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The Jesus Creed for Students


Scot McKnight has written a very useful tool for youth pastors and their students. The Jesus Creed for students is a quick 100-page read that walks teens through the Great Commandment.

First of all, I love books that keep it simple. This premise is very simple. We should be loving God and loving others. No, it's not always simple to do that, but when we keep the simple goal in mind, we can always deal with a little complexity.

Scot, along with co-authors Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas, keeps it practical by encouraging teens to begin and end each chapter by reciting the Great Commandment and the Lord's Prayer. Without being explicit about it, they walk the reader through the Sermon on the Mount. It's hard to argue against that for good practical teaching.

I think this would be a very useful tool for youth ministry. The brevity and the breakdown of the chapters would lend itself to a small group study. While not written specifically in curriculum format, there are discussion questions highlighted throughout each chapter. Plus it has the encouragement of reciting what Scot refers to as the Jesus Creed each day and at each reading.

If there is any criticism to offer, it would be that this seems very much like an edit off Scot's original book, The Jesus Creed. While I have not read the original, or the devotional that came shortly after, at time sit felt that the student version was done quickly and that the only edits were to insert words like teenager into appropriate places. For some teens, it will feel like it was too watered down. For others, they might feel like it doesn't seem written for them.

Overall, I believe the content is for all ages. So I will likely use this with my students.

I received this book for free from my good friends at Paraclete Press. They ask me to say something about the book, but not what to say. So I do.
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