Why Youth Ministry?
At age 23, Mark Zuckerberg successfully established Facebook.com, an online social networking website, and eased his way to become one of the world’s youngest millionaires. Just a decade or so before this young man broke into the scene, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs showed that sheer talent even without the confirmation of a college diploma is not absolutely necessary to make it big! Gates founded Microsoft and Steve Jobs, Apple Computers. They were both in their early twenties.
Hundreds of years before these guys, young people also tried to shake the world they were in. Josiah was barely in his twenties when he initiated a nationwide revival that took a nation by storm. With his youthful exuberance and a desire to follow God and rectify the mistakes of his predecessors, he went against the popular practices and led his kingdom back to God. Jeremiah was petulant and complained to God a lot. But he was called to be a prophet at a young age. His job description included being hit by false prophets in the face or elsewhere, imprisonment and proclaiming the bad news after nobody paid attention to the good news.
Movies and the entertainment world glorify youth. Have you seen how Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan save Narnia from the wicked White Witch? Or have you seen how Harry Patter, together with his rather special friends, did battle against the forces of evil? Yes, it is a world for youth. Even those whose youth have come and gone still wish to recapture their youth by means of expensive beauty products and treatment in specialized beauty clinics. The point is, however, the youth are becoming a really important force in the world. They can become the movers of the world or they are caught up in radical changes and shifts that they are powerless to act on.
There’s something about being young. Energy. Ideas. Visions. Action. Most youth have unbounded energy and they sometimes feel that given the right tools and connections, they can change the world overnight! They are not yet affected by the cynicism, the lethargy or comfortable respectability that have already taken over their elders. Even in business, politics and in the entertainment industry, young people are at the forefront of innovation and change. They are brimming with ideas and they cannot seem to stop talking about change, adventure and pursuing their potentials and their passions. They also have access to the most powerful laptops and computers bought by their parents or rented at the local computer shop. And they are full of creativity and imagination.
But that is just half of the story.
Young people face a lot of issues in their day. Some of these issues include the proliferation of unwanted pregnancies, consumerism, loneliness and alienation, the inability to adapt to a lot of forces in their environment, the eradication of identity and traditional authorities and even the specters of poverty, HIV and AIDS and other such issues. The youth can also succumb to poverty, immigration and a sense of foreboding about what they future might bring for them. The youth can be easily swayed by all of these issues.
Potentials and challenges exist in the heart of the youth like a magnet’s inseparable north and south poles. But a lot of these youth are not aware of their potentials. At times, they do not even muster enough courage to pursue what they truly love. When they come face-to-face with their challenges and problems, a lot of them may run away or drown their fears in alcohol or drugs. Worse, if they suddenly belong to a gang, then they can easily engage in risky behaviors that could severely affect their future and quite possibly destroy them in the process.
In the movie Finding Forrester, a young person found training in literature and writing. But most of all, he found a role model and a Father figure. If he didn’t, he would not have become a good writer and a good man. The alternative was for him to let himself degenerate with his peers and his neighborhood.
The Filipino youth of today are looking for role models. People who can help them seek the answers to their most pressing questions.
But even before looking for the answers, they are looking for means to articulate their questions without being threatened, without being rejected. Sometimes, they don’t know the very questions that are percolating deep in their consciousness. And too often, the Church has offered them all the standard answers to all the questions they are trying to raise. The courageous youths are being turned away for the sheer courage and audacity to articulate the questions that the church is unwilling to deal with. Even the simple act of beating drums too loudly can raise the grayest eyebrows indicating displeasure and the promise of divine retribution for disturbing church tradition.
These young people are living in a different world. It’s the same Earth, probably the same churches singing hymns and occasional “praise and worship” songs. But life experiences are on the fast track. This is the age of mobile phones. Of iPods, XboX, PSP, Wii and instantaneous communications. With the OFW phenomenon providing a level of affluence to kids and young people, nowadays, young people can afford to buy things that the previous generation of Filipino young people could only dream about. Even in rural areas, beautiful mansions are cropping up. The latest mobile phones and digital cameras find their ways to the hands of probinsiyano kids, making them no different from their urban counterparts. All paid by the sweat, blood and toil of their parents and relatives working abroad.
Such affluence though is like a proverbial double-edged sword. It can help them achieve their dreams more easily given the resources available in their grasp. Or it can mire them in petty materialism and cultivate an easy-going and dependent attitude, which they may never get away from as they grow old. With money in their pockets and no mommy and daddy to guide them, how will these OFW kids cultivate their values and help them pursue their directions in life?
This is where youth ministry comes in.
Question: What do you think of Youth Ministry?
How can it help young people in finding their way through life?
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image credit: SoulReflection.Wordpress.com
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