I am about 40 pages into a book called, The God-Hungry Imagination: The Art of Storytelling for Postmodern Youth Ministry by Sarah Arthur (Upper Room Books, 2007).

I am appreciating Arthur’s work so far. I like some of the ideas related to why youth are struggling to find the church relevant. I am also resonating with much of what Arthur says about ’story’ and the importance of it within the formation of our youth.

I am anxious to see how Arthur will use ’story’ to address two key struggles that she mentions as being critical to the “…profound reorientation of the way American Christians approach both corporate ministry and personal faith.” The two struggles are: 1) Loss of the communal story or a “metanarrative” and 2) a failure of the imagination. (pages 25-26)

I am also anxious to see how Arthur will expand on her suggested responses to these two struggles… She suggests two chief responses… 1) Reclaiming the imaginations vital role in spiritual formation and 2) Reclaiming the church as the living story. (page 29)

Arthur gives what I think is a good and helpful definition of imagination. She says that “…imagination is the image-making faculty that allows us to see and experience things that aren’t ‘immediately present to the senses’.”

Here is the money quote for me so far…

“While defenders of Christianity attempt to barge through the front door of reason by arguing ‘the case for Christ,’ the Holy Spirit has been slipping unnoticed through the back door of imagination and effecting spiritual change from the inside out. Such seems to be happening without our permission or even notice, and it’s time we started paying attention.” (page 39)