Overview of Walt Muellerer's novel, 'Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture'

According to Walt Mueller's book "Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture," young people have been seen as experiencing a variety of changes in their lives compared to ancient generations. The new wave of change has influenced them and this has altered their actions in society. This book discusses different problems facing young people and also outlines opportunities for church leaders and parents to integrate in order to ensure that the younger generation is redeemed from the rampant evils and vices of the modern world. According to Mueller, it is significant for the church to admit that the behavior of youths has been changed by what they hear, watch, and see especially in this modern age. The change in youth’s way of life is attributed to the uniqueness and the modern edge pleasure which the church does not subscribe to. In this regard, the church has failed to understand what the youths are going through. It will be waste of time and resources to streamline vast resources to redeem the youth from the menace of immorality and other current rising world evils that have ravaged the youth without first of all understanding the genesis of the situation. Walt Mueller made a couple of positive stretches and has gone beyond the point of analyzing the real challenges and the remedies that should be undertaken. Consequently, the church needs to know comprehensively the experiences that the youth undergo. As put by Walt, “youth have encrypted message amongst themselves”. Therefore, it is inevitable that the church should be able to decrypt the same messages. Yet, at the church, reality of the situation is not the way it should be ‘We aren’t listening and we even don’t know it’. This just gives us a glimpse of the level of colossal shallowness of the church doctrines.[1]

In addition to that, the church should countermeasure the challenge with concrete doctrines rather than just teaching abstract concepts that do not entail the emerging challenges of the modern world. Hence, the youth are in dire need of solutions more than answers to their new adventures. Furthermore, author puts that “Our God is their God”, this means that the youth are perceived to have taken a different direction from the other members of the church. As such, there is a vacuum in a myriad youth religious lives that need to be filled with sound doctrine that will enable them develop a positive view of the life of Christianity.[2]

Also, the Church should embrace the unifying mechanism when passing their message to the youth. Undermining the post-modern youth culture by the church is a great danger and will even further cause far-reaching negative consequences to the entire society. Clergy people should instead align their focus on laying down an effective foundation that will eventually culminate to reaching out the youth who have gone astray from the faith of Christianity. Saving the lost sinful young people should be the order of the day rather than concentrating making professional followers. Hence, inculcating the issue of cross-cultural missionaries as part and parcel of the church, might be unwelcoming to the Christian professionals but there is looming success in the future if the church foregoes these limitation. However, the new changes that are always rising, should not be accommodated in the church without understanding well the consequences. On the other hand, the church should be renewed and be transformed positively by understanding how to contextualize the word of God and at the same time not conforming to immoral vices of the world.[3]

Additionally, Mueller derives his analogy from the teachings of Paul in the Bible, the work of Apostle Paul is encouraging and he serves as a role model to modern Christianity. Having a deep grasp of how Paul perform the calling he had from God, will perhaps trigger Christians to encompass the spirit of passion, enthusiasm, single-mindedness, and focused to the given missionary work. The Bible puts clear that Christians have been assigned the duty of spreading the word of God to the whole world. The author stresses the need for Christians to follow Paul’s footsteps in order to realize the fruits of the great agenda bestowed upon by God .Moreover, prayer is vividly displayed as the embodiment of all the works of Christians. Succinctly, the author refers Christians to the prayer made by Jesus Christ in the Bible. Prayer is the basis of communication between Christians and their God and it is very important for the youths though many do not adhere to it. It is inevitable for Christian to succumb to ever rising challenges-associated with their faith if they do not understand the importance of prayer in their ministry. Sometimes, the church devices new methods to minister the word of God to the youth but their efforts are rendered futile at the end of the day. Furthermore, if the church is not prayerful such challenge will mushroom and threaten the work of the church. However, the church should be devoted to constant prayers that will see their message sink into the hearts of the youth if change is expected.[4]

The Mars Hill ministry paradigm has been demonstrated by the author and it is clear that, youths in the modern world are constantly swayed by desire to try new things. For instance, modern dressing code, movies and radio programs that touch on modern sexuality, their family situation, and above all their interests and hobbies. This was a direct encounter of the experience Paul went through when he visited Athens. In short, the youth should critically analyze where they started going wrong as much as holiness is concerned and prudently incorporate Christian life in their perceived modern lifestyle.[5]

The book “Engaging the Souls of Youth” has depicted how the family, school, church friends, and peers have influenced values and behavior of the young people. The knowledge of the issues that have changed the perspective and the culture of the youth is a cornerstone for raising a morally upright generation.

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Reference List

Walt, Mueller. Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture (2007), 1-256.