This book is for youth workers who want to dig deeper. Youth Specialties has recently come out with a new division of books, the Youth Specialties Academic Division and Four Views is from this division. It is a much deeper book than most of the books on youth ministry today. It is written in debate/rebuttal style. Each author presents his view of youth ministry in the church and the others respond to each one. The four views are: The Inclusive Congregational View, The Preparatory View, The Missional View, and The Strategic View.

The Inclusive Congregational View could be compared to a type of family-based youth ministry. The Preparatory view means youth are involved with what goes on in the church but in an age/ability-appropriate way. The Missional view approaches every aspect of the youth ministry with a view to outreach, seeking to reach out to every student regardless of the group they run with or style of their clothing, hair, or music. The Strategic view calls for the youth worker/pastor stay with a church for ten years and then plant a daughter church with the members and graduates of the youth group (and their families) as the core.

There is a fair amount of overlap among the views, but you can’t embrace all four views in their entirety because they do counter each other in certain areas. However, there are tremendous ideas that can and should be gleaned from all four.

Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church approaches youth ministry philosophically and provides good, through-provoking reading for any youth worker, but especially youth workers who are looking for youth ministry books with substance. You will be challenged, you will be pleased at certain times, and you will strongly disagree at other times, but you will also be glad that there are books coming out to really sink your teeth into in the area of youth ministry.

- Dean Conkel, Youth & Family Ministries