Knowing how to nurture faith in young people is a challenge, particularly when we want to encourage a faith that is generous, innovative, and contextual. Faith Forward gathers 21 presentations from the 2012 "Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity" conference held in Washington, D.C., and makes them available for those in ministry with children and youth, pastors, parents, professors - anyone called to help young people on their journey of faith. Authors and attendees alike came from several countries and many denominational inflections. Likewise, the chapters express various contemporary takes on Christian faith and discipleship. This book is a goldmine of information and inspiration for those seeking to engage children and youth in respectful conversation, exploration, and learning in today's complex world. If you are seeking grassroots, forward-thinking, ecumenical, innovative, and collaborative ways to do children and youth ministry, then this book provides the material to move you in that direction.

Popular pastor Chad Veach casts a vision for a future beyond what most dare to imagine and guides us all toward the abundant plans God has for his children. Are you disappointed with your life? Do you feel like you’ll never accomplish anything remarkable? Fear not: you are in the perfect place for God to enter with his plan! In fact, your disappointments and failures are merely minor setbacks preceding a major comeback. In Faith Forward Future, Chad Veach presents the proof that God has always known you, has always cared, and is waiting to give you his better dream for your life. When you hear his words and release your broken dreams, you’ll receive all that God has in store and be enabled to reach your best possible tomorrow. With powerful Bible teaching and practical guidance, Veach invites you to stop limiting tomorrow’s possibilities by learning how to ask God for big things today dismiss the distractions of regret by being empowered to use your past for good, and redefine success by joining God in writing the remarkable story of your life!

“Some books provide us with information about the world, but every once in a while a book appears that enables us to imagine new, more wonderful worlds. [A New Kind of Christianity] is one of these.” —Peter Rollins, Ikon A New Kind of Christianity is Brian D. McLaren’s much anticipated follow-up to his breakthrough work of the emergent-church movement, A New Kind of Christian. Named by Time magazine as one of America’s top 25 evangelicals, McLaren, along with such contemporaries as N.T. Wright, Jim Wallis, and Rob Bell, is one of the acknowledged leaders of a new generation of Christians who want to update their faith for current times while remaining true to the core message of Jesus. In this controversial and thought-provoking book, McLaren explores the questions that will determine the shape of Christianity for the next 500 years.

Faith Forward: Re-Imagining Children’s and Youth Ministry is the second volume in the groundbreaking “Faith Forward” series. Compiled from presentations given at the Faith Forward 2014 conference, held in Nashville, Tennessee, May 2014, this volume features the work of Brian McLaren, Sandy Sasso, Andrew Root, Phyllis Tickle, Anne Wimberly, Ivy Beckwith with David M. Csinos, Paul-André Durocher, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Melvin Bray, and more. If you are seeking ways of doing children’s and youth ministry that are grassroots, forward thinking, ecumenical, innovative and collaborative, this book will provide inspiration and wisdom for the journey. It is essential reading for leaders working with children and youth, as well as for pastors, professors, and parents – anyone and everyone seeking to engage children and youth in respectful conversation, exploration, and learning in today’s complex world.

In one of his best-known songs, Bruce Cockburn sings about “lovers in a dangerous time.” Well, there’s no doubt that our world is under siege and that we are living in a dangerous time. With massive crises threatening life all over our planet – economic crises, social crises, ecological crises, the list goes on and on – our faith can’t afford to ignore the reality of our diverse and fragile world. Our faith needs to move or inspire us to get our hands not just dirty, but downright bruised and bloody as we work against the tremendous forces of hatred, death, and suffering in our world. That’s what this third volume in the “Faith Forward” series is about. It’s about forming Christian “lovers” in the dangerous time in which we live. It’s about dousing the flames of hatred and suffering in our world by pouring out unconditional, sacrificial love. It’s about having rich and meaningful and difficult conversations about how we can do ministry with children, youth, and families in ways that have the power to heal the world. How can we empower children and youth to disrupt the world with God’s love? How can we empower them to overturn the tables and shatter the walls, and to pour out compassion, and justice, and love in the world? This kind of ministry isn’t easy or popular work. And it isn’t going to pack kids into our church. But it’s truly life-and-death work, and we need to do it as embodiments of God’s hope and healing. Like the other books in this series, Faith Forward Volume 3 collects the wisdom of some the leading “thinkers” and “shakers” and “movers” in the arena of ministry with children and youth, including Alaa Basatneh, Brian D. McLaren, Soong-Chan Rah, Waltrina N. Middleton, Daniel White Hodge, Lisa and Mark Scandrette, Marcia J. Bunge, Leslie Neugent, Ivy Beckwith, Eboo Patel, Almeda M. Wright, and Amy K. Butler.

Do you need a devotional to help connect your family? With 100 devotionals, Faith Forward Family Devotional by authors Patrick and Ruth Schwenk equips parents to raise faith-filled kids who know, love, and live for God. Somewhere between diapers and sippy cups, piano lessons and soccer practice, dating and college searches, even the most well-intentioned family can lose sight of creating a God-centered home. As parents of four, pastor Patrick Schwenk and his wife, Ruth, of The Better Mom blog, understand the challenges--and importance--of raising faith-filled kids. Patrick and Ruth help you pass on your faith with devotions you can do at your own pace as a family. Each devotion features a Bible passage, a teaching that's applicable for kids of any age, key ideas to learn about God and His character, questions to spark family discussion, and a prayer. Faith Forward Family Devotional is aimed primarily at families with kids ages 8-12, but it also includes ideas for activities for younger children and recommendations for further study for older kids, so the whole family can join in the devotional gathering. You've passed down to your kids your last name, your love, and maybe your sense of humor or favorite hobbies. But have you passed down the most important thing: your faith? Faith Forward Family Devotional helps you grow closer to your kids as they grow closer to God. Whatever season of parenting you are in, sharing this devotional time together will help your children nourish a faith that lasts a lifetime.

The Bible tells Christians to expect persecution—and those pressures are daily rising in our culture. How do we respond with faith rather than fear to cancel culture and weaponized media narratives? The answer: Being filled with and following the Holy Spirit as the early Church did in the Book of Acts. This is the only force powerful enough to turn riots into revivals, darkness into light, hardship into triumph, and fear into bold faith.