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CURRENTLY IN BOOKS
Doing church in the 21st century

Peter J. Woelk

In Search of Authentic Faith: How Emerging Generations Are Transforming the Church Steve Rabey. Colorado Springs, Colo.: WaterBrook Press, 2001. 218 pp.

Meeting the spiritual needs of kids and young adults today may be a perplexing problem. This generation is much different from the preceding one. Doing church in the traditional sense may not always benefit the post-boomer generation.

In Search of Authentic Faith recognizes this reality. Steve Rabey, author of numerous articles on religion, spirituality and popular culture for such publications as Christianity Today, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, examines how the church in the 21st century is changing to meet the needs of the post-boomer generation.

Not only was I impressed with the information provided, but also with how it is presented. Rabey did some good research and knows his subject very well. His style is easy to follow, and the concepts are not hard to grasp. While some of the information is not new, I sensed some prophetic insights in this book. This is a good book for those needing an introduction or a map to navigate the murky waters of the post-boomer world.

Included are web site addresses of current ministries focusing on generations X and Y issues. While this may be relevant now, it will cause the book to become dated in a short time, seeing that the Internet is constantly changing. Many ministries using the web could be defunct or will have changed their web addresses by the time this book is a year old.

In any case, this book is valuable for those wanting to use an alternative church model suited to reaching the post-boomer generation.

Peter J. Woelk is editorial assistant at the MB Herald.

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Last modified November 21, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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