Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church

The National Study of Youth and Religion asserts that, instead of consequential faith, most American teenagers practice "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" - a superficial, low-commitment, self-serving spirituality that seems to characterize many American churches. Dean believes that churches must recover a "missional mindset"-the conviction that "we are not here for ourselves"-and that consequential faith begins by helping teenagers, parents, and congregations reclaimde-centering practices like translation, testimony, and spiritual "detachment" (what the mystics called the ability to focus on God and others instead of ourselves).