Citing the urgency to “reach out and disciple youth in the post-modern culture,” Paul Turner listed 10 trends he said youth ministry leaders must understand.
Turner, manager of the youth section in the discipleship and family division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, spoke during the Jan. 26-27 Youth Ministry Summit in Birmingham. Approximately 100 leaders from Southern Baptist Convention entities and state conventions attended the summit.
Youth ministers must do their work with the understanding that families are falling apart, “and not just outside the church,” Turner said.
Second, he noted, loneliness characterizes the lives of many youth, even though they are surrounded by people at school and at church.
“Music is their language,” Turner said. “Kids today are grabbing a CD from one of their favorite artists, giving it to one of their friends and saying, ‘This is how I believe.’ “
In a fourth trend, he said, “boundaries today are nonexistent.” Fifth, he said youth today “are interested in the spiritual, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily seeking something Christian.”
Also, Turner said today’s youth, Christians and non-Christians, “want to make a difference” in the world.
In another area, he said youth shun making commitments, because “something better might come along. Commitment is seen as too risky.”
Because sex permeates the media Turner said, in an eighth trend, sexual activity is both expected and confusing to youth. Ninth, he said youth have high levels of knowledge and skill related to technology.
Finally, he said, youth and adults in the postmodern culture often operate with a post-Christian mindset. (BP)
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