By Anita K. Palmer
YWJ's Senior Copy Editor and freelance writer from San Diego, California
YWJ: Do you have any other insights about youth ministry in the 21st century? What are you seeing or learning?Swenson: We are seeing social network sites on the Web change the way adolescents communicate and relate. We are asking questions about what this means for a ministry based on real (as opposed to “virtual”) relationships.
Fortunately, I think that our staff and volunteers who walk, talk, text and post with kids daily are good at navigating (and helping kids navigate) the virtual and the real worlds that kids live in today.
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: Young people are open. They’re open to change. They’re not resistant.
I think there’s a lot of maturity out there. I think in youth ministry we have tended to lower the standard a lot and just play games…They want to be spiritually challenged. They need to be challenged. God has called us to be spiritual multipliers. The Bible didn’t say go into the world and wait to make disciples when you’re 22. Kids that are 15 or 14, have a biblical mandate to make disciples.
Rahn: Youth ministry in the future will be shaped in part by the recognition that it gives form to the future of the church. I’m not talking about the old line that so many of us used to cringe over: “Youth are the church of tomorrow.” What I mean is that
how we do youth ministry today ends up shaping the
way that we do church in 30 years. This ramps up the stakes considerably and ought to create some very stimulating cross-pollenization between ministry disciplines that will really invigorate youth ministry.
And I have one more prediction. Lines that define us—and to some extent
divide us—are beginning to be blurred in the experience of teens. Youth ministry will blaze the trail for the rest of the church to recover a form of unity in local communities that is rich, rewarding, and fruitful making God known.
Nuss: Youth work is more challenging than ever. Today assumptions about youth work are changing. You can’t assume your kids have had a traditional family, have not be abused, understand biblical concepts. Dysfunction in our culture is taking a greater toll. Kids are busier than ever, and harder to get in involved in traditional programs.
I think that reaching youth is the most important thing any society can do. And especially as Christians, that should be our top priority.