Welcome to episode seventy of New Creation Conversations. I’m delighted to get to share a second conversation with Dr. Andrew Root. Andy is Professor and Carrie Olson Baalson Chair of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. Andy is an alum of Bethel College in Minnesota. He has both an MDiv and ThM degrees from Fuller Seminary and a PhD from Princeton Seminary. He’s written several books on youth ministry, spiritual formation, and even on the grace of dogs.
Our conversation centers on his most recent book Churches and the Crisis of Decline: A Hopeful Practical Ecclesiology for a Secular Age (from Baker Academic). This latest book is the fourth in a series of six books Andy is writing on ministry in a secular age. I read quite a bit and so I rarely go back and read books twice. I have found Andy’s series so significant that I have read and the re-read each of the first four books in this series. It’s hard for me to pick, but I think this most recent book is my favorite in the series so far. In its pages Charles Taylor intersects with Karl Barth and both speak to the current challenges of ministry. Andy is in high demand these days and is on the road often. I feel privileged that he made the space a second time to have a conversation with me about his fascinating and significant work. I love this conversation. It’s a little longer than normal, but I had so many things I wanted to talk about, and I still didn’t get to all my questions. I think you will like this conversation a lot also.