to upset certain people but in all this I believe he wants to equip the church and see her be more like the bride that she should be. A wonderful read offering hope that today's youth will be going on for God in years to come.
Of a group of 10 to 15 people" writes Gavin Calver "only one other person and myself are still going for God. Those who packed it in claimed to be disappointed with Jesus. Really they were disappointed with church. "Today still in his twenties Gavin is on the leadership team of Youth for Christ but his personal pilgrimage hasn't always been easy. It was tough living up to the expectations of a preacher's son and he knows that you cannot survive on inherited faith. This is an 'insider's' view on why young people give up on God and an attempt to help them develop faith robust enough to survive the adolescent years.
ISBN: 9781854246493 1854246496
Catalogue code: N/A
Publisher: Lion Hudson - published 01/03/2004
Format: N/A 160 pages