Beyond the Screen: Youth Ministry for the Connected But Alone Generation

It's no secret that teenagers are perpetually connected via social media and mobile devices, but while we've analyzed as a culture how youth are connecting we've done less well at understanding why teenagers are drawn to the glow of the screen. Beyond the Screen explores the reality that teenagers use these technologies in desperate bid for an intimacy and depth of relationship largely absent from face-to-face society and the church.


Employing the latest ethnographic research on youth and digital media in tandem with theological reflection and interviews with teens themselves, author Andrew Zirschky provides a deeper glimpse into the world of teens and social media and gives new direction and directives for ministering to Millennials. Read more Continue reading Read less BOOK DESCRIPTION
How to minister to a generation in the world of social media. FROM THE BACK COVER
"Buckle up for a breathtaking read:Beyond the Screenlays down the gauntlet in the first sentence, and doesn't let up until our conventional wisdom about tech, teenagers and faith has been turned inside out. Andrew Zirschky is the master of the memorable tidbit, with an uncanny knack for noticing interdisciplinary connections that the rest of us mere mortals miss. The result is a refreshingly intelligent treatise that artfully frames research in stories only a youth pastor can tell. What you hold in your hands is a manifesto, a call to worship--and far and away one of the best youth ministry books of the last twenty years."
--KENDA CREASY DEAN, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminaryand author, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church.


"If you've grown weary of simplistic demonizing of social media's impact on youth, if you're tired of widely accepted misinformation about the digital world of teenagers in our churches, if you're ready to move beyond the glitter of the slickest new youth ministry technology,Beyond the Screencharts a sane, faithful way forward. From his unmasking of the 'moth myth' on the very first page to his compelling call tokoinoniaon the last, Andrew Zirschky has clearly established himself as the digital cartographer for the church's ministry to the next generation. ‪#ReadThisBook‬"
--MARK DEVRIES,author of Sustainable Youth Ministry, founder of Ministry Architects, and co-founder of Ministry Incubators.


"Andrew Zirschky has done us all a great favor is his bookBeyond the Screen. No parent, youth worker, or pastor can ignore the impact of our digital landscape, and Zirschky paints just the picture that can help you think theologically about its terrain of promise and peril. This is a book I'll reference and read over and again for both its theory construction and its practical help. This is a must read!"
--ANDREW ROOT, Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary and author of Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Zirschky (Ph.D. Princeton Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Practical Theology and Youth Ministry at Memphis Theological Seminary and serves as academic director at the Center for Youth Ministry Training in Brentwood, Tennessee. He has 20 years of youth ministry experience at churches in Idaho, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Tennessee. Read more Continue reading Read less