Wandering in the Wilderness

One of today's hot topics is the faith of "emerging adults" (the 18-30 age group). This book surveys the current research on emerging adulthood, describes the common changes emerging adults experience in their Christian faith as they move through their twenties, and discusses how emerging adults and their parents can successfully navigate those changes.


In 2000, psychologist Jeffrey Arnett posited a new life stage—"emerging adulthood"—to describe the 18-30 age group. This age group was marked by a growing chasm between adolescence and the completion of traditional adult milestones. A number of scholarly studies of this age group have been done in the last decade. This book surveys that research, and offers an overview of how emerging adults view Christian faith. It explains how emerging adults reject or modify several of the Christian faith's most common tenets and assumptions. And it offers guidance to parents, grandparents, ministers, and anyone who seeks to better understand the perplexing changes often seen in emerging adults' religious faith and practice.


In addition to presenting in reader-friendly form the conclusions of recent research on this age group, Wandering in the Wilderness weaves in the reflections of real-life emerging adults who responded to the author's request to share their own experiences of Christian faith. These provide powerful, poignant glimpses into the topic.