So the Next Generation Will Know Participant's Guide: Preparing Young Christians for a Challenging World

By Sean McDowell and J. Warner Wallace

This fully-researched, eight-session guide takes participants through a variety of engaging materials that will enable youth leaders, Christian teachers, and parents to strategically teach truth to the next generation. These authors are both parent’s and have been youth leaders (and Sean has been a Christian school teacher), so they know how to equip youth influencers to discover fresh ways to reach students and help them be effective defenders of God’s truth.
 
Written to work seamlessly with their all-new book and video series, this accessible guide includes questions for reflection, notes for discussion, and plenty of real-life ministry examples to aid readers as they seek to apply the most effective tools to their own youth ministries and classrooms. Participants will grow confident that they’re utilizing the best practices available as they send their youth out into a challenging culture.

This interactive study guide includes a free QR code and URL to access all eight videos, plus additional content for engaging study as a group or on your own. To aid you in your planning, following are the session titles and video run times:
 
1          Love Responds            11:42
2          Love Understands       11:06
3          Love Relates                10:33
4          Love Equips                 10:22
5          Love Ignites                 10:53
6          Love Trains                  11:10
7          Love Explores              11:31
8          Love Engages              11:35
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: David C Cook
• Release date: May 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780830777181

Sean McDowell

Dr. Sean McDowell is a gifted communicator with a passion for equipping the church, especially young people, to make the case for the Christian faith. He connects with audiences through humor and stories while imparting hard evidence and logical support of a biblical worldview. Sean is an associate professor in Talbot School of Theology’s Christian Apologetics program at Biola University. Sean is an internationally recognized speaker and the author, co-author, or editor of numerous books. He has a popular YouTube channel in which he discusses apologetics, culture, and worldview issues and regularly hosts conversations with non-Christians. He blogs regularly at seanmcdowell.org and engages a range of different social media platforms.

Book preview

SO THE NEXT GENERATION WILL KNOW PARTICIPANT’S GUIDE

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

Integrity Music Limited, a Division of David C Cook

Brighton, East Sussex BN1 2RE, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

Details in some stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked

NASB

are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). The authors have added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

ISBN 978-1-4347-1229-5

eISBN 978-0-8307-7718-1

© 2019 James Warner Wallace and Sean McDowell

Published in association with the literary agency of Mark Sweeney & Associates, Naples, FL 34113.

The Team: Timothy Fox, Stephanie Bennett, Amy Konyndyk, Jack Campbell, Susan Murdock

Cover Design: Nick Lee

First Edition 2019

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

⁰³¹¹¹⁹

The Authors

Sean McDowell, PhD, is an associate professor of Christian apolo­getics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, as well as a part-time high school teacher at Capistrano Valley Christian Schools. He is a bestselling author (or coauthor) of more than eighteen books, including A New Kind of Apologist.

Sean is a popular speaker at camps, conferences, universities, and churches worldwide. He is also the National Spokesman for Summit Ministries, a worldview training ministry for students sixteen to twenty-five. Sean lives in Southern California with his wife and three kids. You can learn more about Sean McDowell’s ministry at SeanMcDowell.org.

J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline-featured cold-case detective, Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, adjunct professor of Christian apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, and faculty member at Summit Worldview Conference. He is the author of Cold-Case Christianity, God’s Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, and is the creator (along with his wife, Susie) of the Case Makers Academy for Kids (CaseMakersAcademy.com).

J. Warner served as a children’s minister, youth pastor, and lead pastor before becoming a popular national speaker. He and Susie live in Southern California and have four grown children. You can learn more about J. Warner’s ministry at ColdCaseChristianity.com.

CONTENTS

Session 1

LOVE RESPONDS

Examining the Challenge Before Us

Session 2

LOVE UNDERSTANDS

Recognizing the Uniqueness of This Generation

Session 3

LOVE RELATES

Connecting with the Hearts of Young People

Session 4

LOVE EQUIPS

Giving Kids a Worldview That Brings Significance

Session 5

LOVE IGNITES

Developing a Passion for Truth

Session 6

LOVE TRAINS

Resisting the Desire to Entertain Rather Than Train

Session 7

LOVE EXPLORES

Providing Life-Changing Adventures for Students

Session 8

LOVE ENGAGES

Preparing Students through Movies, Music, Social Media, and Current Events

Notes

Session 1

Love Responds

Examining the Challenge Before Us

Challenges require a response, and the church is facing a true challenge: young people in America and Europe are leaving the Christian church at an unprecedented rate.

I (J. Warner) first noticed the problem when I was a youth pastor. I took over leadership from my energetic, young predecessor, who had grown the group into a robust, engaged collection of junior high and high school students. Many had been raised together in the church, and they invited their friends to join the group. As a result, our students had deep relationships that bound them together.

In my first year as their pastor, I leaned heavily on my training as an artist (I have a BA in design and an MA in architecture). Our meetings were interactive, artistic, and experiential, incorporating music, imagery, and other sensory elements. The students seemed to enjoy the approach, and over time the group grew even larger.

But our results were terrible.

Not long after graduating the first seniors, we found that most of them walked away from Christianity in the initial weeks of their freshman year at college. Many of our current students were still in touch with these new nonbelievers, and when I heard that they now rejected the existence of God, I was crushed, and I accepted the blame.

In the year since becoming their pastor, I had come to love these students. I felt a paternal responsibility to them. Like the apostle John, I wanted no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth (3 John 1:4

NASB

). When I heard that most of my graduating seniors had strayed from the family, I reconciled myself to the fact that I hadn’t adequately prepared them for life after youth group. I thought, I must be the worst youth pastor ever. Then I started to study the issue

Reviews for So the Next Generation Will Know Participant's Guide

[Rebekah Webber · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So helpful in thinking about how to practically train the next generation to know and love Jesus!