a. Steven Garber's The Fabric of Faithfulness reviewed
b. Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities
c. Dave Matthew's Rhyme & Reason lyrics
d. Christina Aguilera's Beautiful lyrics
e. Junior Achievement - A History
f. Donna Gaines' A Misfit's Manifesto
g. Donna Gaines' website
h. Tom Beaudoin's A Spirituality of Mentoring
i. Tom Beaudoin's Virtual Faith
j. Oprah Winfrey interviews Nikki Reed
k. Paul David Tripp's Age of Opportunity
l. Paul David Tripp's Case for Kids Series
m. David Elkind's All Grown Up and No Place to Go
n. Chap Clark's Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers
o. Marcel Danesi Radio Interview: Kid Cool
p. Marcel Danesi's Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence
COMMENT A. "When we call young people to faith, we are not calling them out of the world and into heaven. Rather, we're calling them to live God's will and way in the world." (p.14)
I think this is a powerful statement which hits the nail on the head! When we are working with at-risk youth, we are not looking at turning them into 'little you and me's.' Inner-city kids don't need to become suburbans to become Christians. Rural kids don't need to become inner-city kids either!
When we do this, we fall into the same trap that the early Jewish church struggled with when they began insisting that Gentiles become Jews... that's not the point. We believe in the redemption of all cultures, not the genocide of anything which doesn't fit into my cultural category of what we might consider to be Christian - because we all blind spots!
My hope is that this book will help us to determine a more strategic theology for the engaging the soul of youth culture.
COMMENT B: In what ways can we as youthworkers/people interested in youth open our ears to hear the cry of this generation? Mueller says that "The cost of losing our ears is great. Whoever takes interest and listens with both ears will be given the privilege of influence. God's people are typically surprised not only to learn that our young are not listening to us but who are they listening to." (p.25)
What are your thoughts?
6 comments:
The Jews weren’t the only ones to attempt to create a group of Christians in their own image. The Roman church did it to the Irish as well. Come to think of it, the Roman church did it to quite a few people. And we’re still doing it today. But here’s the deal. I have this long standing realization that I’m guilty of pointing at people and basically saying, “take God out of that box! … Because He belongs in this box right here!” And I think that the same thing can be said of not trying to create new Christians in our image. I’m quick to point at Christians and tell them to stop trying to create Christians in their image, but the problem is, I’m just as guilty, I just don’t notice it.
“Whoever takes interest and listens with both ears will be given the privilege of influence.”
Wow, that’s a great quote. It basically describes wisdom.
You asked “In what ways can we as youthworkers/people interested in youth open our ears to hear the cry of this generation?”
That’s a really good question and not one that’s easy to answer. For one thing, it goes way beyond just asking them. I find that very few young people are able to communicate their needs through a straight up question and answer session. Ask a young Christian what he would do to the church service if he were in charge, and 99% of the time he’ll describe a modified version of the exact same service his church is already doing. Most young people don’t spend a lot of time trying to find a way to verbalize their needs so, when they’re asked, they usually don’t have an answer. So, with that in mind, we have to find other ways of listening.
We have to pay attention. And we have to do it without filters. Look around at a lot of the, so-called, “edgy” youth programs that are going on and what I believe you’ll find is a program that appeals to the youth workers in charge, but not necessarily to the young people. Cool services with cool bands are a good example of this. These types of services relate to those of us who are youth workers, but (I believe) they’re not really engaging today’s teenagers. But we keep doing them. Why? Because we (youth workers) really like them.
Finding a way to “hear the cry of this generation” without our own personal bias filter is a really hard thing to do.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the comments.
I think this is completely true - our tastes determine what we think is 'cool' (whatever that means!) - rather than trying to really listen to where people are at - unedited.
I think a lot of the time, we would prefer to have the censored and beautified version of youth culture than seeing it in the raw... This basically means we're often guilty of living with a rose-tinted, g-rated idea of who our teens really are. Some people would call this denial!
I think that if we were to truly look at the kids who we are working with 'in the raw' - and try to understand them, maybe we would then begin to develop contextual expressions of gospel-communication which are relevant to their needs as opposed to our own?
Thanks for the thoughts, Tim. I tend to agree with you on this one!
Steve
Walt Mueller was a terrific opening chapter which should immediately challenge any youth worker, parent or any individual who has a kids' wellbeing on their agenda. I think the first point that Mueller tries to communicate is the importance of listening. As easy as this sound I think this can be quite the challenge when dealing with youths who they themself have trouble understanding their particular situations.
I personally think there is more to the process than just listening and in turn we as youth workers deploy our "great knowledge". I believe that building a relationship where they can even start to verbalize their issues and concern is a wonderful thing, in and of itself.
Another interesting point in Muellers book was his reference to Paul Tripp's book, Age of Oppotunity. Tripp connected the first seven chapters of Proverbs with the struggles facing today's emerging generation.
I think as youth workers/people interested in youths we have to try and become educated on their realm and culture first and foremost. But at the same time leave space to understand each individual's own unique world and not just generalize and put everyone in a box. Also we have to introduce Jesus as that ultimate conforter and friend. We have to our own modern day John the Baptists.
i think it's kind of interesting that a lot of this relates to what we've been discussing with larry, the God bearing life. that we are to go out and make disciples by bearing the presence of God in us. it's more than just being there for the youth, it's being with them but not of them. i love that phrase. we are to build a relationship with them. teaching them and guiding them in what we know, and discovering together that which we don't.
it's a wonder that concern for the lost youth of today hasn't been shown earlier. when looking at music alone, there are so many chart topping songs and artists that have lyrics speaking explicitly for our youth. songs of fear, and loneliness run rampant everywhere. just stick in a cd of simple plan or evanescence, but there's so many more besides just them. and then into cyberspace. it's been around for awhile now, and we've seen it grow and develop in it's productivity and ease of use, yet still complexity. of course teens are going to be enthralled. it creates a place of ownership and acceptance, not boundaries! and look at the rest of the world. immediate gratification. nothing matters unless it feels good now. who cares about tomorrow morning or 9 months from now, it doesn't matter.
to shorten this up....
how can i as a youthworker open my ears to hear the cry of this generation?
for me it's relational ministry. i don't feel it's necessary to be the buddy buddy type with a teen. but i do feel it's important for me to able to sit on a couch next to a kid and talk with them, both of us comfortable. i also feel that as i teach, i should consciously relate and use metaphors to clearly explain what i'm preaching. but that i should also be open and willing to acknowledge my shortcomings and sometimes say "i don't know, but let's figure this out together..." or "what do you think?" i believe thru what i've said above, that a yw can mentor someone beneficially. that the mentor will have ears and the mentored will have a mouth.
-jenn
Hi Jenn,
I think you hit on a really important point here. It is critical that we recognize that we don't have all the answers. We do have our experience, our training, and our passion... but the journey of RESPONDING to the cries of this generation is more about listening then it is answering.
To respond doesn't only mean to have the solution. Sometimes response can come in the form of compassion - which literally means "to walk beside" (See Henri Nouwen's book 'Compassion').
Normally, at-risk kids have the solution inside of them. It's just a matter of walking alongside them and helping them to discover the assets they have in themselves already. Some of the time, our role is to facilite the identification of resources that can help. Even when it comes to their spiritual future, our job is to POINT them to Jesus. This can all take place from the side-to-side position.
If we are able to see ourselves as mentors/supporters rather than saviors, this will really help.
Thanks Jenn,
Steve
Hi Gavin,
Good points. We do need to LISTEN to youth culture. What does it mean to listen to youth culture though? Is it just about downloading the top ten songs of the week and watching a couple of movies? Or is there something more organic about this?
Are kids just clones of mass media or is there difference, individuality, and unique sub-cultural, situated expression? If so, how do we study kids without reducing them to a generational statistic???
Steve
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