Chapter two in PMYM is titled, “A missional agenda”, which is highly necessary given the current reality of living in a post-Christian world. Essentially, Tony argues for a kind of youth ministry that is missional at its core:

As we youth workers begin to see ourselves as misisonaries, we can reconfigure our job descriptions so they look more like mission pastors and less like program directors.

The chapter gives a brief overview of Christendom beginning with 313 AD – when Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity the official religion of the Western world. This resulted in Western culture becoming synonymous with Christianity, making “missions” necessarily a cross-cultural endeavor. Obviously, as a result of the Enlightenment, rationality came to dominate Western culture, not Christianity. The Western world is no longer a homogeneous Christian culture.

As such, youth ministers must be missionaries. We must not accept the status quo, but learn the culture to which we have been sent. Doing that will require staying in a youth ministry position for the long haul, rather than the oft-quoted 18 months. It means measuring success by how many long-term disciples we have, not how many warm bodies fill a room. This also means we can’t just copy other people! Curriculum must be adapted (or created), programs can’t come from someone across the country, music that is hip on the charts might not be hip in our location. We must learn our culture and minister to it.

Tony does a good job of advocating a missional way of being a youth minister, but he seems to place a lot of the missional emphasis on the youth worker. I wish he would have shown the necessity of a missional church (which he mentions in passing) and a missional group of teenagers. It can’t all be left up to the youth minister. Regardless, the chapter is a thought-provoker.

The first chapter in Postmodern Youth Ministry (PMYM) provides the a brief introduction to postmodernism. Tony surveys the development of modernism through the philosopher Rene Descartes and the subsequent philosophical shift the occurred with Frederick Nietzche, which led to what we now call postmodernism. Rather than hurting the church, Nietzche’s declaration that “God is dead” gave the church a valuable tool: deconstruction.

Tony gives the following “credos” of postmodenism:

• Objectivity is out, subjectivity is in.
• Question everything.
• There is no Truth with a capital “T”.
• Tell stories.
• Never make lists!

He also offers the following values of the modern/postmodern era:

• Rational::Experiential
• Scientific::Spiritual
• Unanimity::Pluralistic
• Exclusive::Relative
• Egocentric::Altruistic
• Individualistic::Communal
• Functional::Creative
• Industrial::Environmental
• Local::Global
• Compartmentalized/Dichotomized::Holistic
• Relevant::Authentic

Tony cautions readers that just because postmodernism might offer some things to Christianity, we cannot accept postmodern values wholesale. Some of them are simply incompatible with the Christian faith. But we must be aware of the changing landscape and begin to think through the implications for youth ministry. The rest of the book helps us do that.

When I was trying to understand postmodernism in my philosophy class, I often came back to Chapter 1 of PMYM. The book provides a (very) concise overview of postmodernism and gives some good characteristics that help the novice begin to understand this enigmatic and controversial philosophical shift. It is obvious Tony has spent much time studying postmodern philosophy, but you don’t need an M.Phil. to understand him. It’s the best of both worlds. There is probably not a better one-chapter introduction to postmodernism and it’s implications for Christians.