Making Room: The Purpose and Practice of Youth Ministry

For too many years, youth ministry has been about keeping young people entertained in order to keep them out of trouble. Making Room contends that the primary purpose of youth ministry is to integrate young people into the body and mission of Christ. A lifelong youth ministry practitioner and researcher, Michael A. Kipp shares the narrative of his and others’ experiences in order to help the church embrace and understand youth ministry more fully in practice, not just in theory. Kipp dares to dream beyond the normal youth ministry template to develop a whole-church system that grafts young people into a body they will want to be part of well into adulthood.  Making Room shares research on adolescent development, the history of youth ministry, ideas for development of a robust, whole-church ministry that includes youth, and tips for effectively communicating this vision to the entire faith community.

Michael A. Kipp, DMin, is the professor of practical theology at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, and an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene. He has spent the past thirty years working with young people in California, Kansas, and Idaho. Mike holds degrees from Nazarene Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary. He is married to the lovely and talented Sandy, and together they have two children, Spencer and McKenna.