The Supernatural Summer 1991

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Youth Ministry for the Long Run

Feeding Your Forgotten Soul: Spiritual Growth for Youth Workers by Paul Borthwick, Zondervan, $12.95

Reviewed by David L. Goetz, associate pastor, Mountain Christian Fellowship, Golden, Colorado

What do youth workers and minor league baseball players have in common? Neither feel like they're in the big leagues.

What youth pastor hasn't felt like a minor leaguer? "The church's impression of youth workers is like that of a league-leading hitter in the minor leagues," insists Paul Borthwick, author of Feeding Your Forgotten Soul, in a recent telephone conversation. "You're good, but you haven't made it in the majors."

That attitude drives capable men and women out of youth ministry. Often they cycle back to the marketplace, pursuing "real jobs."

The church's misperceptions and the peculiar demands of youth ministry inflict heavy casualties on youth workers. Feeding Your Forgotten Soul is about maintaining the spiritual vitality of youth ministers, keeping them in ministry.

Borthwick, a seasoned youth minister, begins and ends his book with the warning: "Veteran youth workers have determined that the side effects of youth work can be hazardous to your spiritual health."

The underlying hazard is spiritual flabbiness. "The spiritual race has many hurdles," insists Borthwick, now minister of missions at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. "We may clear one or two with ease, but it is the repeated challenge that may knock us out of the race."

In the first of three sections in his book, Borthwick identifies six hurdles to spiritual growth. The chapters on motivation, the learning plateau, and lust can be pored over and pondered.

Is your motivation for youth ministry legitimate? "Although I hated to admit ...

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