Category: Culture
a “Sightings” that observes Youth Ministry
Generation Wandering
— Martin E. Marty | June 20, 2011Backlash against the hyper-institutionalism of religious organizations in the 1950s led first to revolt (“the sixties”) and the birth of a lifestyle summarized in the mantra, “I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual.” Today some returnees are nervy enough to lash back with an opposite mantra: “I’m not spiritual, but I’m religious.” Neither pole is a bargain. “Spiritual” often comes across as pridefully individualistic. Other believers and seekers don’t live up to their standards. But “religious?” Brought up on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth—who wrote a section on “Religion als Unglaube,” (“Religion as Unbelief”) —newer generations have not tried to acquire bragging rights about “organized religion.” Between and beyond them is another cohort who simply don’t care for either. Most of them tend to be young post-believers, who have the reputation of shrugging a shrug in the apathetic mode.
As the generations come and go, some religious scholars and leaders have tried to discern directions of the younger folk. Now and then we like to forget our weekly sighting of events and trends in the current week, as Sightings goes online, and take a longer look. So this week, instead of drawing on editorials and reports, we reach to—of all things!—a philanthropic foundation’s annual report. This time it is the religion-friendly Lilly Endowment, based in Indianapolis, whose works are felt across the nation and beyond. A section in the Endowment’s 2010 Annual Report caught and held our eye: “Revitalizing Ministry with Youth and Young Adults.” It features creative doings on several fronts, beginning with an ambitious venture at Princeton Theological Seminary.
The Lilly Endowment, which supports numerous experiments, observes the youth themselves through mainly sociological studies. They found some surprises, which they banner in the subheads of the Annual Report. “Originally, what surprised me most is that teenagers are not that different from adults.” “A lot of us thought that churches had it backwards by not devoting more resources to youth.” More: “American teenagers generally do not have negative views of religion; in fact, they have an openness and curiosity about religion,” and they “tend to reflect the religious beliefs and traditions of their parents and are not particularly interested in rebelling or seeking alternative religious paths.” As pews were emptying and the backs of the young turned, youth ministers, for a generation and more, often decided that their main mission to keep the attention and loyalty of the young, was to entertain them, to rely on excitements of the sort that appeal in the secular pop culture of youth.
To read and realize what notable researchers like Christian Smith at Notre Dame find and project is one thing; to find ways to counter the “merely secular” or “merely spiritual” expressions is another. Most researchers, writers, and youth ministers in the various denominations are highly aware that trends among youth cultures rarely make their work easier. They have to be counter-cultural, but not cultishly so, as once they tried to be. As we read the Lilly Annual Report, the work of Smith, and Princeton’s Kenda Creasy Dean, and others, we draw some inspiration. On the nether side, however, if the exodus of the young continues, most of what issues from the “organized religion” of adventurous youth will be not rejection so much as boredom with communities of faith which claim to challenge the young in the midst of limitless distractions, only sometimes succeeding.
References
Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame
http://csrs.nd.edu/The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)
http://www.youthandreligion.org/Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Lisa Pearce and Melinda Lundquist Denton, A Faith of their Own: Stability and Change in the Religiosity of America’s Adolescents (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Christian Smith and Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford University Press, 2009).
Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (Oxford University Press, 2010).
Faith Formation Learning Exchange, “The Spirit and Culture of Youth Ministry,” Winter 2009.
http://www.faithformationlearningexchange.net/uploads/5/2/4/6/5246709/spirit__culture_of_ym_essay.pdf
Learning / Evolving
The summer months are busy for me. I manage and work with the volunteers that make the Summer (Outdoor / Camp) Ministry program happen here in Oklahoma for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Each week that camps are in session I visit for the day and help problem solve, meet the youth attending, support the directors and counselors, and take photos. It means that I am up very early and home late. So, I alter my reading and writing time for Davison’s Doodle, for Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal, and how I keep up with the news. Today, I’ve spent some time reading different opinions about the economy, catching up on the Daily Show that I missed this week, what’s happening in our own culture, and on the far side of the world.
And now some words that will read more like a rant than observations. Apologies. All the news about our nation is, well, questionable to bad right now. I don’t feel pessimistic. I am cynical and the fact that some citizens seriously listen to sideshow politicians at state and federal levels (Palin, Perry, and Gingrich) who are intent on building their own personal fortunes has ceased taking my breath . . . now I just roll my eyes. At least Trump admitted that he is all about the money which is why he is sticking with NBC rather than running or President. I’ve wondered if the first two decades of the 20th century were plagued with extremism in this country. History points to the robber barons and other lessons when government has needed to regulate unfettered greed, by individuals and corporations, which is why I continue to be astonished that the Republican party argues for more tax breaks and less regulation. Supply side and trickle down has not worked, but it has put us all in debt. The ideals of the Republican party seem intent to create a larger class (caste) of working poor to lure business back to the United States so that companies will outsource jobs here rather than China or India or some other country where there is no middle class (caste), no unions, and no workers rights. I do not understand why serious journalists don’t point out the “Lords and Serfs” ideology that is driving the Republican party and the discrimination that is an ingredient of the Tea Party movement. Probably, because corporations own the media outlets and control the news agencies that would do this reporting. Probably, because news is more about ratings and advertising revenue. Overt racism has not existed in such a public way since the civil rights era and no one has the national clout to call it what it is, not even a faith leader Christian or otherwise.
The Democrats are responsible as well and are so concerned with keeping or regaining power that they are bowing, in the name of consensus, to the business elites that have purchased our government. Our social contracts are being shredded through a war on terror in which the wealthy are sending the poor, working poor, and the middle class off to “defend our freedoms” while Santorum, McConnell, and other white males, in the name of life, are attempting to change laws about birth control and reproductive rights that will send women back to kitchens and back alleys. They argue that life begins at conception, but do little for policies that assist in the pursuit of life, liberty, or happiness once a zygote is breathing. It is irresponsible not to raise taxes on those that take from the bottom 98% unless the goal is to create a caste system that can only be breached by hitting the lottery or winning America’s Got Talent or some other controlled reality TV show. To this end I ran across this article in Bloomberg which speaks to the entertainment gluttony of our nation and our inability to hold elected officials accountable for the common good. I am cynical, but trust that people and elected leaders will eventually stop, think, observe, and plan before too much longer. It is called learning and evolving. BTW, I wrote this while listening to Nascar on my HD TV and the ending of “To Big To Fail” on HBO.
The Danger of Living on Bread and Circuses
by Alice Schroeder | Bloomberg View | June 1, 2011Rome in the first two centuries A.D. faced a yawning gulf between rich and poor. The mighty empire built on tribute reached its geographic limits. Its economy created few exportable goods. Slaves acquired by conquest built most of its bridges, roads and aqueducts and took jobs in farming, mining and construction. As this cheaper labor replaced Roman citizens, idle, unemployed, hungry people filled the capital.
The complicated causes of Rome’s decline have long fascinated historians, and provide a lens through which to examine the vulnerability of other dominant cultures. Americans’ addiction to entertainment has been compared to the circuses of ancient Rome. We can, and do, spend much of our free time watching dreck on TV like “Half Pint Brawlers,” about a company of self-styled “midget wrestlers” who attack each other with staple guns and broken bottles. In fact, in 2009, people over age 15 spent an average of 58 percent of their leisure time watching television, playing games and using the Internet — an increase of 16 percent from 2003.