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. This research study is to explain clearly the role of youth in the church that bring about church development.. Traditional denominations are losing members, on average 19% between 1980 and 1991. Please see ooredoo . Finally, the sense of self, so easily destroyed in Generation 21 must be restored. A place of nurture and not of judgment or of insistence of outward conformity. A shocked look crossed her face, as she exclaimed: Thats not in the Bible. 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. Instead, liquid modernity is the collapse of all narrative except for the angst-ridden individual, constructing the broken pieces of an identity from a series of fragmented memories. It is not going to change. One of the chief characteristics of modernism was the elevation of the individual. 3. Clem Sunter. Required fields are marked *. Never Mind the Millennium. Why do you have to move to prove who you are or find your identity? But not impossible. Here are some basic ways to meet the challenges outlined above. 3. A whole new mind set needs to be adopted if the necessary youth ministry programmes are to be adequately funded. What are the challenges facing the youth today? However, it still has got its acceptable explanation. If you are planning to teach this course, and would like the latest version, contact May-Ellen Colon . As Americans, we live in a culture that Polish Being radically different means having a heart for God it doesnt mean being good enough or spiritual enough, according to anyone elses standards! Am blessed and inspired! And not only are the quantities of youth workers significant but their levels of expertise and training is sorely lacking. Generation 21 is going to live through the deaths of their friends over and over again in the next century. Sociologically, however, all of this is more likely to occur if youth take up the challenge and opportunity to stay put familially (moving out of ones own nuclear home but staying within the local area), communally, and ecclesially (local parish). Some scenarios are too frightening to contemplate. For the past three years, I have worked as the Children's Director with a church that has experienced physical . This is only truly found in relationship with God, and this is where it becomes a tricky balancing act19. Alternative youth culture is a counter-culture, which rejects mainstream trends, and is characterised by (amongst others) a music style that is neither rock nor metal but has a mixture of both elements with a melancholic and dark dress style. And its pretty close to the truth. Todays young people are nervous about the future, as they see themselves following their American counterparts in becoming the first generation in modern history to earn less on average than their parents15. Amongst other things a youth worker is a missionary, a pastor and a social worker20. We crossed cultural boundaries to take the gospel to unreached people groups. The rules have changed big business and government are no longer the employers of last resort. My faith must stand questioning, but not having answers is OK. It must work. When listed like this, it is quickly apparent that being a disciple of Christ when you have had no previous Christian grounding or experience, is really a tall order, and a daunting prospect. In every generation, all over the world young Christians face challenges. Every culture needs to be impacted and penetrated by the gospel. Chicago: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999. Culture can and must be retained in a Christian lifestyle. But most of us cant concisely describe it. Although Christianitys truth claims have been questioned, most people have at least had some grounding in Christianity before asking such questions. Most young people would not have experienced the typical early twentieth century nuclear family. 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? Church was never meant to be a showcase for saints - rather it is a hospital for hopeless sinners. An exception may be in the financial resources required yet even in this solution, it may mean a redistribution of resources rather than finding huge amounts of new resources. 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. veneer. There is no other institution or local community like the parish that has the message of mercy and reconciliation at its core. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. Wendy Murray Zoba. We say easily not because it will be without difficulty but rather because the solutions are pretty basic and will take little more than intentional effort, conscious understanding and a willingness to adapt. 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. But we are not simply talking of money the churchs responsibility extends to issues such as environmental concern, community crisis response, disaster alleviation, justice, community law enforcement and a host of other issues that will require time and sacrifice. 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. The church as we know it cannot survive much longer. As my youngest millennial son says, It is because we dont use social media correctly the fault is our own. Joint appointments between churches, or between churches and youth agencies are strategic. "The chief end of religion is to glorify man so he can enjoy himself forever.". This is relational evangelism. One important and difficult challenge youth confront today, therefore, is maintaining traditions, both familial and religious, which previous generations (especially the baby boomers) let slip through their fingers. 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. The result is broken marriages, broken politics, broken cities, a broken culture, and broken human beings. him I would miss him. The Cosby Show, Miami Vice, WKRP in Cincinnati and Dynasty are shows they have likely never seen. . This decline is in spite of the tremendous growth of so called mega-churches in most of these denominations. Do I have obligations to the family, community, or parish where I have spent my life up until this point? Consider that it may be more honorable to stay in the family and community you were raised in. 11. The other thing is, of course, the people of God are divided about things. 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. It was a church norm. They dont memorise scripture like we did in the old days.. Although 86% of young people in South Africa would align themselves with Christianity, and 83% of young people consider spirituality to be important in their lives, only 52% were able to indicate the basis of their beliefs, and just less than half of those young people claiming to be Christians attended church youth groups more than once a month. 1. CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THE WAY OUT RESULT OF THE CHALLENGES: The Word of God warns that in the last days many professing believers in Christ will be "Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof" (2Tim.3:5). It is time for middle class congregations to consider their privileged position seriously in the light of the story of the rich young ruler. Before then, they always return false. New York: Vintage, 1993. We therefore offer some answers to the issues we have raised. For modernists, the truth exists objectively; things must be explainable, we must be able to demonstrate and understand it. St. Rita Catholic Church. This means that the gap between those beating the average and those sliding beneath it is also widening. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1999. And then once that culture has been penetrated and youth come to know Christ, lets not demand that young people lose their culture. I like this article because it is well researched and straight on point. Working together for an inclusive Europe. The study of young adults focused on those who were regular churchgoers Christian church during their teen years and explored their reasons for disconnection from church life after age 15. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990. Recommended: Forms of Business Organization with their Merits and demerits. The aims include to redefine marriage and. February 3, 1997 Vol. Public enlightenment and education: The solution to drug abuse is really in the hands of the people. S.J. Christians everywhere must be prepared to give an answer for their faith in a gracious and humble manner. The church in South Africa needs to envision a youth ministry culture in which qualified men and women in significant numbers make a career out of youth ministry, either in the context of the local church or through para-church agencies (specialist service agencies). These are pretty basic questions, but really important. The 1991 figure is 74.5%. Its so easy to get through to them. What is really needed is not memorisation of proof-texts, but rather a more expansive overview of Gods plan as shown in the Scriptures, providing a much needed moral and theological framework for todays information-overloaded young people. It no longer even gets a hearing. The youth constantly looks up to the Church for directions, support and encouragement while the Church needs the Youth for continuity and effective movement. Many young people who become Christians who are part of the Alternative11 youth culture still continue to wear black clothes, look anorexic and have more body piercings than we are comfortable with. The census results are available on-line at: http://www.statssa.gov.za/census96/HTML/default.htm. Recommended: Countries with the most beautiful women in the world. More ideally, a ratio of 1 youth worker for every 1 000 young people would require 16 000 youth workers. In these challenges lies hidden an authentic call of the Holy Spirit to rediscover the Abortion, homosexuality, poverty, capitalism, gender, sexuality, genetical engineering, affirmative action, revolution, ethnic cleansing are all old issues which will assume greater significance as the new century dawns. As the liturgist Timothy OMalley recently wrote: liquid modernity reveals not a multiplicity of meta-narratives, opening up a space for religiosity. Durkheim spent a lifetime arguing that the social or communal is a SALVE to the traumas of liquid modernity and a place of solace in which individuals could feel themselves protected and morally unified. They dont know the difference between a tenet from the Bible and a sonnet from Shakespeare. 8. 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.. The discipline of sociology has researched the consequences of social disconnection by compiling a body of work based on Emile Durkheims question (a founding father of sociology)what is the optimal level of social connectedness? My story must matter. Ministry In A New Dispensation. Youth workers need to give themselves as well, and in so doing earn the right to share the gospel with young people. In the nineteenth century bar room tunes were retained and excellent hymns written to the same tunes. 2 Timothy 2:2 and Ephesians 4:12-16 are probably the two most clear and direct Biblical mandates for this re-formational ministry.

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