« Wilderness Wandering... | Main | Thanks to some great worship leaders....and check out some new music. »
June 13, 2006
"The Abandonment of the Teenage Soul"
Sunday at Bel Air Pres was Student Sunday, so I and the high school and middle school directors had the privilege of our ministries leading our congregation in worship and teaching. It was a great day and I am so blessed to be not only a part of this church, but to be a part of a great youth discipleship department. Two people that I am so impressed with and that are great friends are the middle school directors, RO and Mindy Smith. They run The Element and do a phenomenal job. When I have Jr. High kids one day, I want my kids in their program. That's how highly I think of them and I have a lot of respect for them. They are not only concerned with games and fun, but the theological content in their ministry and the way they communicate the Word. This last week they wrote an article for our Bel Air Pres Magazine called, The Abandonment of the Teenage Soul. It is a great article and a must read for parents and for anyone working with youth, etc...
As you read through the article you might notice the influence of youth ministry "guru" Chap Clark in their writing and thinking.
And on a funny and ironic sidenote....the ultrasonic teenage deterrent that they talk about in the first paragraph, is what teenagers are now using as their cell phone ringer because adults can't hear it. Talk about teenagers pulling a fast one over on adults...if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the news that is all over TV today about this cell phone ringer, here.
In November 2005, The New York Times published an article about a device called the Mosquito that emits a high-frequency sound meant to drive youthful trouble makers away. The ultrasonic teenage deterrent has been acclaimed by police forces in the United Kingdom as the most effective tool in their fight against anti-social behavior. For roughly $1000, you too could join the further abandonment of the teenage soul by installing this high-frequency sound machine anywhere you don't want those pesky adolescents to congregate. Hopefully you won't have to actually engage in a conversation with them or initiate any type of interaction whatsoever; driving them deeper into what youth professional Dr. Chapman Clark calls 'the world beneath'.
Institutions that were originally designed for teens have dramatically changed in the past 30 years. Now instead of being about caring for kids or what's best for kids, they're often more about what's best for adults and keeping kids busy. Dr. Clark describes this as a "systematic abandonment of the young" by adults who are culturally charged with caring for kids. If kids don't fit in the pre-ordained boxes that adults control, kids end up hurt, abused, and left behind. The result is that despite the articles and research projecting an optimistic view of youth culture, we believe that kids are more empty, lonely, and fragile than ever before.
One example, in our interactions with little league baseball over the past three years, the "abandonment" is evident. Little league baseball is no longer about enjoying new experiences, appreciating the joy of play, working together for the common goal, and friendly competition. It has become more about what the parents feel about the kids play, and whether the adults are satisfied with the final score. In one experience, the coach screamed at the kids sitting in the dugout because they weren't paying attention to what was going on in the field, and instead playing imaginary games and drawing in the dirt...Did we mention they were 9 years old? We couldn't help but think that this coach perpetuated this idea of abandonment.
Unfortunately, we in the church are not exempt. We too are guilty of this systematic abandonment. For example, in most churches kids are not included in the "all-church" worship service. Kids are generally relegated to having their own room, and to conduct their own church service. Sadly, many kids graduate from high school having never seen the inside of their own church's sanctuary except for at Easter and Christmas. There are many other examples, but we don't have the time or space.
So what does that mean for us? Abandoned kids are waiting, but they are guarded. They're skeptical that anybody will care about them for who they are. But when caring adults are also attached to religious faith, they have an even greater impact. So kids need to be loved by caring adults who are authentic and not plastic. Adults who are willing to reflect the incarnational Christ and "step into" the world of teenagers.
In our context at BAPC, we cannot allow the hundreds of youth that attend our church to be left to the care of the 5 paid staff members of these departments. The old saying, "It takes a village to raise a child," must resonate and ring true here as well. When kids see adults who care for them, and who aren't out for themselves, then maybe kids will start thinking God really does care for them and their faith might mean something.
RO and Mindy both have their Masters of Arts in Theology in Youth, Family, and Culture.
Posted by rhett at June 13, 2006 12:14 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.rhettsmith.com/blog/mt-tb.cgi/459
Comments
And something else that influences our children's soul is the TV.
Dear Louie and team @ 268Blog
Television viewing by 6-11 year olds will increase some 150% during the summer months. In addition, adult and adult female viewing patterns during that time remain unchanged during the summer, implying that much of the increase in children's viewership is unsupervised. (Nielsen Ratings) The impact of this increased viewing could be quite bleak. Consider:
Adolescents who watch more than three hours of TV daily are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior as adults. (CNN reporting on Columbia University study published in the journal, Science; March 2002).
A University of North Carolina Study concluded that the earlier children are exposed to sexually charged television and other media, the earlier they have sex.
Nearly 61% of all television programming contains violence, with children�s programming being the most violent (www.parentstv.org) The Parents Television Council (PTC) recently released a study showing there are more violent images on children�s television in the U.S. than on adult-oriented T.V.
Parents need to be aware of the dangers they are inviting into their home each day�particularly during the summer months. TiVo, through its new feature KidZone being rolled out on Thursday, provides parents with an easy-to-use tool for determining what programming will be available to their children in consultation with programming guides from respected experts. Here is what people are saying about TiVo KidZone and the issue of children and T.V.:
�The TV remote can be as dangerous as a stick of dynamite in the hands of an 8-year-old. TiVo KidZone is the safety valve parents need-to guard the minds, hearts, and sensibilities of their most precious gift: their children."
� Max Lucado, New York Times best-selling author
�There�s a big difference between children�s media and what children watch. In the future, blocking will become less important than trusted guides.�
� David Kleeman, President, American Center for Children and Media
�Parents have a right to have their kids watch T.V. without being shocked at what�s on. Easy-to-use tools need to be in place for parents to use.�
� F.C.C. Commissioner Michael Copps
�If a person walked into your house and said and did some of the things children have access to through the media�T.V. and internet�you�d call the police! We have to admit that our children are becoming more tech savvy that their parents can ever hope to be. Technology is out-pacing our ability to respond to it. TiVo is another example of enabling parents to control what their kids are exposed to.�
� U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
�As a father of two teenagers, I understand that parents are the first line of defense�I commend TiVo for providing parents such a valuable and easy to use resource to determine what programming is best for their kids. This major breakthrough of technology through public and private cooperation directly addresses the goals that Congress and the FCC had in mind when they created the Children�s Educational and Informational programming category.�
� U.S. Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
More resources about the topic and related articles:
For detailed statistics on children�s TV viewing habits, KidZone fact sheet, high-res photos, and a complete online press kit, visit http://www.DeMossNewsPond.com/TIVO.
For additional information about how TV affects our children, visit http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html
TiVo Announces New Enhancement to TiVo KidZone (http://tivo.com/cms_static/press_83.html)
What do I need to know about children and television? (University of Michigan Health Systems - http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/tv.htm)
Common Sense Media � Family Movies Reviews, Movie Rental Reviews, Family Movies, TV Reviews, Web ( http://www.commonsensemedia.org/)
Interviews are available with TiVo executives and partner organizations. Contact: Tiffanie Wallace or Karen Dye (770) 813-0000.
Posted by: SMoreira ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.rhettsmith.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 14, 2006 11:15 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
