The story of Jesus in the temple, at age twelve, is essentially a story of "teenage rebellion"--leaving parents, doing self-planned activities. The end of the story is that he "grew in stature and wisdom." This demonstrates an element in the process of developing from a child into an adult. This inevitable process of development from child to adult is a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual process that should result in self-identity. This is not an information-related intellectual process. It is inevitable and a divinely designed developmental human process. This book explains how such a developmental process can, and should, be the fundamental basis for a youth ministry program.

John Edward Rawlinson is retired from thirty-eight years in a inner city multi-ethnic congregation in which he engaged youth ministries on diocesan, parochial, and community-based levels. He earned a PhD in church history from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.