Youth and Children Ministry

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Unit 5: Youth Ministry in Context

Introduction: towards a framework for youth ministry

No ministry is performed in a vacuum and youth ministry is no exception. We all have a particular perspective on ministry that is shaped by our experiences, level of education, church background, culture and spiritual maturity. The perspectives that we bring to ministry can be very valuable when we minister in contexts that match our backgrounds and past experiences. Few youth ministers however have this privilege and those that do, quickly realise that the fluid nature of youth ministry necessitates a constant rethink of their perspective.

What is required is a framework which aids thinking about the task of youth ministry that ensures that Biblical beliefs, values and practices are constantly upheld in our ministry to young people regardless of context. Furthermore, the framework should aid us in remaining culturally relevant to young people regardless of context and their developmental stage. The following framework suggested by Dunn in Reaching A Generation For Christ is a good starting place for evaluating and rethinking the perspective on ministry that we currently hold.

It is suggested by Dunn that youth ministry should be viewed through three framework lenses:

1. A theological framework lens;
2. A developmental framework lens;
3. A socio-cultural framework lens.

Figure 1.1 shows the dynamic interplay and constant dialogue between the three frameworks. They do not operate in isolation but are constantly informing each other. Youth ministry (and in fact all ministry) takes place at the intersection of the three frameworks and it is therefore imperative that the youth minister ‘wears’ each lens, and spends sufficient time getting to grips with the issues presented by each of the frameworks.

Theological Framework: A ‘God-View’

The theological framework lens enables the youth minister to understand ‘the way God sees’. The theological lens is at the core of the leader’s belief system and provides significance to the task of youth ministry in the following ways:

1. It provides the basic rationale (Foundation) for youth ministry;
2. It guides the ministry God-ward;
3. It guides the ministry into the faith community (church);
4. It critiques ministry practices;
5. It determines the content and shapes the delivery of teaching;
6. It provides ministry motivation and challenge for service.

Youth ministers need to develop a theological maturity that matches the importance of the task that they have been privileged with. Section A in this Unit will alert you to the basic topics that should be grasped in developing a theological framework lens through which you can view your ministry to youth.

Developmental Framework: A ‘Youth-View’

The developmental framework lens enables the youth minister to understand ‘the way youth see’. This is a vital and often overlooked framework within which youth ministry takes place. It is easy to make developmental mistakes in ministry to youth. How many youth ministers have asked a group of spiritually immature thirteen year olds to commit to an hour of prayer a day? While this is a noble intention and not theologically incorrect, it does not take into account the attention span or the spiritual maturity of the youth in question (it is recognised however that thirteen year olds can indeed pray for an hour, but they will be those who are spiritually mature).

The example above is not the crux of the matter – what matters is that we understand the developmental framework that shape youth physically, mentally, socially and spiritually, and that the reality of developmental stages is reflected in our ministry. A developmental framework for youth ministry is important in several ways:

1. It overcomes inaccurate stereotypes;
2. It informs theological understanding of spiritual maturity;
3. It shapes the discernment of outcomes and the process of assessment.

Unit 3 in this material will take a look at the development issues for the different age groups.

Socio-cultural Framework: An ‘Inside-View’

An understanding of the socio-cultural framework will enable the youth minister to understand how the environment shapes young people’s world-view. Youth ministers must make sense of youth culture and attempt to develop an insider’s point of view in terms of this environment. Every youth minister must ‘wear’ the socio-cultural framework lens in an honest attempt to help students make sense of the societal and cultural forces shaping their world-view.

Understanding socio-cultural forces will also enable the youth minister to effectively communicate timeless truths in a culturally relevant way. The task here is not to ‘become one of them’, but to understand young people’s relationships to society and culture and minister from a point of understanding. A socio-cultural framework is important in the following ways:

1. It bridges generational assumptions;
2. It bridges cultural assumptions;
3. It informs a holistic understanding of an individual’s personal and spiritual development;
4. It provides a framework for existing behaviour;
5. It critiques the relevance of practices for a moment in time.

Section C in this Unit will give the youth minister a basic understanding of the socio-cultural landscape as it pertains to youth.

A theological framework for viewing youth ministry

The core purpose of any theological study is to know God. As such, it is imperative for all ministers to youth to embark on a process of lifelong theological study. This course is not primarily a course in theology and the framework presented below in no way represents the depths of theological study. The framework is provided as a starting point for youth ministers as a lens through which they can view youth ministry.

As such the authors have taken a view on what they believe will be the most important topics in terms of youth ministry when discussing theology. There may well be topics that you feel are important and have been left out, and indeed it is true that all theology is important. The point of this section is to provide a basic starting point and in no way should hinder students from embarking on theological study; in fact we greatly recommend that you do so if you are not already.

Mark Twain said, ‘In the beginning, God created man in His own image, and man, being a gentleman, returned the favour’. When we are left to our own subjective experiences of God, it is very easy to formulate a view of God that conforms to our own interpretation of what God should be. Ministry to youth is too important for youth ministers to fall into that trap. Sound, Biblical theology helps the youth minister develop an accurate, Scriptural view of God.

It is only when our theology is accurate that it becomes a meaningful lens through which to view our ministry. Jay Kesler says that the effect of a youth leader’s theological understanding is not just profound, but pervasive – ‘The theology of the youth worker is ultimately more important then his or her strategy or methodology… your personal theology will have an effect on everything you do in your youth work. In short, all we do relates to what we actually believe’ (Dunn).

Dunn suggests using the following six theological topics as building blocks for developing a sound Biblical theology of youth ministry. As explained earlier, the treatment of each topic is to show the student how to view ministry through a theological framework lens and not to provide theological teaching on the topic. The first building block (God) is treated below with a brief explanation of 2 key themes in studying the theological concept of God. Personal and ministry implications of theological insight are then highlighted. The following themes (2-6) contain no explanation and are provided with personal and ministry implications as a way of showing the benefit of possessing a well developed theological framework lens.

Building Block #1: GOD

Included in this building block is the fact that God is a personal God. The way God refers to Himself in the Bible provides a clear image of God as a personal being. See 2 Chronicles 7:12-16. God’s attributes are another key element of understanding the theological concept of God. What is it that makes God who He is? Here we speak of things like God’s greatness and goodness. This means that God is able to do and provide all things through His greatness, and in His goodness He ensures that only what is beneficial for His children is provided.

How can a proper theological understanding of God help then in viewing youth ministry? Dunn suggests that theological understanding brings with it personal and ministry implications. Understanding the theological concept of God as described above (albeit limited) and not only from our own subjective experiences, has the following personal implications:

1. My first priority in life is to develop my own personal relationship with God;
2. Because God is perfectly able, loving and holy, I can trust Him with my daily life needs, questions and relationships.

Ministry implications of an accurate theological understanding of God include:

1. God precedes me in my places of ministry;
2. God must be presented for all of who He is, not just those attributes on which I selectively tend to focus.

We have established that there are ministry implications to having a correct theological understanding of God. A positive implication is teaching and modeling the full council of Christ in your ministry (presenting God for all of who He is). Take time to reflect on your ministry, draw up a list of strengths and weaknesses in your ministry’s reflection of God. Decide to include the areas that you have been neglecting and ask your pastor/leader to hold you accountable.

Building Block #2: SCRIPTURE

Personal Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Scripture:

1. I must approach my study of Scripture with a view towards understanding more of who God is;
2. I must yield to Biblical authority in my life.

Ministry Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Scripture:

1. Scripture should be taught as an alive, active, dynamic revelation of God;
2. Scripture should be demonstrated as relevant to all of life;
3. Scripture should not be communicated in a way that suggests it says something it does not.

Building Block #3: HUMANITY

Personal Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Humanity: I have value in who I am; my self worth is not dependent on my accomplishments.

Ministry Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Humanity:

1. Approach students’ spiritual maturation as an integrated component of their total being;
2. Demonstrate and provide experiences for students’ understanding of the image of God in all humanity;
3. Model the human experience of Christian spirituality.

Building Block #4: SIN

Personal Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Sin:

1. I need help in becoming less self-deceptive about my personal life;
2. I must actively and directly address the sinful attitudes, behaviours and patterns I discover in my life.

Ministry Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Sin:

1. Confront sin in the lives of students;
2. Teach students how to work through failures in the Christian life.

Building Block #5: SALVATION

Personal Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Salvation:

1. I need to commit myself to ‘growth in grace’;
2. I should commit to being used by God to share His message of redemption, in all its fullness, with others.

Ministry Implications of an accurate theological understanding of Salvation:

1. Enable students to understand the ‘already, but not yet’ realities that face them at school, home and in the church;
2. Prepare students to share their faith and provide vehicles for outreach to their friends.

Building Block #6: FAITH COMMUNITY: THE LOCAL CHURCH

Personal Implications of an accurate theological understanding of the local church:

1. I need to involve myself in the larger faith community;
2. I need mentors in my life.

Ministry Implications of an accurate theological understanding of the local church:

1. Provide students with opportunities for meaningful fellowship and relationship building with peers, with other adults, and in the broader congregation;
2. Develop a ministry team to model the reality of Christ’s body.

The six theological topics above are topics with which any minister to youth must grapple and about which he/she must come to a Biblical understanding. The youth minister is then in a position to allow a proper Biblical theology to shape his/her ministry. Theology has as its core purpose – knowing God. To this end it is a lifelong pursuit and cannot be accomplished without effort on the part of the youth minister.

Youth ministers must find time to ask and reflect on two questions: ‘What is the truth?’ and ‘How does that truth shape my life and ministry?’ Spending time answering those two questions is the way youth ministers apply the theological framework lens to their ministry. They are then in a position to understand the theological context within which they minister from a sound Biblical viewpoint.

A Note on the Incarnation: A Model for Ministry

No discussion of theology as it applies to youth ministry is complete without a mention of the way Jesus did ministry – His model. The incarnation is all about Jesus entering our world in order to save us. When on earth, Jesus moved into people’s worlds. He did not wait for people to come to Him. Youth ministers, if they are to follow the example Christ set in the Biblical witness, must ensure that they are willing to move into the world that young people inhabit. This is not to say they must attempt to become ‘one of them’ but it does insist that they are willing to go were young people are and meet them at their point of need.

A socio-cultural framework for viewing youth ministry

This section deals with giving the youth minister a framework within which to think about the social and cultural forces that are shaping young people’s worldviews. Again, the treatment of this subject is not prescriptive but is offered as a way of developing a socio-cultural lens through which to view youth ministry. The section begins with an overview of society and societal structures and trends and moves on to practical steps the youth minister can use in understanding socio-cultural forces.

Social contexts shape all of us. Society is defined as a social community; the general body of persons or communities living within a particular geographical area which interact together to maintain the functions of that society. This is a rather simplistic definition for a very complex concept. It is necessary to understand that man influences society and in turn society influences man. Man develops societies according to his morality and his core belief system and these societies and their various structures in turn influence man and his future generations living within that society.

Societal Structures

Task 1 (for your consideration): List the various structures in place in modern society which enable society to function (e.g. Education Structure). As you list them, consider the impacts that these structures have on young people. Consider how changeable or variable these social structures may be and think about how this inconsistency affects the young person.

Social, family and cultural structures interact to influence the development and well being of children and young people. You may have listed some of the following structures as you considered the task above. (Please note that there is no definitive answer to the task, as you may have mentioned various sub-structures which I may fail to mention. All of which though, are essential to consider if they impact the development of young people.)

Family Structure

The family is God’s building block for society. God’s description of Himself is relational. He calls His church, ‘the family of God’. How tragic today that the bedrock of our society is crumbling! Isn’t it sad that on a popular SABC educational programme for pre-schoolers we see the following portrayed as typical families: a little girl saying how lucky she was that she could live in her Mommy’s house in Durban for a while and in her Daddy’s house in Cape Town for a while; a child who shares that she lives with two Mommies; the child from a single-parent home; and the child from a home with a mother and father figure. We have yet to see the full impact of the effect that the crumbling family structure is to have on our youth.

Political and Government Structures

Society’s structures and its people are coordinated by the government, which has authority. You need only look at the after-effects of the Apartheid government in South Africa to realise that the effects of politics upon young lives is enormous – affecting generations of youth.

Cultural Structures

Cultural practices can have an impact on the overall well being of a population. Cultural structures include those institutions that maintain cultural traditions and language.

Economic Structures (employment and the work environment)

This includes infrastructure for the production and distribution of both goods and labour. Employment status and working conditions affect the economic opportunities of parents as well as their ability to carry out the responsibility of parenting. Employment status can also affect the development of healthy relationships between children and their parents. These factors therefore impact the development of young people negatively.

Legislative Structures

These structures pass and apply laws by which citizens must live. When we consider the decline of morality today and the many God-dishonouring practices which are now legal, we must wonder at the effect these practices will have on the lives of our youth. George Barna the founder and president of the Barna Research Group, and best-selling author of such books as The Frog in the Kettle and The Second Coming of the Church offers some insight into the effect on young people of declining morals:

‘Whether you realize it or not, your view of moral truth is at the core of your worldview… the dominant American worldview of young adults can be summed up in one Word: ‘whatever.’ Without the clarity and consistency of absolute moral truth, we are reduced to doing what seems right, what feels good, what produces the least resistance and what provides the greatest personal fulfilment. Naturally, our unconscious dismissal of absolute morality and ethics has produced a plethora of attitudinal and behavioural changes, including the reforming of our values.’

Educational Structures

These structures include the societies’ educational and research institutions and the bodies that govern them. It is clear that levels of education, the policies and curricula of the educational system directly affect young people.

5.3.8 Military and Law and Order

These structures seek to provide internal safety and security of the society and protection of the country’s borders. When this structure fails, many of the other structures fail with it.

Religious Structures

Places of worship and their sub-structures which encourage the worship of God or the worship of God’s. They often teach a system of religious beliefs and practices.

Health and Social Service Structures

Health services contribute significantly to well-being. They function to maintain and promote health, prevent disease and to restore health. For disadvantaged youth, social services should ensure that basic needs are met and that the young person has every opportunity to develop according to a healthy developmental norm.

The factors below, while not main societal structures, are also thought to influence young people within society:

Income and Social Status

These are the most important determiners of health. Evidence shows that people at each level of the income scale are healthier and have longer life-expectancies than those at the level below. Countries in which incomes are more evenly distributed have a healthier population in terms of life expectancy, quality of life and mortality rates. Family income directly influences children’s development. Poverty can negatively affect a child’s physical and mental health, cognitive and social development and academic achievement.

Social Environment

Primary and Secondary support systems are essential for children. As a result, they thrive in safe, secure and supportive communities in which they have the support of family, friends and neighbours.

Natural and Built Environments

Physical factors in the natural environment (e.g. air and water quality) directly impact health factors and well-being. In the built environment, factors such as the design of communities can influence social interaction and safety.

Task 2: After reviewing the list of structures above, spend some time thinking about the context within which you minister. Answer the following questions:

Trends in Society

Society is the soil in which our children grow. The youth worker needs to carefully analyse this soil – its components and its makeup. Look to the trends and pressures that currently exist within the society in which your young people are developing. These trends are not necessarily universal to all societies and they are generally not timeless. The ministry of the youth worker needs to be constantly up-dated in order to remain relevant to young people. For example, if young people are listening to a certain style of music, ensure that you are sourcing Christian alternative styles of that music. Do not fall into the common trap of remaining about 5 years behind the current secular trend shift.

Task 3. How can you as a youth worker stay in touch with various trends and pressures which influence your young people?

‘Youth ministry begins when a Christian adult finds a comfortable way of entering a student’s world.’ (Dunn.) To identify trends and pressures influencing your teenagers ensure that you are exposing yourself to what they are being exposed. Remembering always to balance this with the call of Christ ‘not to conform to the pattern of this world’ and to be ‘in the world but not of it.’ Ensure that your ministry remains current by exposing yourself to multimedia. Know and research the music they listen to, the movies and television programmes they watch, the websites and chat rooms they access, the playstation games they play and the youth magazines and books they read.

(Who would have imagined a couple of years ago that I could include ‘books they read’. Just when it seemed that reading was a dying recreation, the young teenage market was hit with the emergence of a new trend – Harry Potter and with it a renewed interest in witchcraft and wizardry and the workings of magic spells. Older teens, from certain societal groups, have been attracted by the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This renewed interest in reading is a fine example of the fact that trends are often not universal or timeless).

Observe young people as they interact with one another, listen to their conversations, watch youth magazine shows, observe their dress, spend time with them – support their school and sport events, read current books on youth culture and trends, stay alert to magazine programmes which give statistical information about young people and their trends, ask your young people questions, interact with other youth leaders and draw from their experiences.

Perhaps most importantly, hold a magnifying glass to the society in which they live and analyse every aspect of it acutely. Research it and identify current trends and predictable trends which could emerge from it. It is vital that you know the world of your youth.

Using the above methods, I have included a brief synopsis of various influences affecting young people today. Please note that entire books are written on this subject and so my brevity certainly does not do the subject justice. In addition, remember that any trends or forces that I have identified may not be universally acceptable and they are generally not timeless. With this in mind, I encourage you to identify trends and pressures that are relevant to the youth to whom you are ministering.

Music

All popular music has the power to influence the values, attitudes and behaviour of young people. Just as teenagers are asking the all important, ‘What is life all about and how do I approach it?’ popular music and the media step in to answer the question. MTV is telecast into 231 million households in seventy-five countries, more than any other satellite programme (Dobson).

Studies show that in the 1960’s the family was the greatest influence on teen values and behaviour, followed by the school, friends and peers, and then the church. These institutions were generally in agreement on basic values and provided a relatively unified voice in their influence on teens. In the 1980’s friends and peers were the greatest influence, followed by the family, then the media and finally the school. The church was no longer on the top four lists!

These institutions also agreed less on basic values, thus presenting mixed messages to the youth. Walt Mueller wonders what the data would look like today. He comments that, ‘The overwhelming acceptance and popularity of MTV would boost the media’s influence to the top of the list. Friends and peers, immersed in and influenced by the same media voices, would drop to number two, the family to number three. School would stay at number four’ (Mueller).

Prominent themes in music today are:

• Sexual Promiscuity and Sexual Perversion: Explicit lyrics and pornographic videos send the message to our teens that anything and everything is permissible. Reading the lyric sheets of today’s CD covers leaves one shocked and nauseated – graphic descriptions of oral and anal sex, violent sex, homosexual and bisexual sex and even incestuous sex and bestiality abound. God was outraged at Sodom and Gomorrah – He must be weeping now!
• Violence: I walked in on a group of young teenagers (around 14 – 15 years of age) who were listening to CDs in their classroom during break time. The violent nature of the music that they were listening to shocked me. One of the CDs was by Dr. DRE – four of the songs on the album had been censored and one of the song titles was F… the police. The songs were a mixture of sex, violence and drug abuse. Another of the CDs they were listening to was by bad boy rapper, Eminem.
• In 1953 Eddie Fisher sang the popular song, ‘Oh, My Papa’ a sentimental song which honoured his father. In 1968 The Doors released the song entitled ‘The End’ in which Jim Morrison fantasized about killing his father. Twisted Sister released ‘We’re not Gonna Take It’ which referred to a father as a ‘disgusting slob’ who was ‘worthless and weak.’ He was then blasted out of the window of a second story building. A horrific song by Suicidal Tendencies entitled ‘I Saw Your Mommy’ included some of the following lyrics, ‘I saw your mommy and your mommy’s dead… chewed-off toes on her chopped-off feet I saw her lying in a pool of red; I think it’s the greatest thing I’ll ever see – your dead mommy.’ Ice-T and Body Count produced the shocking, ‘Momma’s Gotta Die Tonight’. It sold 500,000 copies and the lyrics included graphic description of the rapper’s mother being burned in her bed and then being beaten to death with a baseball bat and finally the mutilation of the corpse into ‘little bitty pieces.’ (Source: Dr. James Dobson, Solid Answers, p.291 -295) Popular music went from the inspiring, ‘Oh, My Papa’ to ‘Momma’s Gotta Die Tonight’. How much worse will it become?
• Substance Abuse: There are many songs out there glorifying drug abuse – ‘Jagged Little Pill’ by Alanis Morrisette, ‘Fly’ by Sugar Ray, ‘Semi-Charmed Life’ by Third Eye Blind, ‘Budsmokers Only’ by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Chumbawamba.
• The Occult (bands such as KISS and Marilon Manson).
• Political commentary and social concern (bands and singers which take part in events such as the World Aids Day Concert hosted by Nelson Mandela in which U2’s Bono and stars like Johnny Clegg, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, and Beyonce, among others, took part).
• Hopelessness and Rebellion: Late night viewing of MTV will take you into an audio-visual world of sexual perversion, violence, hatred and at times pure occult. Secular songs which are clean and wholesome are extremely rare.

Task: Go down to your local music store. Before you go in take a look at the posters in the shop window. Go inside and ask to listen to those cd’s you see advertised in the window. What bands/groups are they? What was the lyric content like? Also go look at the top 10 CD section. What bands are there, listen to some of the songs and report on what you found.

Television

I questioned a group of middle-class teenagers about the number of television sets in their homes. Only one teenager had no television set in the home (by her parents’ choice!); the majority of the teenagers (over 70%) had more than one TV set in the home and many of them had a TV in their bedroom. Teenagers are watching shows like Friends, Dawson’s Creek, Seventh Heaven, The Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons and The X-Files.

They tend to like comedies about young people in relationships. A common topic in many of these sitcoms is sex and sexuality. Homosexuals are now common-place and accepted, as is seen by the popularity of the show Will and Grace amongst the youth. Two current Oprah shows celebrated gay men. One was about drag queens, and the other was about five homosexual men who made their living out of giving fashion and decorating tips to ‘straight’ men. Oprah (who has become a role model and voice of ‘truth’ for many young black South Africans) commented with pride on the strides that American society was taking in accepting homosexuals.

Most teenage girls watch at least one of the popular soap operas, which spew forth their warped depiction of society and family relationships. There has been an increase in shows celebrating the occult. Unfortunately, shows like Charmed have captivated the attention of young viewers. Psychics have become ever-popular such as the much-talked-about Crossing over with Jonathan Edwards. Reality sitcoms like The Osbournes and Big Brother have become nothing less than addictions for many teenagers. A quick flip through a current TV guide will give you a brief synopsis of many of the terrible movies being aired to our youth.

The following snippets were taken from the viewing guide of 1 week of South African Television’s 5 main channels, ‘A married couple become entangled in a web of jealousy and sexual obsession; a tournament promoter is shaken down by a gangster…; Carnal Passion; Gangland; After being captured by the White Witch, the survivors learn of her evil plans; Irresistible Impulse, …former girlfriend is held for ransom by an evil cult; …isolated from the world after a serial killer slaughters her family; …starts a new life with a new wife, When the powers of good and evil descend to Earth in a battle over mankind, the only hope is the unborn child of an innocent woman; …the man she blames for driving her husband to suicide; The spirit of a long-dead movie queen takes possession of the body of a young starlet.’ (Sunday Times Magazine, 9 November, 2003).

Movies

Obviously any comment on current movies will date very quickly. Moviegoers seem to become quickly dissatisfied with any movie that isn’t ‘sexier, bloodier, scarier, and ‘stupider,’ with more fantastic special effects than the last one’ (McAllister).

Technology

Today’s young people have greater access to computers than ever before. Software production is a goldmine with reality games being a huge attraction to the teenage market. There are a host of games that teenagers play – Myst, Riven, Diablo, Warcraft, Doom, and Duke Nukem. Role playing characters, teens are able to become whoever they please – they can go on killing sprees and receive bonus points for how violent the killing was! The ease at which a youngster can surf pornographic sites is terrifying. No longer does a young boy tempted by the lusts of the flesh have to make his way to the corner store, purchase a magazine, and then run the risk of his mother finding it. Today He simply accesses a site in the safety and privacy of his own home.

Chat rooms have become the meeting places of teenagers. Unfortunately the danger of unsavoury characters, which assume false identities and gain information from young teenagers is very real! The anonymity of the internet provides the perfect mask for self-conscious teens. I counselled a teenager having problems with his sexuality – ‘Don’t worry,’ he told me, ‘I haven’t acted on any of my feelings.

All I do is go onto the internet chat rooms and speak to gay men.’ On further investigation, I found that this youngster was logging onto these chat rooms every single night for hours at a time and engaging in more than just casual conversation. While the internet is a wealth of information for many people and an imperative tool for business today; it is also a mighty weapon in the hands of Satan. A weapon He is using upon our youth!

Education

In just 10 years the face of education world wide has changed, and South Africa is no exception. In the past common offences were things like bunking class, pea-shooting, pulling pranks on students and teachers and smoking. Today many schools are dealing with issues such as racism, violence, drug abuse and even gangsterism. Many teachers have to deal with disrespect and even physical threats. South African Government schools have adopted a new education policy, which operates on an outcomes-based education. The implication of this system has created a vastly different classroom and learning environment to that of the past.

South African Educational policy is still undergoing change at present and this, to a large degree creates uncertainty for learners, educators and their parents. Most significant, is the move to change the face of religious instruction within schools – in many instances schools having already adopted a multi-faith approach. Again the message to our youth seems to be ‘everything and anything is permissible’.

South African Youth Trends

In 1998 a comprehensive survey was conducted on young people between the ages of 12 and 28. Over 4000 young people took part in this survey. For detailed information visit the following website. At this point I refer you to an article compiled by Graeme Codrington in 1999 in South Africa, using data from this profile.

[Note to the student from outside of South Africa: I would encourage you to seek out youth trend information that is relevant to your context]

There are a number of trends that will assist us to understand today’s young people:

Family

Family is important to today’s young people. The Youth and Family Census Profile ranked ‘my future’ as the having the highest importance in young people’s lives. Family had the next highest ranking, with 96% of young people saying it was important. There are, however, some disturbing trends, especially in parent-child interactions: Although 72% of young people said they enjoyed their parents, there seem to be communication problems.

When a list of things young people want to talk about is compared to things their parents are open to discussing, there is hardly any overlap. Parents seem most concerned about talking about their children’s progress, whereas young people want to talk most about the issues of adult life. These could tie up, of course, but another factor influencing family life mitigates against this: time pressure.

72% of mothers work outside the home, and only 48% arrive home before 5 pm at night. Only one quarter of fathers and one half of all mothers spend more than 2 hours per week talking to their children. It is encouraging to note that fathers in Christian households spend significantly more time with their children during the average week. Young people say that they would not be likely to turn to their parents for advice on personal issue. 45.8% said they would turn to their mom; only 17.6% would turn to dad.

Only 23.5% stated that they ‘definitely’ spend regular meaningful time with their parents. 65% of young people have already experienced divorce. Statistics from America indicate that 3 in every 4 young people are likely to live through the marital breakdown of their parents before they leave home. Today’s young people live in complicated families including multiple step siblings and half siblings. 26% of young people live with a single mother.

If all of this is true, how can 72% say they enjoy their parents and home life? It is because this generation of young people has such bad relationship role models, and has such low expectations for relationships, that they are happy with anything they get.

There was the story of two girls helping one another to settle in school. Trying to break the ice, she asked whether she lived with her mother or father. The new girl, somewhat bemused, answered that she lived with both parents – and wasn’t that normal? On reflection, the young girl who had asked the question realised that in her own experience and that of her group of friends, it certainly was not normal – in fact, she had never thought that someone would have two parents at home.

Friends

Today’s young people are likely to hang out in small groups of very close-knit friends. There seems to be a lack of rivalry between these groups. Only 6% felt they were battling to make friends. Understanding and love are seen as the key ingredients in a good friendship. An amazing 15.5% spend 9 or more hours on average everyday with their friends. Only 17% spend less than 1 hour per day, on average, with their friends. When they are together, their topics of conversation preferably deal with the following top four issues: the economy of the world, love, sport and sex, in that order. This shows quite intriguing priorities.

Dating also seems to be taken quite seriously, with 30% having gone steady for more than one year (21% for more than 2 years).

Religion

Recent research by Jurgens Hendriks who is a scholar at Stellenbosch University indicates that more than 75% of South Africans were Christians. The statistics declined as at 1991 to below 75%. That trend has continued in recent years, even more dramatically. The decline was associated with Low Church attendance by the non-African communities. There were only handful youths within churches for a couple of months as indicated by statistics. Of those who did attend a youth group regularly, 64% called it either ‘energetic’ or ‘absolutely hot’.

The highest ranking reason for going to youth group is for the friendships (65%). This was followed by 59% who stated that they enjoyed the worship times, 50% enjoyed singing, and 43% enjoyed music.

Over 90% of young people feel that religion/faith is important, but the vast majority is not sure which faith to believe in. 100% of young people say that they pray. More than half believe that it does not work, or what the content of faith is, or if faith itself is sufficient.

Sexuality

Because of HIV/AIDS, sex has become something to be feared. Many young people (55.4%) now believe that abstinence is not only possible and achievable, but also normal, although only 49% believe that they should wait until they find their marriage partner before having sex.

Teaching about sexuality – mother 40.7%, father 10.3%. This leaves 49% (there is some overlap where both mother and father were involved), who found out about sex from somewhere else. The primary overall sources for sexual knowledge are attributed to friends (35%) and books (33%). Parents did not even feature as a primary source.

Age first discussed sex: before 12 – 29%, between 12 and 13 years old, 43%. The DUREX report on South African sexual habits states that average age of loss of virginity is 17.2 years old. However, taking out those who believe in waiting for marriage, this leaves us closer to media speculation that the figure is actually somewhere around 13.5 years.

• 24.6% believe homosexuality is natural and acceptable.
• 37.5% believe God accepts homosexuality/lesbianism (more Christians believed this than non-Christians).
• 33.4% believe God creates some homosexual and others heterosexual (again, more Christians believe this than non-Christians).

Fear

The young people are not idealistic like many of their parents. When they look into the future, they don’t see everything working out. In fact, just the opposite. They see the devastation of AIDS, global ecological collapse and/or possible destruction by genetic engineering, economic collapse and unemployment.

The Youth and Family Census Profile identified the top four things young people worry about as being: not having a job when leaving school, the fear of their parents dying, not being a success in life, and AIDS. There is no difference between the concerns of Christian and non-Christian young people – if anything, the Christian young people appeared more worried about these issues.

The Youth and Family Census Profile identified their top four fears as: AIDS (by far), God, crime, and failing my studies.

Music and Media

Music is huge for today’s young people. Many of them spend most of their day listening to background music on CD players, walkman, radio or music TV. No one music style dominates.

51% of young people spend more than 2 hours per day watching TV. 19% spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV.

Drink, Drugs and smoking

In nearly all major surveys of youth culture done recently, the trend being reported is a big downturn in the use of (hard) drugs. The Youth and Family Census Profile indicates that 83% claim to have never experimented with (hard) drugs. However, tobacco and alcohol products seem to be filling the market. Most young people have had an alcoholic beverage of some sort, no matter what their age.

46.5% claim to never have been drunk. Of those who have been drunk, just less than half were first drunk before the age of 14.

75% do not smoke. Virtually all young people see smoking as a health issue, and not a morality issue. Of those that do smoke, just more than half first smoked before the age of 14. 45% of those that smoke have attempted to quit at some stage.

Economics

The HSRC recently released findings that only 1 in 30 school leavers were likely to find employment in South Africa in 1999. This means that today’s young people will need to look for alternative forms of income, especially entrepreneurially. Already, 40% of them have jobs while studying, but only 14% consider themselves to be well informed financially. Trends from America indicate that this generation is likely to be the first in Western history to earn less on average (in real ‘buying power’ terms) than their parents did. This generation is also the most economically disadvantaged as they enter the world of work, with most of them carrying excessive student loans at high interest rates. The cost of first time car and home ownership is also very high.

Individuals living in poverty: African 57.2%, Asian 6.8%, Coloured 19.8%, White 2.1%. Indicator 16.2; Winter 1999, pg. 54.

Politics

21.8% said that politics ‘stinks’ and a further 43.4% are not interested at the moment. This was reflected in the fact that the 18-25 year old age group had the lowest voter registrations and turn out in this year’s national election. This is not surprising for a generation who grew up in the darkest end days of apartheid, where politicians were not to be trusted. Current political leaders around the world have not helped the image. Nelson Mandela is the one shining exception to this – although most young people see Him more as a statesman than a politician.

Despite the aversion to politics, 52.6% are proud of the changing South Africa, although only 45.2% feel the future of the country is ‘bright’. A frightening 24% see it as ‘dark’.

Recreation

‘Extreme’ sports are the rage amongst this adrenaline-loving generation. However, in terms of traditional sports, the top rated are: (playing and watching) soccer, tennis, basketball.

Life Purpose

90% are ‘in touch with what is important in life’

89% are ‘in touch with what is important about my future’

93.4% ‘know what I believe in’

Yet, of the 44% who have asked ‘what is my purpose?’, only 23% feel they have been given a meaningful answer.

The last section you have just read has most probably been an eye-opener, if not it would have confirmed some of your deepest fears. These are problems which need to be confronted and dealt with, hiding from them and pretending that they don’t exist, won’t help anyone or make the problem less of a threat to the young people to whom we minister.

To a large degree, it can be said that we are a product of our environment. If this is true, which ingredients make up our youth?

The South African Young Person: (Specific Statistics Pertaining to S.A. Youth)

The statistics below are obtained through data sourced by Statistics South Africa during Census ’96. Note: this data may not be sold. [Note to the student from outside of South Africa: I would encourage you to seek out youth statistics for young people in your country. This gives you a good starting point in gaining a perspective and understanding of the young people to whom you seek to minister. Contact your governmental body and request the contact details of the Statistician-General. An internet search might also yield the information you require in this regard.]

‘Youth are a valued possession of the nation. Without them there is no future. Their needs are immense and urgent.’ Nelson Mandela

Population Statistics Profile

The National Youth Act of 1996 defines youth as persons aged from 14 to 35 years. In 1996 there did 16.1 million youth in South Africa; constitute approximately 40% of the 40.6 million people countrywide. Of these, African youth accounted for 79%, Coloured youth 9%, Indian youth 3% and White youth 10%. South Africa is relatively youthful – a feature of the population of many developing countries.

Proportionally, more youth are moving into urban areas (57%) compared to the rest of the population (54%). There is a steady decrease in the proportions of youth in non-urban areas as people migrate to urban areas.

Languages

Eleven official languages are spoken in South Africa. Amongst the youth, isiZulu is the most widely spoken home language (24%), followed by isiXhosa (18%), Afrikaans (14%), Sepedi (9%), English (8%), Setswana (8%), Sesotho (8%), Xitsonga (4%), Siswati (3%), Tshivenda (2%), IsiNdebela (2%), and other (1%).

Age of mother at birth of first child

Around 12% of all young females in South Africa became mothers while they were between 12 and 16 years old. This highlights the seriousness of the problem of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.

Education

Large percentages of African youth (8%) indicated having had no formal education at all, while on the one hand only a small minority (5%) of African youth compared to (28%) of White youth, acquired post-matric qualifications.

Labour market status: (15 – 35 years old)

93% of youth aged 15 years reported being at school in 1996. Among the youth, labour market status identifies those who were economically active (7.7 million) and those who were not (7.0 million). Among the economically active 4.5 million were employed and 3.1 million unemployed. Many youth, particularly females both in urban areas (83.2%) and non-urban areas (94.3%), live under extreme conditions of poverty with monthly salaries that can barely meet their basic needs.

Added to the above is the devastating impact of HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases, particularly on the youth in South Africa. Because of ‘the deprivation trap’ a large percentage of youth live in abject poverty. Their households do not have adequate money for basic needs and as a result youth, particularly females, become vulnerable to abuse and prostitution. Under such circumstances, youth are often left powerless regarding decisions and choices pertaining to the quality of their own lives.

We have looked at how society and the environment of the young person impacts the youth. It is important to note that we cannot simply look at the above social context and say implicitly that ‘all behaviour is caused by what we experience’. Children are not simply responders to environmental and social influences. If we could programme every environmental and social influence, we could still not predict or explain every behaviour or misbehaviour in the young person. James Dobson says, ‘We are capable of rational thought that is greatly influenced, but not ‘caused’ by what we experience.’ The young person is infinitely more than the sum total of his experiences.

Social Exegesis

The youth minister must become a learner of social contexts. This includes identifying social, cultural and sub-cultural arenas in which young people find themselves developing. In short, youth ministers must exegete the social contexts of young people. Above are examples of social exegesis that are very generalised. It is imperative that the minister to youth exegetes the social context specific to their situation. In order to do that the youth minister must ask three questions: ‘What does it say?’ ‘What does it mean?’ What does it mean to me?’

What does it say? (exploring)

This step involves gathering as much hard, cold data about youth context as possible. The statistics above are examples of that task. We need to ask what the facts are that guide young peoples’ lives in a particular context.

What does it mean? (interpreting)

This step involves discovering what the data gathered means to young people. What social meaning do young people attach to the data you are gathering? In other words, the youth minister must get to the bottom of seeing social forces through the eyes of youth.

What does it mean to me? (responding)

Here the youth minister asks what about the data and about the way youth view and are impacted by the data. This should suggest a response from the ministry. What kind of response is valid for the situation? It is here where the youth minister makes strategic judgments on which socio-cultural forces are going to receive a direct response from the ministry and which are going to be used as background information into the social context of youth.

Youth ministers will be wise to make a commitment to becoming students of youth culture. They are, after all, missionaries to that culture. ‘Success (in youth ministry) will depend, in large part, upon exploring, interpreting, and responding effectively to the social frameworks within which students live, breathe, and have their being’ (Rahn 1997).

Conclusion

The three lenses of a theological, developmental and socio-cultural framework will go a long way to ensure that a particular ministry remains Biblically sound whilst being culturally and developmentally relevant. The wise youth minister will take the time to gather the relevant information, tools and techniques as they apply to each of the lenses and equip themselves to impact youth for Christ.

Unit 6: Ministering to This Generation

Introduction

Effective ministry will depend on how well we understand the youth of our times. This Unit will take a brief look at past generations and then an in- depth look at the generation of youth we need to address today.

What is meant by generational theories?

A generation is made up of people whose common place in history allows them to share common values and beliefs, in other words, lends them a collective persona.

Generational theories are therefore based on the premise that each person has fundamental beliefs and values that determine how they interact with and interpret the world around them. These fundamental beliefs and values are largely affected by the environmental conditions surrounding a person as a child. These values and beliefs differ according to the era in which a person was born. More and more, sociologists are able to identify the distinguishing features of the different worldviews of each generation.

Generational theories

Below is a table outlining the generations from 1923 onwards:

The Silent Generation (1923 – 1942)

The Silent Generation grew up as children in the face of the depression and war and with the belief that children should ‘be seen and not heard’. They were too late to be war heroes, and too young to be carefree youth. They married early and are characterized by their aversion to taking risks and their desire to conform. They are self-reliant and have grown up believing that it is good and normal to work hard. Some other characteristics of the Silent Generation are withdrawal, unadventurous and overly-cautious.

The Boomers (1943 – 1963)

Most sociologists will identify Boomers as those people born between the end of World War 2 and 1964. Children grew up during this time under the threat of the cold war. They also became the first group to have their own identity as ‘teenagers’. The luxury of being a youth was something that had not been experienced by previous generations. These teenagers became an easily identifiable group who enjoyed the newfound wealth of a postwar world and the strong family values and ties that coincided with this.

Suburban growth happened quickly. Boomers are also characterized as ‘flower children’, and many family values were threatened by the hippie movement’s embrace of free sex and drugs as well as their rebellion against institutions. The Jesus movement followed on this very closely. As Boomers matured they let go of their ‘flower child’ identity and became professional, ladder-climbing, consumer-oriented young adults. Terms used to characterize Boomers are words such as ‘idealistic’ and ‘manipulative’ and ‘flashy’ and ‘headstrong’.

The X Generation (1963 – 1982)

The X Generation is the generation which experienced escalating divorce rates among parents, as well as the consequences of the low-priority which Boomers placed on child raising. Many X Generation children came home to empty homes as more and more moms worked to pay the bills and finance the yuppie lifestyle. Hence the familiar term ‘latchkey kids’ and the fact that X’ers were expected to grow up quickly. As a result of coming home to empty homes, Xers’ friends and peers became their surrogate families.

Other characteristics of the X Generation are that movies became much more violent and sexual and technology exploded. The X Generation was denounced as wild and stupid and little hope is given to them by older adults. Sexual experiences among Generation X teenagers during the 70’s and 80’s were prolific. The scourge of STD’s and AIDS came to the fore in the X Generation.

Xers have been called ‘slackers’ by the Boomers. However, Xers are proving to be very capable employees. The Boomer tradition of being loyal to your company has given way to a ‘free agency’ approach, where Xers prefer marketing their skills to the highest bidder over corporate loyalty. Xers realise that long term commitments are unlikely to pay dividends and therefore are prepared to risk and look for quick, short-term rewards. Xers are characteristically suspicious and pragmatic.

The Millennial Generation (1982 – 2000)

(The Y Generation)

The Millennial Generation arrived as abortion and divorce rates ebbed, and parents became much more attentive to the needs of their children. Popular culture began stigmatizing hands-off parental styles and babies were recast as special. Child abuse and child safety became hot topics, while books teaching virtues and values became best-sellers. Today, politicians define adult issues (from tax cuts to deficits) in terms of their effects on children.

Hollywood is replacing cinematic child devils with child angels, and TV and the internet are cordoning off ‘child-friendly’ havens. Technology has advanced at an amazing rate in the Millenial Generation. Millennials are ‘plugged in’. Computers are a way of life and Millennials use electronics and technology far more than any other generation. As a result, they have poor verbal skills compared with previous generations.

Millennials have access to more information than any other human beings have had in the whole of history. A core characteristic of Millennials is their mistrust of adults and this shapes how they relate to authority and perceive truth. Millennials have few, or even no, national (social) causes that they relate to and which grip their souls. They are, however, intensely loyal to their niche group and are committed to working so that they can have the material things they want. Let’s look at this generation in a little more detail.

Defining this generation

The Silent generation, the Boomers, The X’ers and now the Millennial Generation: Each of these generations having distinct characteristics and each not seeming to understand the next or previous generation.

As we set out to describe this generation, the Millennial Generation, those who were born in and after 1982, it is important to make it clear that ‘different does not necessarily mean wrong’.

We seem to live in a day and age that ‘writes people off’ just because they are different. All over Africa we hear stories of ‘ethnic cleansing’- stories that tell us that people have been written off just because they are different.

A starting point when it comes to understanding this generation is to give them room to be who they are. They are allowed to be different as long as different does not contradict the standard for life laid out in Scripture.

As we look at this generation, I am not going to draw your attention to the things that may characterise this culture as being ‘different but not wrong’ according to Scripture. I want to look at issues that are so against Scripture and therefore need our attention.

Here are some points that define this generation of youth:

They don’t have absolutes

Possibly the greatest and most critical change that has taken place over the past couple of years is that the youth of today no longer believe that there is an absolute truth.

For generations such as the Silent generation and the Boomers there was an absolute truth. They believed the Scripture that said ‘you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free’. For the Millennials, truth is discovered, it is determined by the individual; it is relative. So, we hear comments like ‘that is your truth, not mine’, ‘that is your personal opinion’ and ‘that is your opinion, don’t force it on me’.

Dawson McAlister puts it this way ‘(Millennials) are passionately tolerant; they are tolerant of everything except absolutes’. This explains why most youth of today have a problem with John 14:6 ‘no one comes to the Father but through me’.

The fact that the Millennials don’t believe in absolutes and see everything as relative and determined by the individual explains why there seems to be no morality amongst them today. Ron Hutchcraft says ‘Our young people portray life as a field of no boundaries to young people of today, sin is a non-issue’ The Millennials believe that it is their responsibility to determine what is right and wrong, the result has been that we have a generation that believes that some sins are ‘non-issues’.

Discipline is a thing of the past

The silent generation believed in discipline and so they disciplined their children. Most often this discipline was too harsh. The result of this was that the Boomers and early X’ers have ‘thrown the baby out with the bath water’ and no longer believe that discipline is necessary. They have taken passages out of Scripture like Proverbs 12:24 ‘He who spares the rod hates his son, but He who loves Him is careful to discipline Him.’

What has been the result of this on the youth of today? Someone wrote ‘Discipline is both a noun and a verb. We discipline to have discipline’. It is my belief that a lack of discipline has resulted in the youth of today showing very little commitment, a lack of faithfulness and very little perseverance when it comes to tasks given them.

Pressurised like never before

George Barna says that one of the most critical changes that have taken place over the past 20 years is ‘the increase in stress and anxiety, along with the decrease in hope and joy’. The youth of today are expected to carry a greater load than was expected 10 years ago. Most young people will say ‘I don’t have to time for….’ This is because their programme has been filled up for them with things expected of them by parents, teachers and youth leaders.

The result of this is that as a youth leader you will not be able to expect too much from your youth.

Slow to Trust

The Youth that we are dealing with today are slow to trust. You have to earn the right to speak. In the past adults were listened to and respected just because of their age – it is no longer like that. Youth listen and respect only if you have earned the right to be heard and listened to.

Dawson McAllister says ‘The lack of trust is the salient issue of this generation. It shapes how they relate to authority, how they perceive truth, and what direction they have – or don’t have – for their lives’.

Carle Zimmerman lists 8 characteristics of a culture that is disintegrating, one of these characteristics is ‘Increased disrespect of parents and authority’ – youth do not trust adults anymore and therefore do not feel like they are worthy of respect. In fact it takes a far greater effort and far more time to gain the right to speak into the Millennials’ life than it did a few years ago.

We are involved in speaking on many camps and I have seen how this dynamic has developed over the past few years. In the past, by the end of the first evening I had already gained the platform to speak into the lives of young people. Over the past few months I have found that it can now take up to 2 days to gain the same platform I would have gained in a couple of hours in the past.

The family as a stable base of support is no longer a norm

In Carle Zimmerman’s lists of characteristics defining a disintegrating culture, he says that there is a ‘Refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibility’. A high school teacher shared an encounter she had with the parents of one of her students. She relayed how she was told that it was not their responsibility to discipline their child – they had left that responsibility up to the school and the church. One of the scariest things facing the Millennials is the breakdown of the family. Parents do not take seriously their role to produce ‘godly offspring’ (Mal 2:15).

A psychologist made the observation once that the greatest crisis facing South Africa today is that the youth do not have fathers. Fathers are no longer fulfilling the role they are supposed to be fulfilling and, as a result, we have a generation growing up with a distorted picture of family and authority. The wide majority youth today come from single parent families where the father has visiting rights but seldom uses them or they are born out of wedlock and are the result of men that have multiple lovers and many children, taking no responsibility for them.

The contrast between youth coming from stable homes and those from dysfunctional homes is alarming. Someone has said we do not have problem children – we only have problem parents – how true this is proving to be in our day and age.

The adult generation has taken a ‘hands-off’ approach

Adults look at this generation of young people and feel overwhelmed. The result seems to be that they have taken a ‘hands-off’ approach. The consequence of this is that youth have ended up looking for role models in the wrong places. I met a guy in a township who said the following to me when I questioned Him about his lifestyle: ‘John, you cannot understand how I operate because you have not had the same upbringing as I have had – here in the township it is different, I never knew my father, and there are no role models in our community to follow.’

‘I have no role model’ – youth are now using their own circle of friends as their model by which to live.

Now is what matters

The Millennials live for the here and now. Their motto is, ‘if it feels good it must be right’. The result of this attitude is that youth have no plan for the future and in fact choose to ignore that what they do today will impact their futures. Ron Hutchcraft says that one of the characteristics defining this generation of youth is that they have no hope. This would explain why the now is important and not what is to come.

If now is all that counts – then as we have already mentioned ‘sin is a non-issue’ and I can do what I want. This attitude to life also explains why the youth of today have very little desire or none at all to live moral lives. (Recommended reading: ‘Hell’s best-kept secret’ by Ray Comfort – showing the lack of understanding the need to recognize the severity of sin and the need to repent)

South Africans live in a country that rightfully speaks a great deal of ‘Rights’. The problem though, is that our youth live with the idea of ‘rights without responsibility’. The result of all this is that youth live for the now and do not see that what they do now will in turn build their future.

Loneliness runs deep

Ron Hutchchraft says ‘no Word more accurately describes most modern young people than the Word ‘lonely’’.

It is true that youth will do anything to be accepted by someone. I have found that we have a generation of young people that seem to find meaning to life only if they have someone on their arm or if they are part of a group.

My wife bumped into one of the youth we had ministered to a number of years ago. This is how the conversation went: ‘Hello Lorna, see that guy over there, that is my boyfriend’. The guy was not a part of the conversation – in fact he was speaking to someone else about 10 meters away from Lorna and this girl. Youth seem to have the impression that unless they have someone, they are no one. This stems for a deep feeling of loneliness.

Escape is a solution

Due to the increased pressure placed on youth and the incredible loneliness they are experiencing, there is a great need for escape. Youth escape through drugs, alcohol, music and sex. This helps them forget the pain they are experiencing… at least for a time.

They are spiritual, but without focus

Dawson McAllister says this, ‘The good news is that today’s students (youth) are very God-conscious. The bad news is; they don’t know which god to pursue.’

We just have to sit in a class of youth and allow questions to be asked to see how true this is.

Most common questions

• Do you believe in ghosts?
• Is there a higher being beyond our world… is there something else out there?
• Is it wrong to…?

With all the negatives we have discussed comes this glimmer of hope – the Millennials are searching for answers. The church has incredible opportunity and responsibility to speak the ‘truth in love’ to the Millennials.

What can we do to impact this generation of youth?

Having looked at the points above give five suggestions that would help us meet this generation of youth:

Impacting this generation will need to include…

Build relationships

Key to impacting this generation is relationship building. We cannot hope to overcome issues like mistrust and loneliness if we do not take the time to build relationships with the youth of today. In the life of Jesus we see how He established relationships with people who opened the door of opportunity to speak into their lives.

Earn respect, do not demand it

Most adults live under the impression that youth automatically know to respect them because of their age. This is not the case, they do not know it. You will have to earn the right to speak into their lives. Where we demand it, we close the door of influence. Earning the right takes time.

Live the life

This generation has grown up not trusting adults. They are looking for ways to prove their theory that ‘adults are not trustworthy’. When Christian adults only come down on youth in anger and do not express love this gives youth reason to mistrust even more. Adults need to live the life of love.

Give Boundaries

The youth of today need to hear what the boundaries are. A youth ministry that allows the youth to run wild is a ministry that is encouraging youth to be undisciplined. We mentioned earlier on that ‘We discipline to have discipline’.

Recruit concerned adults

It is of utmost importance that we recruit adults to be involved in the lives of young people. This might be in one of 3 ways:

• To pray for the youth ministry.
• To adopt a young person and be a godly example to them as they host them for meals and times of fun.
• To be a mentor. We need adults to take up the responsibility of being a spiritual mom or dad to the young people to whom we are ministering.

Preach absolutes

The Church needs to preach the truth; we are not to ‘water down’ the truth to reach youth. It is the ‘truth that sets you free’.

Have a strategy to impact the family

We are to have a strategy to befriend the parents of the youth we are working with after which the church needs to get involved in equipping parents for effective, godly parenting.

Give youth a positive alternative

The Church needs to offer youth a meaningful place to serve. The Millennials want to be needed. Too often the church today keeps youth out of service thinking that they are too young. This affects the church and its effectiveness as a body; it also affects how the youth feel about the impression the church has about them. Not getting youth involved in service, will leave them thinking that they are not a part of this community and are not needed.

Unit 7: The Churches and Youth Ministry

(Mark H. Senter III compiled a book called, ‘Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church’.

Introduction

As with many aspects of ministry, there is no ‘one way’ to do youth ministry; and as the needs of young people have changed, so youth ministry has taken on many forms. We will be briefly looking at 4 different models that have emerged, all of which have been successful in reaching and growing young people, and all of which have potential pit-falls.

There are four views of Church and youth ministry. The models that will be explored all are built on different priorities and views that the proponents have regarding young people. Firstly, there is a tendency to gravitate either towards

1. a call to fellowship, or
2. a call to missions.

Simply put, either ‘come’ or ‘go’. The second tension is the question of whether young people are really part of the church of today. Although nearly everyone involved in ministry would quickly agree that young people are indeed the church of today, the isolation of the youth into their own specific ministry shows that in truth, many churches still see the youth as a separate entity from the rest of the church. So the question is: Are the youth the church of today (now) or the church of tomorrow (later)? When one plots these two continue against each other, this graph emerges:

Using this graph, the 4 models of youth ministry can be placed as follows:

The Inclusive Congregational Approach: (By Malan Nel)

For over a century, youth ministry has been viewed as something almost autonomous from the main church, frequently taking place within para-church organizations and youth leagues. But there is a growing trend within our churches to realize that the young people are a vital part of the church. The fundamental idea of the Inclusive Congregational model is that the young people need to be included in all aspects of the churches’ ministry, rather than relegated to a separate group (the youth ministry).

Definition of the Inclusive Congregational Model

‘The Inclusive Congregational approach… is more about finding a place for children and adolescents than about dreaming up new modes of ministry… Every ministry in the church is relevant to the youths. Every ministry contains rich potential for youth ministry.’

Underlying Principles of this approach

How God approaches us

God approaches us through His Spirit and His Word, as well as by means of people. The ways that He does this generally recognized as: preaching, worship service, pastoral care, management and administration, fellowship of believers, deeds of mercy, teaching and witnessing. The Inclusive Congregational model asserts that there is not a 9^th way that God approaches us (i.e. youth ministry), but rather that God approaches young people in these same ways as the rest of the body, and thus the church should aim to minister to the youth in the same ways as the rest of the body.

The Body of Christ

The entire local church is the expression of the Christ’s body to the world, not merely the adults. Therefore by relegating young people to a separate ministry, we are not acting as the complete body of Christ. In order to show the world the collective incarnation (the presence of the entire body of Christ) young people need to be an integral part of the body.

Positive Characteristics of the Inclusive Congregational Model

• Youth are thoroughly integrated into the total life of the church, by becoming involved in every area of the churches ministry to God, the body and the world.
• Youth are not to be sidelined in ministry ‘until they are old enough’, but are allowed to function in areas that they are gifted, regardless of their ages.
• Youth receive the close relational influences that many do not receive from their families.
• Members across the traditional generational gaps are able to learn from each other.
• Youth see themselves as ministers, able to make a meaningful contribution to the body.

Potential Pitfalls of the Inclusive Congregational Model

• Falling under the rough heading of ‘Fellowship Now’, there is not a major emphasis on youth outside the church community.
• Attempting to place young people within the different ministries of the church can lead to ‘tokenism’, with a young person being placed on each committee merely for appearances.
• Attempting to minister to a broad age spectrum is a difficult endeavour (some would call it impossible), and attempts to minister to each of these age groups can lead away from the Inclusive Congregational model by creating separate ministries for each group.

Changes required by the Church

• Church leaders need to re-evaluate their church’s ministry approach, but to include the young people in this process.
• Those involved in the youth ministry, as well as parents need to have the concept instilled in them that young people are an integral part of the church.
• The church needs to restructure its ministries so that youth are able to play a part.

Conclusion

As believers of all ages come together, it will create a new experience within the congregation of who God is, and who we are because of Him. Young people will become a vibrant, integral part of the local body, instead of merely spectators to be entertained. The sense of ownership that will be a result of their involvement will go a long way to ensuring that young people do not just drift in and out of the church, but experience the love and community that comes as a result of being fully functional members of Christ’s body in this world.

The Preparatory Approach: (By Wesley Black)

The unfortunate reality within many churches is that although they may have a flourishing youth ministry, many of those that ‘graduate’ from the youth ministry just disappear, and are not incorporated into the broader body. The Preparatory model sees the youth ministry as a time to develop and prepare young people for their role as leaders and ministers in the church of tomorrow.

Definition of the Preparatory Model

It is ‘…a specialized ministry to adolescents that prepares them to participate in the life of existing churches as leaders, disciples, or evangelists. Students are viewed as disciples-in-training, with opportunities for service both in the present and the future. Developmental dynamics suggest that youth ministry be viewed as a laboratory in which disciples can grow in a culture guided by spiritual coaches’ (Wesley Black).

Underlying Principles of this approach

What constitutes Youth Ministry

‘Youth ministry is everything a church does with, to and for teenagers’. This means that youth ministry is not merely a few youth events per week, but includes that entire relational process whereby young people are transformed into full-fledged Disciples of Christ – be it via youth programmes, families or involvement in ministry, etc.

Specific needs of young people

While theologically there may be no division between youths and anyone else in the church, social and cultural differences are obvious.

Teenagers require ministry that takes into account their unique needs at the developmental stage. However, young people need to realise that they are part of something bigger than just the youth ministry i.e. the church, and so need to appreciate the broader direction and needs of the entire church body.

Positive Characteristics of the Preparatory Model

• Young people are provided with a safe and practical environment in which to hone their ministry skills.
• Young people do not just drift away from the church once they have passed through the youth ministry.
• The church has a constant stream of trained and experienced young leadership coming through the ranks.
• Young people are allowed to develop in an environment that is uniquely suited to helping them to learn through hands-on experience.
• Young people have a sense of ownership of the ministry.

Potential pitfalls of the Preparatory Model

• Although, as the name implies, this approach seeks to prepare young people, the question is: ‘prepared for what?’ Young people need to be equipped and trained to be a part of Christ’s mission to the world, rather than merely perpetuators of their own comfortable church tradition.
• Young people will only learn what is modelled by the adults of the church. If the adults do not model the priorities and character of Christ, the young people will in all likelihood, fail to become much more than them.
• If youth ministry is defined as ‘Youth ministry is everything a church does with, to and for teenagers’, then ministry can have a tendency to become a series of spontaneous acts, rather than a purposeful process to assimilate young people into the church.

Changes required by the Church

• Youth ministry needs to be a ministry that is shared between the pastor, the youth minister, parents and teachers in all ministries of the church, rather than the responsibility of just a few individuals.
• The church needs to adopt a purposeful approach towards youth ministry; with a strategy that will ensure that young people are taught (in a holistic sense, rather than just a classroom) all they need to prepare them for participation in the body, with each experience being built upon the previous lessons.
• The youth ministry must have the support of the pastor and the church, in practical support and encouragement, as well as financially. The church must do more than merely sponsor the youth ministry, then step back and let others run the show.

Conclusion

Young people are usually more than willing to pour their time and energy into things that they feel are worthwhile. We should and can expect young people to invest themselves in being prepared for being a vital part of the church of today, and all of the leaders of the church of tomorrow. In any learning process there will at some stage be failures. The preparatory model provides a safe environment in which young people can learn all of the leadership and ministry skills they will need, knowing that as they learn through practical involvement and classroom experiences, they are being shaped for their unique role in God’s kingdom.

The Missional Approach: (Chap Clark)

When missionaries arrived in Africa, they enthusiastically set about ‘preaching the gospel’, often at the cost of thorough discipleship, resulting in a church that was often lacking in basic fundamentals of Christianity. As a result, many churches have reacted by focussing their energies into those already in the church. Yet despite past errors of missional philosophies, we need to return to this fact: that Christ has sent us into the world to be the salt and light, sent to call all people to repentance and reconciliation with God. Thus the churches’ mandate is primarily missional, rather than missions forming just another aspect of the churches’ activity.

Definition of the Missional Model

‘Youth ministry as mission is defined as the community of faith corporately committed to caring for and reaching out into the adolescent world (of both churched and unchurched young people) in order to meaningfully assimilate them into their fellowship.’

Underlying principles of this approach

God has sent us

As stressed above, God has sent us into the world, rather than expecting the world to come to us, as is often the case. The missional approach requires that the entire church is committed to joining God with his mission to the world.

Peer-to-peer ministry is not enough

The traditional approach to youth evangelism has always been ‘We’ll run the programme, you bring your friends.’ However, recent studies have shown that during adolescence, youth tend to form friendship ‘clusters’ of 5-8 people, and rarely engage in meaningful social activity outside of their clusters. Thus even if every young person were to lead the other members of their cluster to Christ, there would still be a majority of young people who would never be reached. If we are serious about reaching the world for Christ, we will no longer be able to rely on peer-to-peer evangelism as our primary evangelistic thrust.

Positive characteristics of the Missional Model

• Fringe groups that would not normally be drawn in via conventional evangelism methods (as of the last 50 years) can receive the witness and love that they require to respond to Christ.
• Church (and specifically Christians) will no longer be viewed as a private club run for the benefit of the members, as Christians will start showing the love and compassion that has been so sorely lacking, from the impression that many secular young people have of them.
• Youth ministry success is no longer measured by numbers or enthusiasm for the programmes, but rather by ‘the ability and willingness of a church to fully assimilate growing adolescents into the adult fellowship’.
• Intergenerational relationships become a priority, creating a genuine ‘family of God’ in which believers of different ages can learn from, and support, each other.

Potential pitfalls of the Missional Model

• With the focus so strongly on out-reach, it is very easy for the needs of those young people that are a part of the church to be neglected, as well as a form of reverse discrimination towards these churched young people.
• This model is somewhat vague as to what the process is, once these young people have made a commitment to Christ, to assimilate them into the church as lifestyle worshippers of God.

Changes required by the Church

• Youth Ministry Leadership Team: This group must seek, in conjunction with members of the youth group to relationally connect with students within their clusters on their turf.
• Youth Pastor: This person must see himself as working towards the vision of the church, rather than seeing the youth ministry as an end in itself. He must also do all he can to ensure that young people are meaningfully connected with adults in the church.
• Senior Pastor: This person must ensure that the church strives for a warm and loving environment, where secular young people (or anyone, for that matter) feel safe and accepted.
• Lay leadership of the church: These people need to motivate the church to see youth ministry as the responsibility of the entire body, rather than just the job of the youth pastor.

Conclusion

The Missional model, calls for churches to step beyond merely equipping people to perpetuate a church tradition, but rather, as a body, to take seriously the call of Jesus to ‘Go into all the world and make disciples….’

Although in reality this may not involve each adult member of the church going out and intentionally forming relationships with secular young people, every member is responsible for creating a church environment where all people, regardless of age, can experience true, vibrant spiritual-family life.

The Strategic Approach: (Mark H. Senter III)

Our education system is characterized by its discontinuity in relationships. Learners enter primary school, spend a year with one teacher, and then are handed over to a new teacher for the next stage of their education. This process is generally followed until the learner completes school.

Unfortunately, the church, rather than look for innovative ways to prioritise relational continuity within its ministry, opted to follow the same system as secular education. As a result, children and young people tend to move from one ministry department to another during their school careers, never forming meaningful long-term discipling relationships with their teachers (or ministers) or becoming a part of a faith community.

Young people may be involved with a youth ministry that takes place in the church building, but often are not assimilated into the actual church family, disappearing back into the world once they are too old to attend the youth ministry programmes. The Strategic approach sees the answer to continuity of relationships is to see the youth ministry as a church-to-be, with the aim of planting a new church with the existing ministry, with the youth pastor becoming the pastor of the new church.

Definition of the Strategic Model

‘The Strategic approach creates a community of leaders and youthful Christians that enables a para-church or church-based youth ministry to establish a new church to maintain a theological continuity while expressing faith in a community relevant to both Christ and culture.’

Underlying principles of this approach

Relational continuity

Although idealistically we agree that there should be a smooth transition between the youth ministry and participation in the adult life of the church, the reality is that in general, churches lose the majority of their young people. The strategic model seeks to address this by keeping the community, and using the youth ministry to start a new church that is able to address this problem.

A missionary perspective

The obvious objection that people will make to the strategic model is that it amounts to nothing more than a church split, with the young people reacting against a church leadership that they see as out-dated. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The church plant has to be a mission of the whole church, with the church leadership steering the process, strategically preparing the youth, as well as the youth pastor.

Positive characteristics of the Strategic Model

• The considerable energy and time needed to reform problems within an existing church can be redirected more profitably by starting a new church that is able to avoid the pitfalls of the mother-church.
• As the youth minister becomes a pastor of the new church, this makes it possible for female youth workers to move into a pastoring position, which often would not be accepted within many churches.
• The young people will take ownership of the ministry, knowing that they will be involved with the group for longer than the usual 4 or 5 years.
• Continuity in the nurturing process means that more young people will stay with the church, as those being nurtured (the young people) as well as those doing the nurturing (the youth leadership) are part of the church plant.

Potential pitfalls of the Strategic Model

• By creating faith communities of those who are essentially similar to us, we can lose out in the growth that comes from being in a community containing people with whom we wouldn’t normally come into contact.
• By removing the younger generation from the church every 5 or 6 years, we run the risk of the mother-church stagnating with time, due to the lack of a younger influence.
• Pastoring a church plant requires a specifically gifted and called individual, not just anyone. Such people are rare. The problem churches might find is a lack of leadership for their church plants.
• This model could attract those that have no genuine interest in working with young people, but rather see it as a step to pastoring a church of their own.

Changes required by the Church

• Young people must be viewed as ‘people who are shaping the church; and being shaped by it’.
• Youth pastors must be viewed as pastors, with as much care going into their selection as into the selection of another pastor in the church, specifically looking at their suitability for planting new churches.
• Young people must lead in missions efforts, both within the context of their own culture, or in cross-cultural settings.

Conclusion

The Strategic model takes seriously Christ’s call to go into all the world, but of all the models that have been examined, it is probably the furthest removed from how youth ministry is viewed in the vast majority of churches. Yet maybe any other approach is simply ‘rearranging furniture on the deck of the Titanic’, trying to make minor reforms to existing strategies, while ignoring the fact that many of our tightly held views of youth ministry are fundamentally flawed. The Strategic approach, although very radical, may prove with time and experience to be the answer to many of the frustrations that are so rife within youth ministry today.

Each of the approaches we have noted have there strengths and potential pitfalls. We need to discern what strengths we can use to build a healthy view of youth ministry in our local church.

Ingredients to growing a healthy youth ministry in a Church context

We are not trying to establish here if the youth are to be integrated into the Church. For me this is a given – youth have to be integrated. Whether we do this in the present or work to it in the future will depend on how you approach youth ministry and Church. One of the greatest challenges of youth ministry today is that of integrating youth into the Church. Most of us will witness to the fact that youth often float in and out again, because we have no clue how to integrate them into the church. The reason for this is that very often the climate in the local church is not conducive to the growth of an effective youth ministry.

Having looked at a number of churches and interviewed a number of youth pastors and workers that are effectively integrating youth into the Church body, I have pin-pointed key ingredients for growing a healthy youth ministry in the local church. Some of these pick up on some of the positive points you would have pin pointed in the four views mentioned above.

I will address these ingredients and then look at a number of questions that you will be able to use as you test the climate of your local church. Be honest in your evaluation of your church’s climate to grow a healthy youth ministry. Having a good understanding of your church’s climate will help you understand the frustrations you will face in time when it comes to growing a youth ministry.

Ingredients that define a positive climate for integrating youth into the Church

The Church is prepared to change

Kahlil Gibran said ‘life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday’. Many churches that exist today do ministry according to the 1960’s. If we hope to integrate the youth culture of today into a church that does ministry according to how it was done in the 60’s, we will not! If a church does not want to change and move forward with the times, youth will never come into the church. Churches that have an open mind and are willing to change are often churches that draw youth.

Tester: When change is suggested, is it welcomed OR is there always opposition and a struggle to bring in new ideas?

Evaluation: Which would best describe your church and its response to change? (Circle the number)

1. Consistently changing ministries that are no longer effective.
2. Recognise where change is needed, though sometimes slow>
3. Open to change, but approach it with caution.
4. Change is brought about through lengthy and difficult processes.
5. Change is opposed and not welcomed.

The Youth Ministry is supported and backed by the church leadership

Church leaders that are proactive when it comes to mobilizing a youth ministry and helping sustain it in their churches will help grow a healthy ministry. Youth ministry needs to be a part of the overall strategy of the church. This means that the Senior Pastor and his leadership team needs to take an interest in the wellbeing of the youth ministry.

Church leaders that have a heart to see the youth ministry remain on the cutting edge are leaders that will help the overall growth of the youth in the church. This will mean that these leaders need to investigate youth culture and bring in people that can help the church understand the youth culture of their area and how the church can effectively meet the needs of the youth.

Tester: Do you feel that your Church leadership support and defend your ministry OR do they join in with the opposition who seek to find fault continuously?

Evaluation: Which one best describes your church leadership’s response to youth ministry (circle the number):

1. Pro-active (initiate involvement) in ensuring that the youth ministry is on the cutting edge.
2. Offer support where it is needed.
3. Are available to assist but will not readily get involved if not asked.
4. Only hear from them when there is a problem.
5. Negative, always looking for issues to criticise.

Freedom is given to those ministering to youth

It feels that this might be contradicting the point made above; but this point by no means says that pastors and church’s leaders must leave the youth ministry to ‘get on with it’ and not show any interest at all. The freedom we are talking about is a freedom to do what the ministry to youth requires. Too many pastors or church leaders want to control all things and as a result they interfere with what God might want the youth leaders to be doing.

Church pastors and leaders need to release leaders to lead the ministry God has given them to do, believing that God can and will lead them in the ways to do. Pastors have the freedom to give guidance but still need to allow leaders to make the choices to do what they feel God is saying. This will mean that the church allows the youth ministry freedom to grow in a direction that is contemporary and effective for reaching youth and that they are not forced into a mould that is antiquated, and was used when the pastor or leaders were young people.

Tester: Have you been allowed to get on with the work OR are people continuously manipulating you in their direction even though they are not involved?

Evaluation: Which one best describes how the church oversees the youth ministry (circle the number):

1. There is a good balance between guidance and freedom, which allows you to get on with the job.
2. Freedom is given as long as you remain in the general parameters of what is accepted.
3. There is too much freedom which leaves you feeling that no one cares about what goes on until it goes wrong.
4. There is always a fear of someone coming to spy on what is happening in youth programmes.
5. What is done has been has been forced on you by ‘others’ not even involved in the youth ministry.

Youth Ministry is not seen as a training ground for other ministries within the church

Churches need to see youth ministry as one of the key areas of focus in the Church. It is during the early years of one’s life that people are most influenced – 80% of people who make a lasting commitment to follow Christ are under the age of 15/16. If we miss people here, we have lost an opportunity. Satan also knows these facts and therefore targets the youth of our community with the best He can offer.

With this in mind, we need to ask: ‘Why does the church often see the youth ministry as training ground for the apprentice leader or minister?’ The Church should be placing some of its best leaders in this department. Churches that give the youth department some of their best equipped leaders will obviously be churches that see youth ministry grow and flourish in the Church.

Tester: Are those ministering to youth some of the best leaders in the Church OR have you been given anyone and everyone who wants to minister to the youth department?

Evaluation: Which one best describes those who have been encouraged to get involved in the youth ministry (circle the number):

1. Able, responsible, passionate about ministry
2. Some experience in ministry, enthusiastic
3. Good potential, willing to learn
4. Inexperienced, little potential
5. Inexperienced, problematic

Contemporary Worship forms part of the church’s backbone

Youth specialist, Ron Hutchcraft said that one of the defining characteristics of this generation of youth is that ‘Music is their language’. We note very quickly when we are around youth. Churches that seek to be on the cutting edge of music and what is available out there in contemporary worship will draw in youth. I heard of a lady involved in helping her church change the style of worship to a more contemporary form. When change started to take place they encountered resistance. Most often the biggest issue casing disunity in churches to day; centres around worship.

The Church called a meeting to address the questions ‘should the change their style of music or not?’ This lady stood in front of the church and asked all the youth to please stand – only two young people stood. She responded to the church by saying that the reason that there were only two young people in their church was because they refused to change the worship. I have been into churches that have focused a great deal into their worship, bringing in new instruments, songs and people to assist. It is these churches that draw youth, not the churches that still do worship like it was done twenty years ago (which is in fact how it was done 70 years ago.)

Tester: Worship in your church is it progressive and dynamic OR there is little change and worship is stagnant?

Evaluation: Which one best describes the worship of your church (circle the number)?

1. Progressive, dynamic (always changing).
2. Contemporary, but slow to learn new forms of worship.
3. Change took place but fallen back into maintenance mode.
4. Has had a little change but still feels bound by a form practised in yesteryear.
5. Reflects worship as it looked 20 years ago.

Youth form a part of the body and are encouraged to function in it

Graham Knox said this ‘Youth are part of the church of today and all the leaders of tomorrow.’ Many people say, ‘Youth are the church of tomorrow’. This is an underlying attitude that says that youth have nothing to offer the body now. It is very clear that Churches that function like this will lose their youth before they ever become the so-called ‘church of tomorrow’.

Youth want to feel needed. Churches that mobilise youth for ministry within the body, fulfil this need. Youth can be used to minister both in the broader body and then specifically to other youth.

Tester: Are the youth in your church encouraged to minister in the body OR is their attitude ‘youth are to be seen and not heard’?

Evaluation: Which one best describes how the adult Christians in your church see the youth (circle the number)?

1. The youth are a part of the Church today and all the leaders of tomorrow therefore they are very important.
2. Youth have an important role in the church but can really only offer ministry to their peers.
3. Youth are the church of tomorrow therefore we need to cater for them because one day they will be able to minister and lead the church.
4. Youth are expected to be involved in the church programme but this is restricted to manual labour (cleaning windows) other than that, they are side-lined.
5. Youth must be seen and not heard.

Church members are prepared to mentor the next generation

‘He (God) commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.’ (Ps 78:5-6) Churches that see the youth as the spiritual young people of their family will be churches that encourage the attitude of ‘next generation’ ministry. We need to encourage those that have been before, to adopt those that are yet to travel the path they have travelled.

Too often we hear adults say that they do not understand the youth of today and as a result they do not want anything with or for the youth. This goes against the Biblical injunction given to adults to nurture the next generation. Churches that have a heart for the well being of youth and are prepared to invest into their lives will be churches that impact youth.

Tester: Are the adults of your Church involved in the lives of the youth as mentors OR is there a great divide between the youth ministry and the adults?

Evaluation: Which one best describes the relationship between the adults and the youth of your church (circle the number):

1. Adults are involved in the spiritual nurturing of the youth.
2. Adult involvement does take place, but only by those with a real heart for youth.
3. Youth ministry is seen by the church to be the responsibility of the young adults.
4. Youth Ministry run by one adult and the youth themselves.
5. Youth Ministry has very little or not involvement by adults.

The Church is prepared to invest money into youth ministry

If youth ministry is going to be a key focus of the church because of the amazing opportunity we have to influence young people, then we need to invest money into making this happen. Churches that support the ministry not only through encouragement but also in providing for the needs of the ministry to happen are churches that grow a youth ministry. This I realise is relative, and is dependant on what the given community has; but I also do believe that all church communities have something they can give to help the youth ministry grow.

Tester: Does youth ministry form a key part of the Church budget OR is the church budget ‘tight fisted’ when it comes to the youth ministry?

Evaluation: Which one best describes the funds available to the youth ministry (circle the number):

1. The youth ministry forms a good part of the church budget. There is no need to worry about money.
2. The Church is generous and a great help in meeting a good deal of the ministry needs.
3. Money is made available but far from enough to meet the needs of the youth ministry.
4. Money is made available but it is ‘tokenism’ rather than genuine provision for the needs of the youth ministry.
5. No money is made available; all funds are to be raised by the young people themselves.

Evaluating your climate

Take all the numbers you circled and add them up. Below is a general assessment according to four different climates.

• Score 8 – 16: Healthy Climate
  • Encourages consistent long term growth.
  • This climate will help disciple-making to take place.
• Score 17 – 24: Generally a good climate
  • Characterised by growth spurts rather than consistent growth.
• Score 25 – 32: Unhealthy Climate
  • Characterised by maintenance rather than growth.
  • Ministry to youth is seen as an obligation of the church rather than a passion.
• Score 33 – 40: Negative Climate
  • Ministry to youth here will always be like pulling teeth.

Youth Ministry in this climate is a result of someone’s burden for youth and the church’s lack of interest.

One last point that would bring all these together; is that if a church is going to effectively integrate youth into its life and ministry; they will need to be a church that practices the ‘Weaker Brother’ passage spoken of by Paul.

What most often happens in the local church is that the mature Christians want the immature believers to come up to their level before they are accepted into the church. This is not what we see in Scripture, it is the mature believer that is to give, so that the immature can grow.

Using an example that for many is controversial ‘youth wearing hats in church,’ the average older, more mature believer gets highly offended when youth come to church with hats on. They would even get angry and ask the youth to leave if they would not remove their hat. I ask the question ‘who is the weaker brother here?’

For most young people they have not been brought up to understand that wearing a hat in church is disrespectful – we as more mature believers expect them to know this and to break their ‘culture’ that say there is nothing wrong with wearing a hat in church to keep us (mature believers) happy. I would see in Scripture that Paul would encourage the mature believe to alter his/her path for the weaker believer and not the other way round.

This is just one example but the principle can be used in all aspect of Church life.

Bringing Change

• Pray for God to change the climate. This will mean that God needs to change the hearts of people.
• Share your vision: The more people that hear about the needs of the youth of today and how the Youth Ministry is helping meet those needs, the more you will get people involved in the ministry.
• Recruit key adults: Find the ‘influencers’ in the church, those people that speak, listen and take seriously what they say. These people need to be won over. Visit with them and share what is going on. Ask their advice on ideas. Get them to support an idea before taking it public.
• Understand change takes time: It might take years of ‘chipping at the rock’ before it breaks. Keep on chipping.

Unit 8: Foundational Points for Growing a Lasting Youth Ministry

Introduction

As we endeavour to establish ministries that will be lasting and effective within the church, it is important that we establish some key foundational principles that need to underline all we do. Just as a building has a foundation upon which it is built, so too do we have to build a foundation which will encourage a healthy environment for youth to be ministered to. Sonlife has looked at key elements that need to be evident in any youth ministry that plans to impact youth. I have found ‘Son-life’s’ material to be the best material from which to work. Below you will find a summary of the Foundational principles needed for youth ministry.

Our goal as Christians should be to make disciples who in turn will become disciple-makers. We do this through a strategy of winning them over to the faith, building them up in the faith, equipping them to care and then share their faith, and finally sending them out as multipliers into the world. (This, we will look at in the Strategy for youth ministry course).

However, we need to establish an environment where this can take place –

This material will explore six principles that will act as a foundation on which to build this healthy environment. They have been identified in the life of Jesus Christ and then must be applied to the youth of today. They are the following:

Jesus modeled how to love people by six foundational priorities

1. Atmosphere of Love: Jesus displayed and encouraged, support and comfort amongst his peers.
2. Biblical Group Image: Jesus built a group that knew its purpose.
3. Consistent Contacting: Jesus built initial friendships that led to life transformations.
4. Proper Concept of Christ: Jesus called people to respond to an accurate understanding of Himself and His Father.
5. Prayerful dependence: Jesus prioritised prayerful dependence for His daily relationships and decisions.
6. Communicating The Word: Jesus based His teaching on God’s Word.

Let’s look at each one of these principles in a bit more detail.

Atmosphere of Love

Larry Richards, in a theology of church leadership, says ‘Love expressed and experienced among members of the body is absolutely essential if that body is to be healthy and alive…’

Thus the development of love within the group must be the primary concern of spiritual leaders.

Through Gary Chapman’s book, ‘The Five Love Languages’, we realise that there are five different ways in which people can express their love.

Everybody has a primary love language and if we only exhibit one or two of the obvious love languages, the whole group might never feel a sense of sincere love. Below are the 5 Love Languages – for further information on them – read Gary Chapman’s book.

1. Gifts: Gifts are visual symbols of love. Gifts can be made, purchased or found – the cost doesn’t matter.
2. Words of Affirmation: Verbal compliments or words of appreciation are powerful communicators of love; they build others up.
3. Physical Touch: Physical touch doesn’t have to be at all sensual. It can be showing someone love in a purely friendly manner (a hug).
4. Acts of Service: Acts of Service, means doing things you know your friend/youth member would like/appreciate you to do.
5. Quality Time: This is communicating you love by giving your undivided attention to an individual for an extended period of time – it shows that you value them, want to hear what they have to say and care about their need hopes and problems.

Biblical Group Image

A Biblical group image requires that the members of the group understand why the group meets, and what the group stands for. It requires a Godly sense of anticipation of what God desires to do and will do in our lives and ministries.

It is not tied to external conditions or circumstances; this is more a conscious attitude, first displayed by the leaders and then owned by youth. A by-product of this will be an environment in which growth can take place.

Your group is Christ’s church, for which He lived and died. Yet you cannot assume that your relationship with Christ guarantees that the guys in your group will experience love and acceptance. In fact, each week our group spends many more hours apart than they do together. The role of programming is to move individuals forward in their walk with Christ as well as the group. The ideal group image sees believers committing their energy to helping one another grow, and working together to impact their friends and community.

Consistent Contacting

In the gospels, we find Jesus spending time with His followers in both casual and formal situations. (John 3:22). By laying down His relationship with the Father He could impact them. He earned the right to speak into their lives. Not only did Jesus make time for his disciples, but He went out to the lost, hurting, lonely and needy too!

It doesn’t feel natural to step out of your comfort zone and to start a relationship (to talk and share with a stranger), but this is something we need to learn to do!

Usually we find that the people that have had the most impact in our lives are the people with whom we had consistent contact. They seemed to show us that they care about us by making time for us and communicating with us.

Definition of Consistent Contacting

• Contacting is PLANNING time for relationships.
• It means ENTERING their world.
• Jesus LIVED it.
• Jesus SENDS us. (John 20:21)

Do you agree that …

• You can impress people at a DISTANCE, but you can only impact them UP CLOSE.
• 90% of discipleship is relationships.
• The closer the personal RELATIONSHIP, the greater the personal IMPACT.
• Therefore we need to be making TIME for INTENTIONAL relationships.

‘Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being WITH THEM. This was the essence of the TRAINING programmes – just letting his disciples FOLLOW Him. Jesus had no formal school, no seminaries, no outlined course of study, no periodic membership classed in which He enrolled his followers. None of the highly organized procedures we experience today were needed in his ministry. All Jesus did was to DRAW them close to himself. He was his own school and Curriculum’ (Robert Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism).

Proper Concept of Christ

People have many expectations of who Jesus is, or who they want Him to be. Yet Jesus never fitted the mould that had been publicly predetermined for Him.

A real relationship with Him can only be based on accurate knowledge of who He is. Throughout his ministry, He was constantly teaching his disciples who He really was.

The LEADERSHIP’S understanding of Jesus is a key ingredient in shaping the GROUPS understanding of Jesus. The dynamics of the leadership’s WALK with Christ will be REFLECTED in the group.

Part of our job as leaders is to have a proper concept of Christ, and then to model Christ out in our lives so the youth can see Him through us. ‘When a student is fully taught, He will be like his teacher’ Luke 6:40.

You need to draw your youth into regular CONTACT with the Christ of the gospels.

Our teaching should focus on

1. Who God is.
2. What God has done for us.
3. Who we are in Christ.

The more we re-affirm who we are in Christ, the more our behavioural patterns will begin to reflect our true identity, which is Christ.

Prayerful dependence

‘Prayer is one of the most important aspects of building disciples. If one is to help men to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, He must pray. Indeed, if He does everything else right in terms of building disciples, yet fails to pray, nothing significant will happen.’ (Carl Wilson).

If we look at Jesus’ life, we see how much time He spent in prayer. Although only a small portion of his life was dedicated to public ministry, much of it was spent in prayer. Everyday would begin and end in prayer, always-committing difficult tasks and crisis to His Father.

Communicating the Word

When we look a Jesus’ life we see how central the Word was to His life and ministry. We see that He quotes the Old Testament over 80 times, and from 70 different chapters. (This wasn’t easy, since the Bible, was not set out as well as it is today, and was not as freely available to everyone, so He must have put a great deal of time into the Scriptures.)

We see that in the early church they ‘Devoted themselves to the apostles teaching’ (Acts 2:42).

We need to be committed to creating an environment that will encourage growth through proper communication of the Word.

We must commit ourselves to studying the Bible regularly, so that we can properly communicate the Word to the youth and so that they will be encouraged to grow.

To effectively communicate the Word we must:

Know that God’s Word is the source of all truth, and is a guide for our lives and learn how to personally study the Bible.

Conclusion

These points made here are only a summary of the material and I would encourage you to attend the course to gain a fuller understanding of the material. We need to continually keep a close look on how we are impacting into the culture of youth while effectively practicing the six points made above. We can be effective in impacting into youth culture, but this effect can have no spiritual influence, if there is no concerted effort given to build a health foundation, by practising the foundational principles.

Task: Compare your youth ministry to the points made above. How strong is your foundation? Spend some time looking each at each of the six areas mentioned, and evaluate how your group is fulfilling the foundation and what you believe can be done to better fulfil those areas not being done well.

Reference

J-Life Ministries. (2009). Introduction to Youth Ministry. NY; sage.

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