Book Notices -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 14:1 (Spring 1993)
Article: Book Notices
Author: Anonymous


Book Notices

Christian Education

Dettoni, John M. Introduction to Youth Ministry. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993.

Seldom does one read a book on youth ministry in which the author evidences a combination of fifteen years of direct experience, fifteen years of teaching this material, plus a doctoral program in which the person is exposed to the best literature of moral and faith development. That individual is J. Dettoni.

The spate of books on youth ministry is seemingly interminable. This is a cut above almost all of them. Well researched and crafted, its balance in citing the differences between education and training, the richness of its ethnographic sensitivity, the notable grasp of the teaching-learning process, worship in the youth dimension which reflects faithful interaction with Scripture, the development of adult leadership, and the nurturing of leaders among youth is superbly handled. A particular bonus is the forty plus pages of a mature annotated bibliography that presents a number of solid contributions at various points in the theological spectrum.

Warren S. Benson

Shawchuck, Norman; Kotler, Philip; Wrenn, Bruce; and Rath, Gustave. Marketing For Congregations: Choosing to Serve People More Effectively. Nashville: Abingdon, 1992. 424 pp.

Barna, George. Church Marketing: Breaking Ground for the Harvest. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1992. 345 pp.

Webster, Douglas D. Selling Jesus: What’s Wrong With Marketing the Church. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992. 165 pp.

This reviewer is convinced that all six authors desire the same thing: the blessing of God upon our Lord’s church and on other Christian ministries. Yet the three books come at this purpose from very different perspectives. Shawchuck and company are highly skilled academicians—Kotler and Rath at Northwestern University, Wrenn at Indiana University, and the lead author who has taught at McCormick and Garrett-Evangelical seminaries. Barna has written best-selling books on leadership vision and on the basis of creditable surveys has become a recognized authority. Webster has a Ph.D. in theology at the University of Toronto

and presently pastors the Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in a Denver suburb.

Marketing For Congregations is a veritable gold mine of resource material on the marketing process. The touch and imprint of academe is all over it. Both this and the Barna book are freighted with amazing amounts of data. Barna insists that any time church leaders use the words “church growth, church dynamics, congregational development, s...

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