When God Shows Up is part history of how Protestants have interacted with “youth” in the United States and part theology of how they should structure such interactions. Mark Senter, chair of the Educational Ministries Department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, presents his readers with a survey of a variety of movements and initiatives that Protestants have tried, attempting to situate these youth ministries in larger historical and cultural contexts. He argues that youth ministries go through fifty-year cycles of rise and decline and that four such cycles occurred from the antebellum period through the late twentieth century. Senter uses two hooks—depictions of youth in popular culture and the metaphor of “jazz”—not only to help his readers understand the historical situations Protestants and their children were in but also to help explain how youth ministries function. Through the metaphor of “jazz,” Senter suggests that Protestant youth have often improvised their styles of ministry instead of intentionally establishing specific programs. Just as jazz has been modified with the times and gone through distinct phases, so too, he argues, can we see similar occurrences in youth ministry.

Part 1 of the book delineates how “youth,” “adolescence,” and “spirituality” have changed across the time periods. Senter demonstrates the fluidity of these categories and how Protestants responded (or sometimes failed to respond) to changing conceptions about the lives of young Americans. Despite these changes, Senter argues that youth ministries run in cycles. According to this model, Protestant youth movements begin in times of secularization and social unrest (or at least the perception of such things) among the economic middle class (because of the increased resources and time such people have to involve themselves in youth work). These movements often start with a single visionary leader who creates a simple system of youth work. Media involvement helps spread the system and draw people to it, usually focusing on the work of a spokesperson, who may or may not be the same visionary who started the movement.

Parts 2 through 5 lay out the different formats Protestant youth ministry has taken. The first period (1824–1875) saw various associations bring youth together, often around specific issues. Sunday schools, the juvenile temperance movement, and the YMCA formed a foundation from which later youth ministries grew. Formal youth groups appeared in the second period (1881–1925) when Protestants created youth societies such as the Society of Christian Endeavor. Sometimes these societies where ecumenical (as with Christian Endeavor), but denominations often formed their own societies that “encouraged youthful spirituality as well as denomination loyalty” (xv). These societies also moved beyond the single focus of the previous cycle to include an interest in the total lives of youth. Protestants changed their tactics again in the third period of youth ministry (1933–1989). During this period, they focused more on interpersonal issues regarding converting youth and keeping them connected to Christianity. Youth ministries used a “relational” approach aimed at the plight of American teenagers. Those involved in such programs believed that teenagers would respond to “authentic” expressions of piety that centered on the “experience” of Christianity. This period also saw the rise of parachurch organizations such as Youth for Christ and Young Life, organizations that introduced ministers like Billy Graham to audiences across the United States. Senter's fourth period began in the 1990s. While it is too early to say much about this period, he notes that Protestants face more ethnic diversity in ministering to America's youth, and he recommends that ministerial approaches be modified take this diversity into account.

There are a few drawbacks to the work, some of which the author recognizes in his epilogue. He acknowledges that there is no sustained examination of issues of race and gender in the work—even where such analysis would be warranted. In his discussion of Evelyn McCluskey's Miracle Book Club, for example, Senter notes that unlike other expressions of youth ministry (especially in the early to mid-twentieth century) women were responsible for the creation and leadership, but he never interrogates what might have made this form different from others or whether or not female leadership played any role in the failure of the club to sustain its work.

In addition, there are a few factual and editorial errors that distract throughout the book—for example, he calls Cotton Mather a Baptist minister (104), and he states Andrew Jackson's presidency began in 1928 (101). Senter's overarching conception that youth ministry occurs in fifty-year cycles also seems problematic. Instead it might be more illustrative to suggest that the history of youth ministry appears more like waves than cycles since institutions, ideas, and practices ebb and flow in each generation with the previous generation often providing the foundation for the subsequent one.

The major deficiency of the work is the absence of the voices of youth. While Senter uses primary sources from the leadership and institutions connected to the various ministries, the only “primary” sources from youth mostly come from fictional or pop culture sources. References to diaries or memoirs could have shown how youth viewed and participated in these ministries. Playing off of his title, Senter demonstrates that leaders felt that God “showed up” when sizable numbers of youth participated in activities, but did God “show up” for the youth in these movements, and if so, what did it mean for them? These are the major question I have after reading this work.

Despite these shortcomings, When God Shows Up is a valuable work for several audiences. For those involved in youth ministry or teaching a seminary course on youth ministry, the work provides an important historical framework to investigate the ways Protestants have involved themselves in the lives of youth, and it may help seminarians think critically about their own understandings of youth ministry. For those interested in the study of children and religion, Senter's book is a good survey of these interactions, and it provides scholars a foundation from which to build future studies.