Malan Nel, Youth Ministry: An Inclusive Missional Approach, Cape Town (AOSIS) 2018, 420 pp., ISBN 9781928396413, R 1,226.

This book is a revised and updated version of the original book that was written by Malan Nel (1998, 2000). In the foreword, Nel outlines four reasons that prompted him to revise and update the book: first, he changed the title of the book to “Missional Approach” to convey the message that Youth Ministry is an integral part of the congregational mission; secondly, he revised the book to make it accessible to “local theologians” who find it difficult to navigate academic books; thirdly Nel went against the norms of Youth Ministry books that were mainly focused on the how to now focusing on the why, and fourth, he wanted to add an empirical contribution to Youth Ministry. Just like the four reasons above, the book is also divided into four major parts.

The book is, therefore, aimed at scholars in the field of Youth Work/Youth Ministry, students studying in this field and as noted above local theologians such as clergy and youth workers. In this way the book is accessible. In some ways it could even be regarded as a proposed handbook for the field as it contains positioning in the field of Practical Theology and Youth Ministry as a sub-discipline, theological lenses for Youth Ministry, the integration of Youth Ministry as interdisciplinary field, its history and conceptual approaches and tools for the praxis of Youth Ministry. The last part of the book, which is also the last chapter of the book, discusses the organization and administration of Youth Ministry, including: the need for planning (especially program planning), in Youth Ministry as well as the importance of oversight, finances, and evaluation in Youth Ministry.

Perhaps most importantly, Nel’s book challenges the traditional dichotomy between Youth Ministry as a duty of the ecclesiastical offices and Youth Ministry as an organized form of working with young people that are not part of the ministry of catechesis. He argues that Youth Ministry should never be excluded from the life of the congregation because youth are an integral part of the faith community, an approach which is central to the way in which Youth Ministry should be done today.