The Me I Was Made to Be: Helping Christian Parents Navigate the Identity Conversation
Ebook
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.
Foreword
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
“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!”
“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.”
“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.”
“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."
“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.”
- Title: The Me I Was Made to Be: Helping Christian Parents Navigate the Identity Conversation
- Authors: Christie Penner Worden, Meredith Anne Miller
- Publisher: Herald Press
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781513814865, 9781513814841, 1513814842, 1513814869
- Resource ID: LLS:9781513814865
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-08-06T02:06:37Z
Christie Penner Worden is the North American director for RaiseUpFaith and a strategic leader, speaker, preacher, and writer who is passionate about discipling children, inspiring leaders, and equipping churches with effective support to raise this generation with courageous faith. Christie is a pastor with the Be In Christ (BIC) denomination. She has an Engage Certificate in Children’s Ministry through Bethel Seminary and is a certified coach with the International Network of Children’s Ministry. She loves sharing her wonder and what-ifs with dreamers and doers alike, and with organizations including David C. Cook, Ministry Spark, INCM, New Wine, KidzMatter, KidBuilders, Awesome KidMin Community, Lead Volunteers, The Kids Ministry Collective, Collide Kids Podcast, Bible Talk, Jesus Collective, and local churches across Canada.