Growing youth

Youth ministers have a problem with hope. We tend to confuse it with pluck or treat it as a perky distraction from life's hard realities. Or we simply downgrade Christian hope—the kind born out of God's suffering love for us on the cross—to a Monty Pythonesque reminder to always look on the bright side of life.

One of the chief virtues of Green­houses of Hope is that it never wanders into the realm of such pious fiction. In this heartening book, Dori Grinenko Baker, scholar-in-residence at the Fund for Theological Education, gathers a team of practical theologians to profile six ministries in which young people experience "vocational flourishing" in churches that attend to the nitty-gritty of growing up in a global culture. The authors' palpable passion for boots-on-the-ground research makes Greenhouses a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on practical theology, ethnog­raphy and youth ministry. These theologians also offer mainline Chris­tians a reassuring squeeze of encouragement, reminding us that congregations practice Christian hope with teenagers not only by catechizing them but also by helping them understand themselves as leaders called to "reshape the world."

Greenhouses of Hope immerses us in congregations in which young people "have access to a distinctly Christian hope." Baker calls this distinctive form of hope emancipatory hope-in-action—a mouthful that means "hope that does not abandon the world or seek to perfect it, but does set out to change it." She argues that congregations that nourish young people's vocations have four practices in common: they create hospitable space for young people to explore Christian vocation; they ask self-awakening questions; they reflect theologically on self and community; and they explore and establish ministry opportunities.