Resilient: Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church Hardcover – December 1, 2019

Good book-if you are a teacher or a Christian teacher-Read.

A pastor friend of mine recommend this book to me and it arrived last week. I have a growing burden on my heart to encourage the next generation to grow up to go on for God – and so this book was quite intriguing to me. I finished reading it a couple of days ago.I am thankful for the main premise of this book and am thankful for the team at AWANA for their work, their creativity, and their voice in this important conversation. Every pastor and church leader should care deeply about this subject – how do we help our kids to grow up for God? Kid-ministry and student ministry were never designed to be “terminal” programs, where kids finish the program and then they’re done with church. We all need to make the long-term spiritual growth of kids a top priority in our churches. It’s what the church should be all about.Valerie Bell and the others on her team have done a commendable job on this book. And I’m thankful for the changes they are making at AWANA.This book needs to be read by pastors and church leaders – not just “kid min” specialists. Youth pastors as well especially need to think this through. What can we do to reach kids for Christ and encourage kids to grow up to live for Christ? Be discerning as you read it. Readers don’t need to adopt or accept everything here, but the message of this book will make you think! So, pray it through as you read, and ask the Lord how your church can and should change to effectively impact the next generation for eternity. The ‘fearless future” of the church matters!!

What a timely book! Over the past year here at One Life Church, we’ve been using the Pinetops Study on the Church of 2050 as well as David Kinnaman’s and Mark Matlock’s Faith For Exiles book. These have been strategic resources for us. Then about three years ago we started digging deep into ACEs work to serve local neighborhoods with traumatized kids and we’ve done the training and testing with local organizations. All of this to say I feel like Valerie’s book, RESILIENT is a compilation of everything we’ve been studying—and she’s brought it all into focus to shape resilient kids. I sure feel like Valerie’s been reading my mail! The good news is we aren’t the only ones tracking with these resources; so her new book is a strategic tool bringing focus to a lot of kingdom movement. RESLIENT will be a game-changer for pastors and KidMin leaders!

I have mixed reviews on this book. I know the authors meant very well in writing each chapter however I found myself conflicted with they way things were written. One example the first chapter seemed to mention AWANA constantly and it's not a program I use currently so it got annoying. Second, there was political junk brought up and even though they even commented on the purpose for it being included still was hard to page through! Third there are some bold statements and a whole chapter focused on even naming a mass shooter. It is real in our society and I agree radical love can transform anyone but I had a hard time that the author included names from such a hard tragic incident.Getting past those things mentioned above let me divert to the purpose of this book! The whole purpose is to reevaluate if we are raising our kids and reaching our current kids at our churches to be able to stand for TRUTH! At the end of each chapter there are several really good questions that have made me really think about what I can do better to ensure my kids are ready and prepared to stand up for Christ.Another area that really caught my attention was the media chapter. Looking at the averages of time kids are in front of a screen on a daily basis compared to how much time in church or even how much time reading the Word we have a serious problem. We know that what fills our mind fills our heart. How can we expect our kids to be faith filled when they are not reading the Bible and only going to church once a month!If you are in need of motivation to get your thoughts on how to improve your reach to the next generation and prepare for the future of the church as a whole this book will challenge you.I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for this review and all opinions expressed are 100% my own.

The people who wrote this book love God, love God's Word, love His church and love all children. They talk to those of us who are appalled at the anti-Christian cultural assault on children, and show us the way to create resilient disciples who will be flexible but unbroken in their faith as it is assaulted in the public government schools and by academia. Learn to create a bright and hopeful pathway for the future leaders of Christ's church.

This book empowers children directors and leaders to know how to disciple them. It tells you the theory and the how to create positive relationships that last. I like the way it is presented.

Well written very informative book. Every children pastor should read this. We need to prepare future generations for remaining steadfast in the Lord and I believe the research based information in this book will help us do just that.

I found so much dismay and hope in this book. I felt awakened by the words in this book. It's driven my passion for AWANA even greater.

Good read