I’m reading Rollie Martinson’s 1988 youth ministry classic Effective Youth Ministry: A Congregational Approach for this class I’m about to take (do you see a trend here?). I’m not very far through it yet, but so far it reads as a fairly robust and grounded approach to ministry (i.e not 20 years old). Here’s a piece from the opening chapter:

Youth ministry starts with an “intentional” theology. This means that perspectives and programs need to be constructed on the foundations of the Christian faith. The results of this construction will vary from tradition to tradition and church to church. Universal agreement is not the goal. The goal is a youth ministry shaped by the gospel as understood by one’s own theological tradition and its interpretation to Scripture. (11)