Book details
The Me I Was Made to Be
Your kids are talking about identity. Are you part of the conversation?
Today’s kids and youth are talking about identity—and often very differently from the adults around them. How can we walk well with them through their questions about who they are and how they fit into the family of God? We must begin by telling a better gospel story, with an invitational posture that actually expects us to love God and love others.
In this engaging and disarming book that speaks to readers across the theological spectrum, author and children’s ministry expert Christie Penner Worden invites grownups along to imagine a more Jesus-centered narrative for the sake of kids who are no longer buying what the church is selling, who do not feel safe, and who have not been welcomed into the conversation that adults are having without them. The Me I Was Made to Be is the beginning of a conversation that offers a compelling story on identity rooted in a deeper understanding of the gospel—one that includes all image-bearers and extends Jesus’ welcome to all our kids.
Paperback
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...Hardcover
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...eBook
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...Introduction
1 How Do You Share Mango?
2 What Do You Love (Like I Love Mango)?
3 Before We Get Into It
4 Redefining Need
5 Sharpening Your Knife (to Get Into It)
6 Now What? (I Thought Mangoes Were Sweet)
7 Is There Hope in the Tension?
8 Where Do You Feel the Tension?
9 Can We Resolve the Tension?
10 Where Do We Go from Here?
11 Do Mangoes Grow in Samaria?
12 What Are You Afraid Of? (The Big, Hairy Pit)
13 Is There Enough Mango for Everyone?
14 Today’s Mangoes and Today’s Parents (Real Talk for the Church)
15 How Do You Get Into This Thing?
16 Theological Guideposts (A Recipe for a Better Conversation)
17 What If It Isn’t Sweet? (Oh, but What If It Is?)
18 What If We Get It Wrong (and Lose Our Way)?
19 Every Bible Story Is an Identity Story
Acknowledgments
Notes
The Author
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Praise for The Me I Was Made to Be
“This book offers a refreshingly honest and thorough exploration into a generational crisis infused with divine opportunity. Christie Penner Worden helps us rediscover Jesus in the midst of chaotic times, turning up the volume on the good news. Read this book and learn to love a generation into their truest identity in Christ. This will help us all become who we were meant to be together!”
—DANIELLE STRICKLAND, author, advocate, and communicator
“A Jesus-centered, love-filled, intergenerationally informed engagement with this crucial current question: How shall Christian parents engage their children’s wrestling with issues of identity? Highly recommended.”
—DAVID P. GUSHEE, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University and author of After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity
“Christie Penner Worden invites us to think first about how we want to discuss identity before jumping into the who, what, why, and when. She boldly, yet gently, reminds us that at the core of all our theological distinctives lies the centrality of Jesus and his love for all his children. A must-read for parents, grandparents, and ministry leaders who are looking to navigate conversations around identity while truly loving the kids and youth in their care.”
—NATALIE FRISK, director of curriculum for RaiseUp Faith and author of Raising Disciples: How to Make Faith Matter for Our Kids
“In The Me I Was Made to Be, Christie Penner Worden invites us into kids’ wonderings about identity and points out ways that adults miss the mark in accompanying them. In helping readers grapple with unraveling the complexity of identity, Penner Worden helps readers reconfigure their understanding of Jesus for everybody, child and adult alike."
—CHRISTINE J. HONG, associate professor of educational ministry and director of the Doctor of Educational Ministry program at Columbia Theological Seminary
“Christie Penner Worden has written a book that every parent, teacher, leader, and pastor should read. It’s colorful, charming, and filled with the deep wisdom we need for this moment. The Me I Was Mede to Be will help you navigate difficult conversations with grace, it will empower you to share the love of Jesus with kids, it will give tools to be a non-anxious, Jesus-like presence in people’s lives, and maybe most surprising of all, it will remind you of God’s deep abiding love for you.”
—JONNY MORRISON, church planter, pastor, and author of Prodigal Gospel: Getting Lost and Found Again in the Good News