Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

Are Young People Rejecting The Church Or God?

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Last weekend, Youth Workin’ It were one of the sponsors of the Youth Cartel Summit. If you weren’t there, you seriously missed out! There were so many amazing speakers and many different topics covered – it was awesome.

A few of the speakers touched on the growing “secularization” of young people in the US and how it’s heading the way of Europe. As a Brit living in the US who’s also a Christian, I find this topic interesting.

Aaron Arnold of Youth Hope had a stat that 34% of US youth born between 1990-94 see themselves as religiously unaffiliated. He then asked an interesting question, which was:

‘Is this a decrease of belief in the institution of church, or of belief in God?’

Later on, Brock Morgan talked about how to reach teens who don’t see a need for Jesus. He had many interesting points, one of which was that churches (and youth workers) need to embrace mission, as ‘teens are dying for a life worth living…..they want to do faith, not talk about faith.’

The next day, Marah Lidey of Do Something had a stat that the top 5 issues that youth care about are:

  1. Animal welfare
  2. Hunger
  3. Homelessness
  4. Environment
  5. Economy

Take another look at the list. What do you notice?

The thing that stood out for me is that the top 4 (and arguably all 5) are issues that – here in the US – are more commonly associated with being “left-wing”, “liberal” or “Democrat” causes.

As a result, I think some right-wing, evangelical churches and Christian youth groups can tend to overlook these issues. Instead they focus primarily on issues like abortion and gay marriage, which can be determined to be morally right or wrong when viewed through a traditional, biblical lens. The problem with this, in terms of reaching out to young people, is that today’s youth often have the opposite view as to what is and isn’t moral. n.b. this post isn’t about politics, determining the morality of those issues, to highlight the rightness or wrongness of the beliefs of today’s youth or whether issues should be viewed through this lens.

Some Christians also say things like they want to ‘do something about the “victims” who are a cancer on society’ (a recent comment by a trainee youth pastor). Can churches and youth pastors honestly expect to reach young people who care about the hungry, homeless or those who are suffering because of the economy, while simultaneously stating that those same people are a “cancer on society” (which is sadly a sentiment I’ve heard from many Christians)?

Consider again the question that Aaron asked – are young people experiencing ‘a decrease of belief in the institution of church, or of belief in God?’ Given what the church is perceived by the public as prioritizing, I’d argue that we’re seeing a decrease of belief in the institution of church, rather than belief in God. I think this is a good thing (given the two choices), as it means young people aren’t against God.

So, what can youth pastors do to counteract this?

Like Brock said, teens want to do faith, so embrace the issues that young people care about. Embrace the “Democrat” causes of caring for animals, for people and for the environment. Because ultimately, these aren’t Democrat causes. They’re not Republican causes.

They’re Biblical causes.

Question: What are your thoughts on this? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

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I’ve Seen The Future – And It’s Wearing Boxers

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The future of university educationUniversity is changing

In the old days, you’d go to university for 3 or 4 years. You’d live on ramen noodles (or Pot Noodles if you were at a British uni). You’d take all your washing home every few months for your Mom to take care of. And you’d come out the other side with a lot of debt and hopefully a degree to show for it. You’d then get a job that in many cases is only vaguely related to the subject you earned your degree in.

Times are changing.

University is changing.

Jobs are changing.

The business of university is worth billions. Tuition fees. Funding for research. Textbooks. And where there’s a lot of money at stake, you can guarantee that people will innovate to get a slice of it.

And innovate they are. The Minerva Project is looking to offer an Ivy League education – online. At the moment, online education often has a reputation for providing Mickey Mouse degrees. If two people applied for a job and they both had the same degree – one from Harvard and one from ITT Tech, who would get picked? The Minerva Project is looking to shake that up and become an enviable source of learning.

With the advent of ebooks, the market for college textbooks looks like it’s going to get shaken up as well. Apple’s getting in on the act. No doubt Amazon will with the Kindle, along with many other companies.

It’s not always about the money though. Stanford are running some of their courses online for free. Codecademy is teaching anyone who wants to learn how to code for free. And Khan Academy has thousands of free videos teaching you anything from CA Algebra 1: Slope and Y-Intercept to multiplying binomials with radicals. And going back to textbooks, Boundless Learning is looking to provide free textbook replacements.

So what does this mean for our young people and their education in the future?

A lot of learning will move online. When you can get an excellent education from the comfort of your own home (and sitting in your boxers), why move to go to a university?

Consider how much money would be saved. Students (or their parents) wouldn’t have to pay for separate accommodation. For separate utilities. For such expensive textbooks. Over the course of 3-4 years, this amounts to a huge saving. Even if online courses charged expensive tuition fees, this could still easily be lower than the overall cost of university education as it stands.

The job market is changing as well. More and more jobs can be conducted remotely – I’m speaking from first hand experience. In the last two years, we’ve moved 5 times in the US and Thailand – all the while, I’ve worked for an insurance company that’s based in the UK.

The requirements for getting a job are starting to change as well. Although a good education is a pre-requisite for many jobs, experience is becoming a bigger part of a recruiter’s mindset. It’s all very well knowing something, but can you do it? There are start-ups that are going into larger companies and setting up testing scenarios for job applicants to show that they can actually do the job they’re being recruited for.

But is all this change a good thing?

Absolutely. Why? Because it’s opening up so many more opportunities for youth where there weren’t any before. Youth unemployment is a big problem all around the world, so we need innovative thinking to help solve the issue. There are many young people who can’t afford to go to university – the possibilities that online education opens up could transform their lives.

There will be many other young people that have natural ability and incredible technical skills learned from initiatives like Codecademy. In the past, they wouldn’t have been able to get their foot in the door at a company unless they had a piece of paper saying what they know. With more companies looking for the ability of job applicants though, rather than just a piece of paper, they stand more of a chance.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s still a future for traditional universities. Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, etc will continue to have a certain cachet. Many students will still want to attend a university for the experience (*cough* partying *cough*). And there will be many who are dubious about anything learned on the internet.

But, I’ve seen the future of higher education……..and it’s wearing boxers.

Question: What future do you see for the education of our young people? Have a discussion in the comments below.

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Stop Kony 2012 – Should We Support It?

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Stop Kony 2012 Campaign

Since the Stop Kony 2012 video started getting international attention, there have been a number of people warning against supporting Invisible Children based on various articles online (examples here and here). This begs the question:

Is the Stop Kony 2012 campaign something we should be encouraging our youth to support?

In my opinion, yes – we should encourage our youth to support the Stop Kony 2012 campaign (check out the Stop Kony 2012 youth work session plan for more ideas). Here’s why:

Money

One of the concerns raised about Invisible Children is that only 32% of their spending went on direct services, with much of the rest spent on travel, lobbying, video making, administration, etc.

Now, if you’re sponsoring a child and only 32% of your donation each month is getting to the recipient, that’s not a great situation. The thing is, that isn’t what Invisible Children are trying to achieve – they’re committed to having Joseph Kony arrested.

Two of their chief methods of doing this are through awareness raising and lobbying politicians. You’d therefore expect to see higher spending on travel (to visit high schools, travel to Africa, etc), lobbying (of politicians) and video making (the video’s been watched over 30 million times at time of writing). Given their objective, what they’ve achieved so far and the attention they’re garnering, I’d say this is money well spent.

Ugandan Army

Another allegation is that there are reports that the Ugandan Army (who Invisible Children work with) have been responsible for cases of rape and looting. Now, I’m in absolutely no way condoning these actions if they’re true.

However, as a Brit living in the US, I know that both our own countries’ military have committed abuses as well (e.g. Abu Ghraib). That doesn’t mean that I think people from other countries shouldn’t work with our own military, especially given that the vast majority of the military (in Uganda, the UK and US) aren’t guilty of any such actions.

As a Christian, I wouldn’t want people to refuse to work with all Christians simply because there are a minority that would do stuff like bomb abortion clinics. Muslims aren’t automatically terrorists and Ugandan soldiers aren’t automatically rapists.

Motivation of Invisible Children

There have been different criticisms as to why Invisible Children are running this campaign – from having the White Man’s Burden to wanting attention for themselves to being hipsters to various personal insults.

To this I say – SO WHAT?

I’ll be honest – I don’t care what their personal reasons are behind the Stop Kony campaign. Based on the video, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that they really are motivated by the plight of Ugandan children over the years.

Even if their sole reason for this is to become famous and get rich though – so what? If they actually achieve their objective of having Joseph Kony arrested – the man at the top of the most wanted list – I don’t actually care about their motivations. Yes, it would suck if they’re not doing it for warm and fuzzy reasons, but they’re still achieving something immense, making a difference in the lives of thousands and bringing justice to a man who has caused so much misery.

Motivation of Supporters

Others are complaining that this is just another example of slacktivism. That raising awareness isn’t going to achieve anything. That people are getting a feel-good moment from retweeting or sharing a link on Facebook, but that nothing will change.

Seriously – is this the outlook we should have? That we can’t change anything? It’s exactly this type of thinking that’s let Joseph Kony get away with atrocities for so long – because no one cares.

Having been involved with a charity that worked with youth in Rwanda who were orphaned in the genocide in 1994, I’ve seen what happens when we ignore this kind of thing. I’m not content with us being defeatist and I certainly don’t think we should teach our youth to be that way either.

Instead, imagine the lesson we’ll be teaching youth if Joseph Kony is arrested and tried. We’ll be showing them that ordinary people really can make a difference. That you can impact people on the other side of the world for good. That you can influence politicians on issues that truly matter.

As a sidenote, here are just a few of the search terms that brought people to our site yesterday – these suggest that people really are being inspired to do something, rather than just retweeting:

  • Kony 2012 youth ministry
  • Kony 2012 fundraising ideas
  • Action plan to Stop Kony
  • Fundraisers Stop Kony
  • Fundraising ideas for Kony
  • Kony 2012 fundraiser ideas
  • Kony 2012 ideas

 

By all means, research Invisible Children to learn more about them – teaching youth not to blindly believe everything on the internet is another important thing to teach them. One good place to start is Invisible Children’s answers to some of the allegations. If you conclude that they’re not an organization you want to support – that’s completely cool. No one should be forced or guilted into supporting any organization that they don’t agree or are uncomfortable with.

But please – let’s stop bashing people and organizations that are trying to make a positive impact in the world, simply because you think don’t like them – despite you never having met them.

Because that makes you equally as unlikable.

 

Valentine’s Day: Living True Love

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Show some love this Valentine’s Day

It’s Valentine’s Day.

A day for celebrating love.

Unfortunately, there are also many youth and children around the world who do not know what true love really is. If they think about it, all they equate it with is fear, money, lust, pain, hurt, anger, loneliness and much more.

They are child sex slaves and trafficked children.

This post is about one girl. And eight. Both stories have inspired change in the child sex and child trafficking industries.

First there is number 146. Her story can be found on Love146.org. She was a young sex slave in a brothel in Southeast Asia and seeing her radically changed the lives of those who would found Love146, a non-profit helping with the prevention and aftercare of child sex slavery and exploitation. Hers is a love story.

The other is about eight teenage girls who decided that One is Greater than None. These girls were 14 when they decided to raise money and awareness to help others and  1>0 was born. Their organization raises funds to support trafficked children in Ghana, particularly the work of the Touch A Life Foundation.

Your youth can get involved in helping to end child sex slavery and trafficking by contacting Love146 and hosting an event, joining a task force, becoming a partner or working to raise awareness in their schools and communities.

Question: What other charities and organizations do you know of that are helping to fight child sex slavery, exploitation and trafficking? Share your ideas in the comments below.

Enjoyed reading about what youth are doing around the world?  Check out our other ‘Spotlight on Youth‘ posts.

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The Most Important Subject In School… Really

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The most important school subject
And no, I didn’t learn to type on one of these. Kids, go ask your grandparents about this one.

Last week Stephen tried to convince you that Food Technology was the most important subject in school. Don’t be seduced into believing it’s smart simply because it was typed with a British accent! Clearly, the most important subject in school is Typing, which I took in the 9th grade.

My mom made me take Typing class. I was so unhappy about it and not at all dramatic. I was sure that my life was over because I was having to miss choir for the entire school year so I could take Typing.

Only 12th graders took Typing – it was an ‘easy’ A and a way to fill their schedule. My mother assured me that I would thank her one day because I would use that class more than any other. She was right and I can now thank her at 88wpm (words per minute).

Here are 3 reasons why Typing was the most important subject I ever learned about in school – and why you should encourage your youth to take it too:

1) You really do use it every day

I’m going to stick with Stephen’s analogy from the last post about not using algebraic equations like 8x + 3y -7x + 9y = 78  in everyday life (but I’m going to stray from his example in that mine is completely made up without an actual solution because I dislike math). In school and in my work, I use the skills I learned in my Typing class each and every day.

2) Coolness

Yes, my life is all about being cool, obviously. While typing doesn’t necessarily equal coolness, being able to type a perfect sentence, fast, while looking at someone else when they’re talking to you, is kinda cool to watch. Or weird. But mostly I think cool. (And probably so does Mavis Beacon. And with a cool name like that, how can she be wrong?!)

3) I don’t actually need a 3rd reason

These two are reason enough.

While Stephen is a fast typist without having Typing class, and I’m a fair cook without Food Technology, we’re not nearly as skilled as the other in our respective areas of ‘expertise.’ The important part is really that we found something useful in school and it made a major positive impact on our quality of life. So much so that we now advocate for the next generation to learn these important skills.

Math, English and Science are all very important, but so much of what you learn isn’t nearly as applicable as life skills like Typing and Cooking/Nutrition.

Question: Do you think ‘life-skill’ based classes should be added into all curricula in schools? Let us know in the comments below.

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