What is our youth ministries view of students?
My view: Fearless, Radical Revolutionaries, and that hate comfort.

Some times youth pastors and youth groups get in the way of what God is calling this student generation to do for Him. I would be willing to bet that many youth ministries adult leadership teams are more about trying to prove themselves to something/someone or even to themselves.  Honestly, think about how much adults get in the way of students actually and fully becoming who God intended them to be.

It is sad to admit that our youth groups and youth ministry programmatic structures are producing nice students who are making some-what okay decisions.

I have no research to back up this claim, but I think students are wanting:

- to spread their wings and fly while feeling safe and protected

-be apart of something with impact

-treated as if they were 30

Kendra Dean from Princeton Youth Institute states:  Youth Ministry is a crystal ball: Wanna see the church in 20 yrs? Look at youth.

In the Bible, there are no age limits in order to do great things for God.  The younger the better.  Nobody in the Bible had to take a spiritual litmus test in order to do something extraordinary. For example:

Josiah was 8 years old when he became King (2 Chronicles 34.1).  Josiah’s reign was a time of Judean national resurgence.  Basically a teenager was leading a reform.

Jonathan was a young man who provoked war with the Philistines, the enemy on the coast, though Israel was weak and badly armed at that time (1 Samuel 13:23).  It was the heavy weights (Philistines) vs. the light weights.

Youth pastors need to see 8 year olds as royalty. God wonderfully made each student in our youth group.  “Wonderfully made” actually means set apart so that student can do some great things for the Kingdom of God.

© 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

The biggest problem Youth Ministry is experiencing is that after our high school senior graduates, he or she will most likely not attend church. Bottom line after a student graduates college they will never return back to Church. Given that some denominations, “estimate that over 50% of their youth group graduates fall away from either their faith or their faith communities upon entering college…” (Laurie Goodstein, “Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers,” The New York Times, October 6, 2006.) Troy Murphy argues that 80% of high school students walk away from their faith. (Not sure where he got this statistic? He did not provide a bibliography)

Why is this?

My suggestions:
• Students go to a public university and get blindside with philosophy and evolutionary biology that essentially undermines everything they were told at youth group. And the student does not know how to confront the intellectual intensity going against their system of belief.

• Students do not fully participate in “Big church”. It is essential students feel included and welcome. Also it is imperative a student learn how to respectfully sit in a service for a hour without their ipod or cell phone.
Jim Burns of Youthbuilders and Mark DeVries of Family-Based Youth Ministry stated: “The degree to which students will stay in the church, get involved, and make significant life decisions for Christ is directly dependent on their sense of belonging to the community. The goal of any youth ministry must be that students see and experience themselves as participants in God’s family of faith.”

• Parents hand down their faith to the student. The parents will force their Christian convictions on the student while giving them an ultimatum of they cannot drive or get allowance if they do not believe what they believe. Student need to own their faith. They need ownership to why they believe what they believe. Student need to land on their convictions for themselves, not their parents.

• Students do not know how to walk in their faith without youth group. Basically students do not know how to listen to God’s voice without the structure of youth group. Students do not know how to experience the spiritual disciplines by themselves.

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

Hurt by Chap Clark

Reading through the first part of HURT, I was a little overwhelmed with the theoretical evidence and proof that laid the foundation for Dr. Clark observation, study, and analysis of the students of La Crescenta High school. The theoretical work brought an enriching comprehension of what Dr. Clark was suggesting and arguing in the second and third part of HURT. Part one is theory. Part two and three are identifying and applying the principles. Hurt highlighted three aspects that reshaped my thinking towards mid-adolescents and Youth Ministry.

First, I was so pleased to see that Dr. Clark actually went into the trenches namely a high school, to observe and gather data on High School students in their environment for writing this book. He demonstrated the reality of where these students are living and how they maneuver through their” world”. Nothing in this book surprise me regarding High School students. For example: As one student told me, ‘Sex is a game and a toy, nothing more.’ (123) Today’s adolescents are, as a lot, indescribably lonely. (p. 69) Midadolescents believe that few if any adults genuinely care about them. (p. 68) “The vast majority of adolescents, drinking is not about drinking; it is about community. What I observed was that almost every midadolescent either loves to party or affirm the ritual of the party and therefore wants to be involved, even if he or she does not drink” (164).

Second, I realized that mid-adolescents have created a new “world beneath” because they have been rejected and abandoned from the real world, especially adults. Clarke states: “By the time adolescents enter high school, nearly everyone has been subjected to a decade or more of adult-driven and adult-controlled programs, systems, and institutions that are primarily concerned with adults’ agendas, needs, and dreams”(46). “Adolescents have suffered the loss of safe relationships and intimate settings that served as the primary nurturing community for those traveling the path from child to adult…The postmodern family is often so concerned about the needs, struggles, and issues of parents that the emotional and developmental needs of the children go largely unmet” (50). The abandonment issue validates why it is so difficult to build trust and make a huge impact on mid-adolescents. It is imperative to understand where and how they are living. We, as the Church, need to work extra hard to making these students come from out of their world and into the real world.

Third, every student to some degree is lonely and depressed. “Today’s mid-adolescents feel a sense of loneliness and isolation that betrays the confidence with which they present themselves, even to one another” (144) Loneliness and depression are the symptoms of not belonging and fitting into this ideal world that is in one’s head. This is why community building is sooo essential to youth ministry. We need to take this lonely and depressed student and insert him or her into a safe and comfortable environment where the student feels welcome and that they belong and fit. Youth ministry should not be something he or she just attends, but the youth ministry should be who they are.

I highly recommend Clark’s book to anyone who works with youth. Clark’s content is excellence in the areas of: academia, application, and intergration. I give this book two thumbs up!! The dude provides an accurate portrayal of today’s teenagers. We have to get in these students under world in order to relate and understand how they are living. Then, we can begin to build a youth ministry program honing in on the real needs of the students. We need to take these abandoned students and make them apart of something bigger than themselves, namely living in the way of Jesus.

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

Remember puberty? (Social scientist agree that puberty starts at 11 and half, and the puberty age is getting younger) Remember how awkward it was getting hair in new places or being in mid conversation and your voice just cracks? So many fast changes in a short amount of time. Bottom line, the adolescence process is awkward. I am arguing that the 21^st century adolescence has to go through an identity adventure before he/she is officially an adult.

There are two stages of life: Childhood and Adulthood. However the mid stages of an adolescence is the stage that greatly shapes who and what the adolescence is going to be for the rest of your life. The early adolescent falls in the age range of: 11-14. The mid adolescent age range is 15-18. The late adolescent age range is 19-22. In the early 1900’s one was an adult at the age of 16. Although today in the 21^st century the student is just getting his or her driver’s license at the age of 16. Over the past 100 years there has been shift in the adolescent development. Our students are adolescents for almost 12 to 15 years. Before, in the 1900s they were adolescents for 4 year. So what are the objectives for these adolescences as they approach adulthood?

Well these adolescences have to go through a process called, “Individuation”. The goal of this individuation process is to become a unique individual. Essentially, one takes ownership in their personhood. During your child (4 – 11) you depend on your family system. Although in your childhood process one does not have the ability to reflect or to think abstractly. When you arrive at adulthood you landed on who you are. To be an adult, one needs to give people/society a sense of who you are and that you understand who you are. Adolescences is dependent on family system to learn how you are going to insert yourself into adulthood. In some cases, the adolescent process can be very slow or very quickly depending on many direct and indirect variable, namely family system, parents, brother or sisters, morality, dependency on God, geography, school success, etc.

During the individuation process the adolescent attempts to solves these three tasks: 1) Identity, 2) Belonging, and 3) Autonomy. Identity is discovering who you are. Identity is socially driven and psycho-socially negotiated. Identity is not something we try on. The beautiful thing is that God already created it! Autonomy is asking the question of: Do I matter? The question is loaded with power and choice. The adolescences have the power to essentially determine the direction and quality of their life, when answering this question. The adolescent has the power to choose and they are very aware of what the potential consequences are. The belonging task asks the question of: where in the world do I fit? Every person is created for community. It is just a matter of finding connection in the world where one fits. The adolescent will go through this process wondering will I ever find a safe landing spot? The problem with this process is that God did not design the world for these adolescences to go through this complicated process.

Roughly at the age of 24, the adolescent finally graduates to adulthood. Research shows that typically at the age of 24 the adolescent has graduated college and/or have a consistent career where they are financially providing for themselves. There are three markers that a adolescent has graduated into adulthood. The first is that they are financially providing for themselves. The second is that the adolescent does not have their own bedroom at their home when they visit. And thirdly, they were able to answer all three questions of the individuation process. The adolescent developmental process is complicated and both the families (church and parents) need to be aware of how they can assist in this process to make sure the adolescent feels safe when he or she lands in adulthood. Next time you see an adolescent dressed all crazy and listening to crazy music, ask yourself I wonder if this student is trying to figure out who they are? Why do you think a high school student goes through 4 different wardrobe changes in four years of high school?

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Comforting Challenge::Questions to think through

01.  How can youth pastors cheer on their students?

02.  How can youth pastors affirm their students belonging and identity?

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© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

I am in the business of TRYING to understand and relate to why students are the way they are. Every fiber of my being (partnered with the HS, of course) wants to convey the message of Calvary and the Kingdom of God in a way that connects, lands, and hits home.

I am a firm believer that existentialism (endorsed by Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, and Jaspers) has greatly invaded and persuaded the 21st century student culture. Existentialism is the answer to why students are the way they are and how they live their life.

As Walter Kaufman puts it:

Existentialism is the refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophies and theologies as superficial, academic, and remote from life.

Existentialism is influencing our students, which is a BIT problematic. Students are essentially gaining meaning from their experiences. Students have to experience it for themselves before they realize what is wrong or right. I will get drunk and not accept Jesus, until something bad happens. Right now, I am cool and there is no immediate need to change or accept Jesus. My life is just fine as it is.

In my perspective here are some of the many problems pressing students within an existential culture:

Students are…..more depressed than ever. Seriously who is not on PROZAC? We live in a world where those who have the highest percentage of human wealth have the highest concentration of people medicated for depression. Depression is unmet expectations. Things going on in your mind are not matching up to how you are living and feeling.

Students are…..Anti-Religious. I like Jesus, but I do not like the church. If religion can lead to God, than religion can lead people away from God. Religion means rules. If you are religious you are living according to a Holy and Sacred system.

Students are…..becoming more pluralistic and relativistic. Jesus is not the only way. Yes He is my way, but He cannot possibly be the way, truth, and the life for the people in India. Some students think that whatever god you find, is your truth. Some students have a hard time accepting that Jesus is the only way because that communicates a very egocentric and exclusive mentality.

Students have a deep sense of choice. Think about how many choices we have. America is the land of freedom. Choices are fine, but if given too many there is a higher risk one may not make the RIGHT decision. Because students have their own autonomy this implies their purpose is created from their experiences. If choosing to smoke Marijuana is not harming me, than it does not matter if it is illegal. Remember existentialism revolts against any system of government, rules, or policies. It becomes all about your propagative, your agenda, and your experience.

The challenge for youth pastors is not to reject the ideas of Existentialism but accept them. The notions of Existentialism are in the DNA of the students. It is imperative for the youth pastor to translate and remix and creatively interact with the Existential themes by pointing them towards the cross.

Does this mean we compromise the teachings of Jesus’?

No, not one bit.

You communicate how Jesus can intersect their experiences. You convey that the teachings of Jesus are the best way to live.

The question is can you trust the teachings of Jesus?

I rather the students experience every RELIGION and determine what RELIGION offers the best and holistic life. The problem is that Christianity is the ONLY religion that has a God pursuing you.

The goal of spirituality is not to extract from you all desire and passion. The call of Jesus is the exact opposite—delight in him and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I think we as youth pastors not be afraid of the existential rhetoric. We do not need to got all defensive and upset about it. We do not need to have a 5 week teaching series degrading and arguing against it. We accept it and offer a Jesus that essentially wrecks their existential world view.

© 2008 – 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.