Tom is a high school freshman at our church who is similar to others his age. He loves sports and girls, and his life is trapped in a perpetual cycle of homework and busyness. By all accounts, he is a normal high school kid.
But Tom has something that makes him different. He is being pursued by a church that is dedicated to prepping its entire congregation to encourage faith in young people. We fail a lot at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, but one of our key goals is to have many adults who know and love kids like Tom and point them to Jesus Christ. It isn’t just a ministry strategy; it’s the theological conviction that this is what the church is called to be.
Recently, Tom ran into a thirty-year-old member of our church named Mike, and they laughed and talked for a few minutes. When the conversation ended, Tom turned to his mom and said, “Mom, I will always follow Jesus.”
Nothing could have meant more to this mom. “Why?” she said.
“Because there are so many guys like Mike at our church who I know love me,” he said. “I want to be like that.” Kids experience Jesus Christ when adults in the church give them grace, time, and genuine love with no hidden agenda.
But here is the sad reality: Tom is the exception, not the norm. Most kids lack connection to and investment from a church community that is mobilized to reach them. Very few churches have transformed their culture to see kids as a mission field on their own campuses.
No one has diagnosed and communicated the heart of this problem like Chap Clark and Kara Powell.
To say that Menlo Park Presbyterian Church’s philosophy has been influenced by the work and thought of Chap Clark and Kara Powell is a massive understatement. Chap and Kara are leading the way forward in thoughtful, theological reflection about kids and faith in today’s changing landscape. These are some of the deepest thoughts you will read about today’s kids and their faith.
But what is so helpful about this book is its immensely practical help. Kara and Chap are in constant dialogue with “real world” youth workers. Turning theory into concrete practice matters to us. It matters to Tom too, although he may not realize it yet. And it matters to anyone who dedicates their time, energy, and even their whole lives to seeing young people embrace Jesus Christ at the core of who they are.
Chap and Kara have a dream that kids like Tom eventually will be the norm, not the exception. Sticky Faith is more than another book about kids and their faith; it’s a journey into the heart of every adult who is forced to respond to the question of what, really, the church of Jesus Christ is called to be.
— JOHN ORTBERG AND JIM CANDY