Clarke College
Fact Sheet
TOPIC: Youth Development within Religions
RESEARCHER: Lynn Cunningham
DATE: December 7, 2000
Approaches to Youth Ministry
§
Entertainment
provided by youth ministries depends upon their financial ability. Some examples are ski trips, game nights,
rafting trips, concerts, dances, and other fun activities.
§
Instruction of
only material without doing something with it causes the youth to soon discard
the information when the next person tells their idea of religion.
§
Leadership of
the youth minister and the church community goes hand in hand when developing a
good youth group. The bad side occurs
when the youth minister is expected to do too much and soon becomes isolated
and exhausted spiritually. The church
may find an attractive leader to entice the youth into joining and then
redirect the youth towards God.
§
Liturgical involvement
by the youth is encouraged. The youth
enjoy having direct connection with the activities pursued.
§
Bible camps are
a venue for church's to "recruit" kids to come to church in the
summer. Some are elaborately themed or
they can be just a place to hang out and discuss God. Testimonials may be given to entice the youth into believing that
religion's ideas about faith.
§
Mission
trips/Retreats are usually arranged so that a group can do community
service for the needy in the area. It
is also a time to bond and form unity among a group.
Reasons to Join
§
“…Kids are hungry for meaning and purpose in their
lives, 'desperately trying to make sense out of all the pieces of their
lifestyle…’”(Jones 19).
§
Youth need to feel connected or like they belong to
something.
§
“…Looking for an intense experience, a close encounter
with a high power” (Miller W1).
§
Parents are forcing the child to attend.
§
The youth have fun.
§
The youth make friends and feel it is a place to
gather.
§ Youth choose to “leave the church as a result of stagnant practices that only encourage hypocrisy and alienate them” (Castano h08).
§ Parents do not approve.
§ Youth get bored.
Challenges of the Church
§ To convince youth that their faith is lifelong.
§ To capitalize on the effort of pop culture saying church and spirituality is cool.
§ To compete with more financially able bodies.
§ To “…compete with Eastern and New Age religions -- as well as Paganism, gangs, cults, and 12-step programs, which all offer the kinds of rituals that appeal to some young people” (Miller W1).
§ To not offend the youth's parents.
§ To develop a youth mission that the youth approve.
§ To support youth ministers and their work with the children.
§ To keep the interest of the youth.
Organizations
§ Kadima is a conservative Jewish organization for middle school kids with a current participation of 10,000 kids.
§ Lighthouse 21 is a radio, television, and internet show of alternative Christian rock. The show features open calls from listeners, interviews with bands, and music videos.
§
SANE founded
by a renowned rapper Mase. Saving A
Nation Endangered was established to get “…God's word out to anyone who wants
to listen” (Johnson ARC).
§
World Assembly
of Muslim Youth “…is an international charity organization which takes care
of Muslim youth by holding educational camps, giving scholarships, establishing
information centers and mosques and extending relief to needy Muslims around
the world” (Mistry 177). The eighth
conference was held in Amman, Jordan in 1998.
§
United Methodist
Action Reach-Out Mission By Youth conducts service trips for $125 per
participant in order to buy materials and food. This week long camp hosted nearly 3,500 campers and helped 2,500
homeowners in the summer of 2000.
Events
§
The Call DC is
“…a dawn-to-dusk prayer rally organized by a national coalition of evangelical
churches and ministries” (Murphy B09).
The event, held in Washington D.C., hopes to represent the fight against
"moral decline."
§
Lutheran
National Youth Gathering occurs every three years and was last held in St.
Louis over the summer of 2000. Over
38,000 youth attended the event.
§
National
Catholic Youth Conference occurs every other year and was last held
November/December of 1999.
§
Rejoice 2000
is an annual retreat conducted by the Archdiocese of Newark in hopes of gaining
faith involvement in the Catholic youth.
§
SonZone
Discovery Center is a futuristic themed weeklong camp held by Leesburg of
the Nazarene. The seventy youth in
attendance played games, ate snakes, and made projects while music filled the
air.
§ World Youth Day took place in Rome August 2000. Two million people came to see Pope John Paul II give a powerful liturgical service. The event was meant to be spiritual not entertaining.
Traditions and Rituals
§
Cabala is a
form of Jewish mysticism that has an “erotic element and sexual element”
(Miller W1). Cabala contains a type of
meditation that focuses more on the inner self.
§
Coming of Age
Ritual is something that a group or individual can do to signify their
physical and mental growth.
§
Jesus Prayer is
a prayer that is repeated over and over like a mantra. The Eastern Orthodox monks in the Middle
Ages regularly practice this type of prayer (Miller W1).
§
Labyrinth represents
a pilgrimage or a place where someone can experience God. “…Youth ministers are using them to teach
teenagers about ancient prayer” (Miller W1).
§
Lectio Divina “…is
a way of reading the Bible prayerfully, by reading a passage again and again…”
(Miller W1).
§
Meditation is
a time for reflection and can be done in many ways. Some examples used with youth are studying rocks and flowers,
chanting a prayer in English or Hebrew, journaling, or just laying down and
listening to their surroundings. Spiritual
Exercises of St. Ignatius is a rigorous way of meditating developed by a
Spanish soldier in the sixteenth century.
§
Rave Mass is
hosted by the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist located in San
Francisco. Rave masses are “…all-night
dance events, based on “rave” clubs, which feature loud techno music and
light-shows” (Miller W1).
§
Taize a kind
of prayers that involves singing repetitive songs possibly in foreign
languages.