Youth Ministry 3.0: A Manifesto. By Mark Oestreicher. El Cajon, CA: Youth Specialties, 2008, 155 pp., $12.99.

The premise for Mark Oestreicher’s book, Youth Ministry 3.0, is that youth workers need to change (19). Oestreicher introduces the problem by referencing recent studies, which found that teens were leaving the church shortly after high school (24). By mentioning these studies and not further developing a need for the gospel, one is left with an unspoken implication that youth ministry is about head count.

Although Oestreicher made numerous unsubstantiated claims about the early stages of the youth ministry movement (45, 47, 48, 50), his reliance on scholars such as Mark Senter, Jon Savage, and Kenda Dean enables him to present a very brief yet accurate depiction of the rise and reason for youth ministry. This depiction would have been strengthened by the use of primary sources and by citing some of the bolder claims he propositioned. The historical synopsis provided a single side of the double-sided coin of youth ministry.

Oestreicher describes the 1970s as an epochal shift in how we do youth ministry (54). He credits Youth Specialties’ founders Mike Yaconelli and Wayne Rice with much of the work that promulgated this shift. It is interesting to note that Wayne Rice has recently released books entitled Generation to Generation and Reinventing Youth Ministry (Again) in which Rice places the role and function of parents at the top of the priority list–a stark contrast to Oestreicher’s position and to the early days of Youth Specialties. Oestreicher gives the topic of parents less than a page of text and even less credibility (107). Oestreicher states that as much as parents are important, he is writing of something “larger and broader” (107). He claims that most family-based ministries have done nothing else than add programs (107), yet Oestreicher’s proposition is no different. He encourages his readers to do more for youth (94-95, 110) while at the same time suggesting programs to be cut (97).

Oestreicher’s theological foundations are quite confusing at times. He claims that the experience of teenagers is what links them to God (102) and seems not to recognize that faith comes through hearing, not experience (Rom 10:17). Oestreicher admits that the experiences will come and go depending on the youth culture (88), but never mentions the one thing that is constant in all people’s lives-the gospel.

Amidst the confusing theology, one of the most unfortunate aspects of the text was the manner in which Oestreicher presented the motivation for change. Oestreicher did not turn to Scripture, but instead presented a model he gleaned from what he himself calls a new-age business book (109). It is this model he encourages his readers to adopt in regards to the movement from where they are to where they need to be. It is this model that Kenda Dean suggests the reader to “baptize” in order to promote effective change (13).

Oestreicher does point out that we need to first identify the heart of God and where God is already at work, and then join with the work already in progress (75). Oestreicher hits the nail on the head when he says that youth culture has splintered (88). Yet instead of trying to fix the splinter by developing youth ministry practices that are rooted in the gospel and in Scripture, Oestreicher suggests our approaches need to splinter more (88). It is difficult to see how such an approach can truly reflect God’s design for his church.

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[Editor's Note: Ryan Steenburg (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Director of Administration and Development for the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.  He is also the founder and director of DaddyDiscipleship.com.]