She is not alone. Political and social issues: Irrespective of the fact that the youths make up the most population in a country, they are the most marginalized when it comes to politics and decision making. Youth could be defined as the time or stage in life when a person is young which is usually between the time of childhood and adulthood (which could be said to be maturity). Share with them these 10 Challenges for the Church of the Twenty-First Century. As a church we can easily and must resolutely rise to the challenge. 2. Church Leaders Are Discouraged by Division in the Church. Its the philosophy of the age which follows modernism. Biblical Foundations 2.1 Biblical Precedent 2.2 Incarnational Theology 2.3 Relational Method 2.4 Holistic impact 2.5 Further Theological and Practical Reflection 2.6 Cultural Barriers of the Church over against the Youth Culture 2.7 A Vision of Renewal by Reaching the Youth Generation 3. I might text or phone him but that is completely different than seeing him in person. Whenever a youth(s) is given an opportunity to participate in politics, they usually give it their best with so much willingness, positivity and the intention to effect a lasting change with the opportunities they were given. If we set out sights on a target of 1 youth worker per 10 000 school going young people, we would need 1600 professional youth workers. on. This is fantastic stuff for youth workers. 22. What does it mean to be radically different? In the nineteenth century bar room tunes were retained and excellent hymns written to the same tunes. Dysfunction will be the norm. 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. Postmodernism is characterised by paradox, especially in its expression. For this program to have a lasting effect, an ecosystem around the youths work should be built. Instead of us using it to gather information we go into our own little pods. They flit from one TV channel to the next, watching three or more shows simultaneously. Therefore, school violence may be explained as physical attacks which occur between students or by students to teachers or teachers to students. 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. Assign each student one of the issues and have them break it open with a semester-long research project or term paper than incorporates some possible responses to the questions. How does one live with non-Christian parents? #2. Living in an anti-Christian culture. For faith development skills to take root our methodology must change. A total of 54% of the population (some 21,929,512 young people) is under the age of 25 years. "Sexual and financial scandals; a clergy ill-prepared to engage effectively with the young; the passive role assigned to the young within the Christian community; the Church's difficulty in explaining her doctrine and ethical positions to the society can understandably discourage the youth." Required fields are marked *. But How can a Christian person want to remain in a culture that appears sinful? is a frequently asked question. Specialist service agencies, existing solely for the purpose of pursuing youth evangelism objectives, are notoriously underfunded. Inherently the youths are an important cog of the . We need to be preaching salvation as adoption into Gods family, and becoming heirs of the king of the universe (see Ephesians 1). Ministry in a postmodern context requires us to once again find the Biblically mandated community/relational approach to ministry. For example we must help youth see that immoral behaviour hurts people it hurts their individual development and it hurts their relationships with others. The rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer. Peel it back and theres just marshmallows! So says a Scripture Union Youth Worker. Consider that it may be more honorable to stay in the family and community you were raised in. The 1996 South African census21 shows that 34% of South African are under the age of 15. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. It is a prophetic word for the next generation. It turns out she thought is was part of Greek mythology. This statistic was extracted from a paper entitled, Megachurch trends: 1997. challenges of youth in the church today pdf. Of all the fears South African young people have for the present, AIDS ranks by far the highest3. Cooperative Learning in the Classroom. Great article and good to use for Youth and church leaders. They have always been able to fax. In our society today, youth are seen in the streets abusing drugs while it has lead to the mental disability of many. And it is what we have to contend with. Methods like Groomes7 shared Christian praxis and Cooperative Learning8 are the way of the future. Church was never meant to be a showcase for saints - rather it is a hospital for hopeless sinners. They are capable of doing their homework with both TV and radio blaring in the background. The bishops document agrees: with the advent of social media, this has led to new challenges over the extent to which media companies have power over the lives of young people. Whenever a child talks about peer pressure, the parent(s) should not hesitate to take the necessary actions in other to restrict such. 11. Bill Clinton has made it a personal goal to clamp down on violence in the movies and on TV before the end of his presidency. 2 Timothy 2:2 and Ephesians 4:12-16 are probably the two most clear and direct Biblical mandates for this re-formational ministry. Often to the uninitiated, different is equated with sinful, but culture has both sinful and amoral elements to it. The church as we know it cannot survive much longer. One of the chief characteristics of modernism was the elevation of the individual. Adults forging friendships with young people, entering their world and earning the right to model the life of Christ to them is what youth ministry is all about. It is their innovativeness, character and will power that defines developmental trajectory. 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. Also see: Important lessons to learn in your 20s to be successful. As a baby boomer, the question I would like to ask todays youth: What is so bad about staying put? we are all thrown into an unstoppable hunt for novelty. In other words, all is liquid: family, community, faith, parish lifenothing is solid, stable. We therefore offer some answers to the issues we have raised. Fantastic article! Make your local community, your local parish a better place. They have likely never played Pac Man and Star Wars looks very fake. Recommended: Important things to consider before entering into relationship with someone. "The chief end of religion is to glorify man so he can enjoy himself forever.". 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. Here are some basic ways to meet the challenges outlined above. Bill Price and Associates3, doing similar research in South Africa, have found the statistics to be slightly better in South Africa, with only 1 in 3 young people currently experiencing family breakdown, yet the trend is downwards. Many churches have maintained active church-life by leveraging on internet-mediated technology as alternative means of doing church. Modernism is basically the world view which drew the line between science and religion, faith and superstition, truth and veracity. The aims include to redefine marriage and. 3. Message centred evangelism emphasizes the proclamation of truth, in the hope that the repetition of the biblical message in creative ways will result in Christian living. In the fall of 2016, Pope Francis announced the theme of the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment, which recently ended. There is no agreed data, but estimates of AIDS infection range from 30% of young people to as high as 75% of young people in certain areas (in particular, young girls in rural KwaZulu Natal). By. 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. 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. 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. 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. The order then becomes Love God, bear fruit, love your neighbour. 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. Computer technology, narrative theology, non-didactic teaching methods and popular media like The Prince of Egypt should all be harnessed creatively. 4.Facing failure. The only growing group is that of the Independent Churches, which doubled their membership5. Thats why we grew up on Creation Evolution debates, Disco (very tangible beat and structured dance form), long theological debates, proving the existence of God and cerebral reasoning. Communication is multi-threaded to them, and interactive multi-media is king. Indeed, Durkheim found a correlation between mobility and suicide: those who are more mobile experience less robust social connections (loss of community) and are hence more likely to commit suicide. Have the youth read Acts 5:25-42. These challenges are not one which always exists without a solution. 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. . Thus, the greatest commandment is reborn in our churches. This is an estimate only. The disciples faced challenges that we cannot relate to today. Death of the Church. Required fields are marked *. Thats a big job which needs great skill. Abstract This paper attempts to explicate the Challenges Facing the Christian family in order to communicating the vision of God to Youths in Africa. 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. Notice: Function is_feed was called incorrectly.Conditional query tags do not work before the query is run. This is a great work that every youth pastor and youth worker must read. Ecumenism. Grave consequences emanate from these violence perpetrated by the students such as vandalism, lack of moral decency, loss of school property, increase in the school crime rate. Sociologically, an ominous challenge youth face today is living in a cultural context of liquidity (explained soon) which deemphasizes tradition(s) and, moreover, promotes a social media that further undermines communal traditions. Boomers sought relational breadth; [Generation 21] seek relational depthWhat emerges are two generations bonded by blood, but separated by emotion and expectation.. Churches should be involved in this process, to ensure that minimum levels of care are set up to include spiritual input as well. Creation of jobs and employment opportunities through a Market System: In providing solutions for unemployment in the society, a market system approach should be taken which would stand to address the root cause of the unemployment problem being encountered in the society, instead of the symptoms which it provides. So, Durkheim already was reflecting on the death of the social in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This comment was made of present-day American culture. Your email address will not be published. Initially, Durkheims question motivated many sociologists to study immigrants as most experience a severe rupture of their social bonds. 41, No. But the world has changed. The danger is manifested through isolation, laziness, desolation, and boredom (#35). Physically moving often disrupts this whole process. ABSTRACT. Cell-phones are normal. Petrol has always been sold 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He said, Oh, just come down anytimewell still see each other. No, we wont! 16. Computer presentations are the norm. 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. Ministry In A New Dispensation. And them this neighbour takes two forms: the rest of the Christian family and others generally. Tanks a lot. 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. 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. The usual metaphors used in understanding the character of God may no longer be accessible to Generation 21. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. The rules have changed big business and government are no longer the employers of last resort. Which means they will be less likely to accept authoritative and definitive answers. Generation 21 is going to live through the deaths of their friends over and over again in the next century. Youth today have the opportunity to be more conscious about staying put and upholding and honoring their religious and familial traditions more so than previous generations because we are more aware today of the negative fallout of mobility, moving away, separation, and physical dispersion. We say Love God, bear fruit in keeping with your new relationship with God (Christian character development and personal growth), forget all else.. How I respond is just as important as the tenet of faith itself. Chicago: Moody Press, 1996. 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Clem Sunter. A focus on family education, the family as a little church. 20. What did he do if not his Sunday School homework and school work? 1.Honouring your non-Christian parents 2.Drinking alcohol. This is not entirely true, as they are able to concentrate for much longer than many adults but they cannot focus on one topic for very long. 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. Aliens to Traditional Family Structures. 18. Hendriks states that we must realise that before 1994 the state was responsible for upholding Christian values. I remember telling They have, in a sense, thrown the baby out with the bath-water. They will have lots more information at their finger tips than those teaching them. Moreover, in physically leaving family and parish to sink temporary roots somewhere else, often far away, sociologists have found that ones familial and communal narratives or stories slowly fade as well.