A guide for pastors, church leaders, and all who help African Americans in their search for a meaningful Christian lifestyle.

Forming Christians--leading fallen and flawed human beings into the path of discipleship to a crucified and risen Lord--is one of the central, if not the central, tasks of all Christian churches. It is a difficult enough task anywhere, but for African Americans, beset by racial conflict, personal crises, generational separation, and other concerns, it is especially so. African American churches must work particularly hard to counter the messages their...

Offers the "village of hope" as a framework where pastors and leaders offer the church as a place of support, guidance, and accountability for youth, parents, and other adults who are raising today's black youth.

The first edition of Working with Black Youth, edited by Charles R. Foster and Grant S. Shockley, was published in 1989. Since that time the challenges for black youth have only intensified and grown in complexity. A burning question of Black churches continues to be: How can we effectively ministry with our youth? Their world is fast-paced, media-centered,...

Informed by the experiences of 772 Black churches, this book relies on a multidisciplinary, mixed-methodological lens to examine how today s Black churches address the religious and non-religious educational and broader socialization needs of youth. Drawing from a cultural and ecological framework of "village-mindedness," Barnes and Wimberly examine the intersected nature of place, space, and race to propel a conversation about whether and how the Black Church can become a more relevant and empowering presence for youth and the Black community. "