Engage! how the church can reconnect with young people

This book explores the spiritual experience of young people, particularly young Australians, listening carefully to their attitudes to the Christian churches. It finds that not only are young Australians estranged from the life of the church, their spirituality is significantly different to that of orthodox Christianity. However, the dominant spirituality of young Australians leaves them vulnerable to stress and instability. The spiritual world of St Paul, as it is found in 2 Corinthians 4, is then examined noting points of similarity and difference with that of young people in Australia. These two spiritual worlds are brought into conversation as Lesslie Newbigin's theology of mission is utilised as a lens to explore how Christian churches may remain true to their roots, yet reconnect with young people. The book concludes by discussing a new paradigm of mission to young people in 'authenticity', 'proximity' and 'intelligibility'.