We have a pragmatic view of religion in our society that relegates our faith to the private sphere of personal values. For Generation 21 outward appearance is not going to be a measure of spirituality. The fact that many Black churches, whose white counterparts would be very conservative, are mostly Pentecostal and Charismatic in practice although perhaps not in theology, is another. I have argued before about how the parish can help in this post-modern liquid society by providing community (Mosaic, 2014). Why, one may ask? Oh, there is another thing: I still have a Bible, which sheds divine light on the matters of life for young and old alike. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1994. Downers Grove: IVP, 1995. Thats why drugging, New Age, experience, smart drugs, raving, identity in music, experiential learning are currently in vogue, at the close of the twentieth century. power of grace; this is the experience of all members of the Church. Ultimately, funding for mission work comes primarily through Gods people, and sacrificial giving remains the predominant Biblical pattern. Teens reaching other teens create an atmosphere of trust and affirmation that enables young people who might not otherwise hear a gospel message to hear, and relate, and find release18. Research done by youth students at the Baptist Theological College, Randburg, indicates that as many as 75% of people who become Christians do so before the age of 18. Over time (and with teaching) we challenge our new convert to growth and development. As the document states: The pervasiveness of digital and social media in the world of young people is evident. 41, No. It is currently estimated that 3 in every 4 American teenagers will experience family breakdown by the time they turn 21. Arguably, more than non-Western peoples are facing this unravelling. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. Youth work must be recognised as a profession (a vocation!) Pastors will be teachers and disciplers, preparing the congregation for the work of the ministry. These concepts have been adopted by the New Age Movement, and in conjunction with secular humanism have taken on a specific form and meaning. They're divided about vaccines. It will focus on the goal of Christian mutual of youth and the essential role of . A friend recently said he was moving to North Carolina because he liked the area. 20. This does not mean that they are seeking after the God of the Bible rather they realise that there is a higher reality, that there is something beyond the purely natural world we live in. These form of violence could happen anywhere ranging from the school environment, school sponsored events and outside the school premises. This is fantastic stuff for youth workers. They dont know what a flannel graph or a chalkboard is; and they have only ever known CDs and now DVD. As a baby boomer, the question I would like to ask todays youth: What is so bad about staying put? As my youngest millennial son says, It is because we dont use social media correctly the fault is our own. Note: This syllabus is in the process of being further developed by the author. It must find its roots again in a truly Biblical approach to ministry. Simply and biblically, being a disciple means starting a vertical relationship with God, a transaction between two people alone: God and his child. Taking Africa for an example, there are nearly 200 million people in Africa who are within the ages of 15 24, and this number would increase by 2045, it goes to show that the youth unemployment rate will cause a serious problem in the society if appropriate measures are not taken to eradicate or reduce it. A total of 54% of the population (some 21,929,512 young people) is under the age of 25 years. On the other hand, why should one spend time memorising, when hand held computers contain easy-reference word-search Bible concordances in a multitude of versions. Dr. H. Jurgens Hendriks. Dr Jay Kesler, quoted in Dean Borgman. Baby boomers, like most Americans ,are regularly on the go. Notably, Americans get caught up in the cultural process of upward social mobility which often results in physically moving great distances away from families, communities, and parishes. Instead of us using it to gather information we go into our own little pods. . By. One of the chief characteristics of modernism was the elevation of the individual. I remember telling Ironically, this whole process of familial, social, and spiritual disconnection and dispersion sets one on an unconscious quest for exactly what one has walked away fromfamily, parish community, tradition, ritual practices, a place to belong. Share with them these 10 Challenges for the Church of the Twenty-First Century. But since its beginning, a new approach has been gathering momentum, and as this century ends, it claims dominant position, not only in the intellectual corridors of power, but is pervasive throughout society in all corners of the globe. It has declined since then. Although it is very difficult to find a simple, concise definition, it is characterised by freedom of choice, rejection of creeds, and a complete agnosticism with regards to truth. The drop off is due to a considerable decline in church attendance by the white and coloured population groups. I say conformingbecause as the late sociologist Robert Bellah often commentedin doing ones own thing one is not being different or radical but merely conforming to the American cultural value system of individualism (for most are doing the same thing). This paper was originally published in 2003 in the Baptist Journal of Theology (South Africa). Have the youth read Acts 5:25-42. The youth of today is confronting many serious challenges than their previous generations used to do. Before then, they always return false. The youth of today are in need of guides, and even more than this, they are in need of spiritual fathers, whether clergy or lay, monastics or non-monastics, men or women. Quoted by A. Allan Martin in The ABCs of Ministry to Generations X, Y, & Z, available on-line: http://www.tagnet.org/dvm/ABCs.html. #2. The Bible is not directive and/or silent on may of the social and ethical issues with which we are confronted today. They accept information in sound bites, and their music and media is equally fast paced in its visual presentation. There are a number of excellent introductions to postmodernism from a Christian perspective. I still have eyes and ears, so I still am able to recognize what young Christians face today. Lets at least, having learnt past painful lessons, allow room for Christ himself to transcend these cultures. South Africa is a violent country, but until recently violence was not seen as a direct youth issue. Young people in the twenty-first century will know more and have access to vastly greater quantities of information than ever before. Consider that it may be more honorable to stay in the family and community you were raised in. Just as it cant be linked within a specific age, its end thereof cannot be linked to a specific activity or what the individual has failed to do. Of all the fears South African young people have for the present, AIDS ranks by far the highest3. A serious debate of thirteenth century Scholasticism. So why a crash course in postmodernism? What are the challenges facing the youth today? Make your local community, your local parish a better place. In every generation, all over the world young Christians face challenges. And them this neighbour takes two forms: the rest of the Christian family and others generally. Therefore, anyone who it is in his power to affect the solutions should see that it is done in other to create positive change in the society. For example, a quick flip through your TV guide will show the following in 1999: Buffy the Vampire slayer, X-files, Outer Limits, Touched by an Angel, Teen Angel (comedy), Nothing Sacred, First Wave, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (comedy), Father Ted (comedy), Mortal Kombat, Strange World, and Brimstone. Cooperative Learning in the Classroom. Furthermore, Christian principles and biblical lessons were taught in schools. Steven Lottering. An Overview: Youth are today's church! Sexual purity in a society where pressure and temptation exists. This research study is to explain clearly the role of youth in the church that bring about church development.. 5. Generation 21 is going to live through the deaths of their friends over and over again in the next century. Recommended: Differences between the first and second creation stories in the bible. As the document states: In this first step, we should focus on grasping concrete realities: social sciences provide an essential contribution which, incidentally, is well represented in the sources that are being used, but what they have to say is looked at and re-read in the light of faith and the experience of the Church (p. 8). .Being a Christian in a non-Christian household can be difficult but also can be beneficial for your personal walk with Jesus. Signs of the Times: The future of the Catholic Church is with the young, which is why Pope Francis has called bishops from all over the world to meet in Rome Oct. 3-28 for a synod on young people. The disciples faced challenges that we cannot relate to today. Modernism takes it as axiomatic that there is only one true answer to every problem, from which it follows that if we can correctly formulate those answers, the world could be controlled and rationally ordered. And if staying put means continuing your father or mothers occupation or business all the more should accolades be showered on you for maintaining the tradition. Sociology has something to say to youth in that sociology is not merely a descriptive enterprise but also a highly political one in that it diagnoses and suggests correctives to the ills of society, primarily the loss of social cohesion or community and the multitude of forces that threaten to disintegrate the very possibility of the social or ecclesial.. Youths are the fulcrum of society. Physically moving only means starting all over again. As such, it reaches out to people at the point of their need, allowing the material and physical response to bear testimony to a spiritual solution. Chicago: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999. What one consistently notices is that while it takes different strategies to reach different kids (unchurched, churched, urban , rural, leaders, followers etc), most of them can be reached if one person whom they trust builds tight community (close relationships) with them. As Americans, we live in a culture that Polish One of the downsides of this information overload is that these new generation info-crats appear to have an ever decreasing attention span. More details available at: http://www.youth.co.za/census. It is also clear that young people are more open to the Gospel than adults. Recommended: Forms of Business Organization with their Merits and demerits. Mila Jones. Most young people would not have experienced the typical early twentieth century nuclear family. Modernism lent itself to memorisation, rote learning, recall, focus, hard and long hours of learning, long school hours (including Sunday School) and great discipline (getting up early spending hours in Gods word). Specialist service agencies, existing solely for the purpose of pursuing youth evangelism objectives, are notoriously underfunded. Traditional denominations are losing members, on average 19% between 1980 and 1991. This is once again following a trend first seen in America, as evidenced by the spate of recent school shootings. Initially, Durkheims question motivated many sociologists to study immigrants as most experience a severe rupture of their social bonds. For the past 500 years, Judeao-Christian morality has been the basis of common decency which everyone has taken for granted. Churches need to take up the Biblical mandate to be stewards of the environment, to be healers of the sick, defenders of those who have no rights, and helpers to the widows and orphans. The Need for Leaders in Christian Youth Ministry Youth need guidance and support as they navigate through the most challenging part of their development and seek to grow in their walk with Christ. The usual metaphors used in understanding the character of God may no longer be accessible to Generation 21. Challenges and Lessons Learned from Mentoring. Ecumenism. In 1998, Bill Price and Associates completed a Profile of South African Youth and Family, using a statistical base of over 3,000 South African young people between the ages of 13 and 27. Disciplinary actions against school violence: The schools should set up a disciplinary measure which would see that defaulters of the rules of the school and students/ teachers who promote violence be punished. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Liquid modernity, in Durkheimian terms, is the dark desert of anomie (normlessness or the infinity of desires) where dispersion is the new normal and everything is seemingly up for sale. The Battle for a Generation: Capturing the Hearts of Our Youth. In particular, the role of fathers is disturbing. Abstract This paper attempts to explicate the Challenges Facing the Christian family in order to communicating the vision of God to Youths in Africa. Churches routinely dole out their scraps to youth ministry, although there are some notable exceptions. Postmodern young people dont need to be convinced of the fact that there is a higher power nor of the existence of the supernatural. Faith development skills are about making faith work, answering questions, helping young people understand why Gods word says what it says, and how to apply the obvious and work out the implied. Your email address will not be published. Violence in schools: Violence is defined by the world health organization as the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting to injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation. But not impossible. This is relational evangelism. It turns out she thought is was part of Greek mythology. An Accepting and Nurturing Environment. The iron rod orthodoxy of the past is over. The impact of social media in the lives of young people cannot be understated (#34). Forgetting, as it turns out, hurts (OMalley, 2018, Antiphon 22.2, p. 127). Do I have obligations to the family, community, or parish where I have spent my life up until this point? 221. Young people who come to faith need help recognising the current world view for what it is not wrong, not always helpful, but definitely there. That's why Dare 2 Share comes alongside the Church to help equip teens to share their faith and youth leaders to build youth ministries that advance the Gospel.For nearly 30 years, Dare 2 Share has been a leader in evangelism training resources and events, helping youth leaders overcome the challenges of building a thriving youth ministry . They're divided about public health measures in relation to the pandemic. These are people who have not heard the Gospel message even once they are going to be young people who live in a plethora of virgin cultures, for the most part un-accessed or inaccessible to adult missionaries. Why do you have to move to prove who you are or find your identity? Although the web has the potential to unite people across geographical distances, the web can also be a place of loneliness, manipulation, exploitation, and violence, up to the extreme case of the dark web. Young people are aware that risks are out there: the duplicity of technology, however, becomes evident when it leads to the development of certain vices. Your email address will not be published. They dont memorise scripture like we did in the old days.. We now have Outcomes Based Education, continuous assessment, interactive teaching and learning, more stimulation than ever before, more things to do, to read, to watch, to experience. Lets not hang onto rationalism and modernism as if they are the world views that came with the Bible. There were laws forbidding abortion, gambling, pornography, certain activities on a Sunday, etc. It was a church norm. To carry on the Catholic faith, the family name, business, or parish, is honorable and should be applauded, for it is not only within ones community that one finds identity, purpose, honor, and self-worth but also in continuing that tradition for the next generation. Computer presentations are the norm. 22. Today make-up is acceptable and Christians, rather than not going to movies at all, are expected to be selective in what movies they choose to view. Staylessed man of God. One of the greatest challenges facing Christendom in the twenty-first century will be our response as a community of faith to the multitude of ethical dilemmas already emerging in general society. It is extremely unhelpful to say Do this because God says so. .Paul writes in Methods like Groomes7 shared Christian praxis and Cooperative Learning8 are the way of the future. Walsh. The age of being a youth ranges from one country to another, however it would fall at the age when the individual is full of life. Ten years ago all these issues where buried in controversy. Lets not make native Americans and Africans dress like Europeans in order to be acceptable worshippers. sociologist Zygmunt Bauman names The Disillusioned Generation. One of the problems of youth work in general and South African youth work in particular is that statistics of these sort are not available. 23. 9. Drug abuse: The rate of drug availability and intake at this present age is so alarming and it is seen in every corner of the streets. I love it. All statistics of the United Nations is based on this definition. on. Samuel is bent on changing the legal profession by building Web and Mobile Apps that will make legal research a lot easier. "The chief end of religion is to glorify man so he can enjoy himself forever.". So you modify your behaviour, temper, hurtful behaviour, then only do you go on to do things which avoid every appearance of evil, come out and be separate (inwardly at first, not necessarily outwardly as well) and avoiding things which does not cause a brother to stumble. They dont know the difference between a tenet from the Bible and a sonnet from Shakespeare. There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what Beta is. I like this article because it is well researched and straight on point. Its all around us. Being a youth is an experience which would shape the persons level of understanding to life and his or her level of dependency on others. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is. Its arduous to seek out educated folks on this topic, however you sound like you know what youre talking about! Which means they will be less likely to accept authoritative and definitive answers. Its the philosophy of the age which follows modernism. defining a youth (was challenging as many people had different opinions as to who a youth is), they could not be classified within a specific age range. Although that may be true, most parishes are places of connection especially if they have a full complement of clerical and lay ecclesial ministers who can make prayer and devotional opportunities available to youth as well as Christian service opportunities and other types of communal gatherings. God does not exist until proven otherwise could be a foundational principle for its atheists, although Christianity too flourished in the modernist milieu. 6. T.H. Churches simply have to work towards allocating 50% of their income to youth ministry, including youth ministry programmes outside of their local church, possibly through specialist service agencies who may have greater skills in penetrating unchurched youth in various sub cultures. Instead our life experience (including faith) must make me feel good and must connect with my life experience. Its that stage in life when one is filled with vigor, freshness, good appearance, agility etc. This compares unfavourably with an estimated 1 000 full time youth workers around South Africa. A church which has no input into the social life and welfare of the community is a church that is out of touch, and perceived to be out of touch, with the very people it claims to serve. Required fields are marked *. 2, Page 18. http://www.christianity.net/ct/7T2/7T218a.html. 17. Many churches have maintained active church-life by leveraging on internet-mediated technology as alternative means of doing church. Students do not wake up on a beautiful morning to choose school violence. The rules have changed big business and government are no longer the employers of last resort. Youth have the opportunity to form a youth group in the parish and to become part of the liturgical, catechetical, evangelical, devotional, and recreational dimensions of the parishto infuse all aspects of parish life which challenge all of us to conform more completely to Jesus Christ. Aliens to Traditional Family Structures. The youth are faced with so many challenges and difficulties that it almost makes it hard for them to function well in the society, some of these challenges are: 1. Christian alternative kids tend to clean up their act in terms of drugs, music, partying, anarchy, degradation, escapism, alcohol-abuse, occult involvement, rebellion, anti-social behaviours, anti-authoritarianism, hatred, defiance, misery, self-pity, terror, selfishness, suicidal tendencies, depression, destruction and condemnation. judith myers actress; Soaring educational costs, often financed with student loans that create massive debt traps, soaring house prices in recent years which exclude first time home owners, and the increase in government benefits to older generations add to the financial fears of Generation 21. In slowly losing ones narratives of family, community, and faith, the individual is left seeking a new identity and to be accepted into a new social community or local parisha task not as easy as the American myth of individualism makes it out to be. Can youth today, therefore, see and understand this ingrained and often insidious cultural process of mobility for what it often is and then resist it? God has not called anyone to be wealthy at best he has called some to be big earners, so that they can be sacrificial big givers. It is their innovativeness, character and will power that defines developmental trajectory. It just takes more insight, patience and often forbearance. Culture can and must be retained in a Christian lifestyle. Abstract. Its not enough to give good talks, or organize elaborate programmes. This means that the gap between those beating the average and those sliding beneath it is also widening. In an article titled, What are the 10 Biggest Challenges Christian Youth Face Today, posted on Search the Scriptures (3-15-12), Drew Kuehl wrote these answers: Personalizing and living out their faith. Now as a third step, we look to the vertical dimension love your neighbour. At churches where youth ministry attendance is one to 10 students, pastors are more likely than average to say youth ministry is somewhat (42%) or not too much of a priority (7%). Modernism required that everything be rational, observable and repeatable. What are the future youth ministry challenges for the Adventist Church? Bauman, in other words, interprets the present cultural context as a sociological and cultural liquefaction where it is now the facility with which things can be turned upside down, disposed of and abandoned that is valued most . But legislative bureaucracy and nervous banks have created a climate that is not suitable for this kind of development in South Africa. Amongst other things a youth worker is a missionary, a pastor and a social worker20. The challenges facing youth How do we sort out this vast group of impressions about youth today? Clem Sunter. Some scenarios are too frightening to contemplate. 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Cancel?. Generation 21 is spiritually hungry. The high incidence of abuse is well documented in South Africa. 1. Living in an anti-Christian culture. So more than merely relational evangelism the nature of our nurture and the warmth and acceptance of the nurturing environment is of paramount importance to both evangelism and discipleship of Generation 21. The aims include to redefine marriage and. The danger is manifested through isolation, laziness, desolation, and boredom (#35). Those ten years old and younger cannot remember institutionalised apartheid. 2. I will not see him every week at Church or in our golf league or at other local community events. challenges of youth in the church today pdf. Every culture needs to be impacted and penetrated by the gospel. Paragraph #56 elaborates: today we have to realize that the way digital media work, and the need to choose which information sources to access amongst endless offerings, are leading people to increasingly make contact only with like-minded individuals. We crossed cultural boundaries to take the gospel to unreached people groups. Indeed, in such a cultural context the anthropologist Bradd Shore makes the bold claim that the developmental trajectory of the middle-class American family is about to self-destruct. Whenever a child talks about peer pressure, the parent(s) should not hesitate to take the necessary actions in other to restrict such. Mentoring can be a positive experience for both mentors and mentees, but it can also be challenging; often those . 4. An example going to movies and wearing make-up in the early part of the century were thought to be sinful, unchristian behaviour. The world is different twelve year olds today earn cash in their spare time, hang out with friends, play computer games, go to the movies, the mall, Imax, Ratanga Junction and play Sony Playstation games. 19. If the churchs role is to spread the Gospel, using limited resources, then it makes the most sense to maximize those resources by using them where they are most likely to be effective: that is, in youth ministry, or on things that affect young people.
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