Imagining the possibilities for mission... ...by, with, and for young people

1. Imagining the possibilities for mission......by, with, and for young people • Terri Martinson Elton • Luther Seminary

2. Why care about young people?

3. Of the 13-18 year olds surveyed in the National Study of Youth and Religion:

4. Of the 13-18 year olds surveyed in the National Study of Youth and Religion:

5. Teen are not rebellious about faith, rather they are open to religion • Youth are not flocking to "alternative" religions and spiritualities. • Yet, faith is not a viable or central element of their life. • The vast majority of the teenagers identified themselves as Christian – either Protestant or Catholic - or as Jewish or Mormon. • Only about 8 percent said faith was not important at all.

6. de facto creed Moralistic Therapeutic Deism • A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. • God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. • The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. • God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. • Good people go to heaven when they die.

7. Teens could not speak the second language of faith • A vast majority of teens are "incredibly inarticulate about their faith, their religious beliefs and practices.” • Faith is a second language … and young people are not catching the faith religions profess. In other words, faith communities were not passing on the faith in word and deed. • Learning the language of faith will require, among other things, being immersed in a culture where the faith is spoken in the present tense and where it is practiced being spoken.

8. Parents are important • Three out of four religious teens consider their own beliefs somewhat or very similar to those of their parents. • Parents, whether they know it or not and like it or not, they are in fact always socializing youth about religion. • It is not whether or not parents are passing on faith, but what faith/beliefs parents are passing on!

9. “a significant minority” • Yet, for a small percentage • (8% of teen where religion was important) • of young people faith was not wallpaper, • but an active, integrated • part of their lives.

10. Quiet Revolutiontaking place • “As recently as 1970 the typical 21-year old was married or about to be married, caring for a newborn child or expecting one soon, done with education or about to be done, and settled into a long-term job or the role of full-time mother. Young people of that time grew up quickly and made serious enduring choices about their lives at a relatively early age. • Today, the life of a typical 21-year-old could hardly be more different. Marriage is at least five years off, often more. Ditto parenthood. Education may last several more years, through an extended undergraduate program – the ‘four-year degree’ in five, six, or more – and perhaps graduate or professional school. Job changes are frequent, as young people look for work that will not only pay well but will also be personally fulfilling.” (Arnett, Emerging Adulthood, 3)

11. “Now, at the dawning of the twenty-first century, I continue to watch young adults reach for a place of belonging, integrity, and contribution that can anchor meaningful hope in themselves and our shared future – while the tides of cynicism and the prevailing currents of consumerism play big roles in charting their course.” • Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, 3

12. Why study young people? • “There is something particularly powerful and poignant about the ‘twenty-something’ years, harboring, as they do, both promise and vulnerability. Young adults embody critical strengths and yet remain dependent in distinctive ways, upon recognition, support, challenge, and inspiration. Not only the quality of individual young adult lives but also our future as a culture depends in no small measure upon our capacity to recognize the emerging competence of young adults, to initiate them into big questions, and to give them access to worthy dreams.” • Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, xi Big questions Worthy dreams

13. What are… • …their ways of thinking? • …their forms of authority? • …their patterns of belonging? These are the critical questions, according to Sharon Daloz Parks, that will help us understand the imagination of young adults and there implications for forming meaning, purpose, and faith. Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, xii

14. Arnett’s 5 Characteristics of Young Adulthood • Age of identity explorations • Age of instability • Most self-focused age of life • Age of feeling in-between • Age of possibilities

15. “young adulthood is the birthplace of adult vision” Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, 8 • Without special attention to young adulthood, these adult visions will be shaped in a vacuum without guidance of larger societal institutions and/or will be overly influenced by the particular aspects of the culture that are paying attention to young adults.

16. |opportunity?|

17. How are young people shaping the religious landscape?

18. “One-fifth of the U.S. public are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling. And, for adults under 30, it’s one-third! • Being a “none” or one with no religious affiliation does not mean lack of belief. “On the contrary, most of the “nones” say they believe in God, and describe themselves as religious, spiritual or both.” And while many “nones” believe in God, they are not interested in “church” (or organized religion) as many of us know it. • it’s time for congregations (or the organized church) to rethink what it means to journey with people currently participating in congregations, as well as those who believe in God yet are not connecting themselves to congregations.

19. “The future of American religion is in the hands of adults now in their twenties and thirties.” Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers, 2

20. “young adults are not only the future of American religion; they are already a very significant part of it and because they have been overshadowed by the baby boomers, this current generation of younger adults is not very well understood, either by religious leaders or by scholars. The need for better information about young adults is thus urgent for the present as well as the future.” Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers, 2

21. |church affiliation| • Where about the young adults 18-29 faith life? • 68% affiliate as Christian (compared to 78% of overall population) • 51% are Protestant • 26% Evangelical • 18% Mainline • 7% Historically Black • 22% are Roman Catholic (compared to 24% of overall population) • 2% are Mormon • 1% are Jehovah’s Witness • 1% are Orthodox • 5% affiliate with other religions (Jewish being the highest at 2%)

22. |church affiliation| Religious affiliation: Changed within tradition Changed to another Men 14% 30% Women 17% 25% Ages18-29 11% 32% Ages 30-39 12% 31% Ages 40-49 15% 29% Ages 50-59 18% 27% Ages 60-69 19% 24% Ages70+ 22% 18%

23. |danger or opportunity?| • Younger adults have a spiritual hunger and are seeking ways of feeding that hunger. • Traditional ways of being church (and church programs) are not meeting the spiritual hunger of younger adults. • What are we, as church leaders, willing to let go of for the sake of nurturing younger adults faith?

24. |dreams | • Share a story about a young person in your life… • In their teens • In their 20s • What are their issues? • What are their joys?

25. ...possibilities for mission by young people • What do young people have to offer...the church and the world? • How might young people be prime for engaging in mission in the world? What might this look like? How might the church affirm this? • How would young people engaging in mission hello them with their critical work?

26. ...possibilities for mission with young people • Why do young people need others to accompany them? What might that accompaniment look like? • What 'mission' might be done in partnership with young people? How could a congregation facilitate such engagement? • Name two or three ways you have seen or could imagine your congregation working with young people to engage in the world.

27. ...possibilities for mission for young people • What possibilities are there for mission being done FOR young people? Why did you name those possibilities? • What happens if congregations are not advocates for young people? Or Why care about young people as a call of the church? • Name one or two ways you have or could care for a young person or group.