Relationships Matter

For more than 50 years, relational or incarnational ministry has been a major focus in youth ministry. But for too long, those relationships have been used as tools---as a means to an end---where adults try to influence students to accept, know, trust, believe, or participate in something. While our motives may be good, it's possible that by focusing on these goals, we're not ministering the whole person. When we choose not to engage in the full life of a student, we run the risk of failing them and our ministry. In this thoughtful and insightful book, Andrew Root challenges us to reconsider our motives and begin to consider simply being with and doing life alongside teenagers with no agenda other than to love them right where they are, by place-sharing. As he shares stories of his (and others') successes and failures in relational youth ministry, you'll find practical ideas to help you recreate the role of relationships in your youth ministry. If you're involved in the lives of teenagers, whether as a youth pastor, volunteer youth worker, church leader, or parent, you'll want to read this book and work together to discover the value of place-sharing in the lives of teens. You'll see that it's time to tear down the old structure of relational youth ministry and start again.

User Reviews about Relationships Unfiltered: Help for Youth Workers - Volunteers - and Parents on Creating Authentic Relationships

This book is outstanding. Root does a wonderful job of bringing the theoretical down to the practical. I used his book during our staff training at my camp (a Lutheran family camp) to illustrate what it means to really be there for someone. I love how he uses Bonhoeffer and Luther's theology of the cross. It really spells out why Christ's crucifixtion and resurrection are models for our relationships. -- Great book about relationships - not just for folks in youth ministry

There is a misconception in the congregation and maybe even the youth ministry field centered around relational youth ministry. Root takes it on and does it in a readable concise way. Root centers the book around adult relationships with youth at the most influential time of their lives. It is OK to be human with the youth, in fact preferable to having an agenda for conversion to a way of thinking. Youth need and look for someone to be "real" with them. This includes pointing out an offending behavior in a honest but non demeaning way. In a field driven by numbers and programs, it is refreshing to see ministry and theology center and to the front. Ministry has never been about "club" atmosphere but about helping the "needy" person. Root challenges the professional youth person to get the ministry into the congregation, maintain their own integrity with family and friends, and keep God front and center. -- Youth Ministry is about "truthful" Relationships

I have been involved with Youth Ministry for almost 10 years and i have read dozens of YM books. Without a doubt this book rises to the top (along with "Revisiting Relational YM" from which this book comes). In the rubble of YM programming books Root's offering is actually THEOLOGICAL in nature, not simply pragmatic or utilitarian. His claims that relational YM can be problematic and misguided might be off-putting at first to some but if you truly grasp what he is saying it will be a game changer for how you do ministry.

It is time for a more theologically rigorous youth ministry because pizza parties and Play Station won't change the world - or our students lives. -- Best of the Best of YM books.

Easy to read and comprehend book that introduces a new paradigm for looking at the motivations and work of work with youth. -- Enjoyabe and useful read