Youth
15/02/19 04:18
There is new snow and cold temperatures. It is going about the way it was forecast. In other words, it is typical for February in South Dakota. We’ve had cold weather and snow for enough days in a row that it isn’t disrupting things the way it does on the first cold day or the first snow day. The kids have a day off from school today as a part of a four day weekend. There have been a few of them this year. Since Monday is a holiday, they can get a four-day weekend by taking off on Friday. I’m not sure how many families are in a position to take advantage of the long weekends, but it must be nice.
I think that four day weekends actually say something about the pace of life for high school students. They are so busy with sports and theatre and band and chorus and all of the other extracurricular activities. It seems like the teens in our congregation are constantly on the move and rarely have time for church activities. Just getting an event on their schedule is a real challenge. I don’t think my high school schedule was as intense.I don’t remember four day weekends when I was in school and I’m not sure what we would have done with them if we had them. I probably would have enjoyed the extra time off from school. I wasn’t especially focused on my studies when I was in high school.
High School students do, however, set patterns that continue for all of their lives. I first experienced a sense of call to the ministry when I was a high school student. I became interested in my wife when I was a high school student. I started pledging financial support to the church when I was a high school student.
Many years ago I had the good fortune to introduce a member of a youth group in the church I served to a youth from another state. We were all attending a meeting of the General Synod of the United Church of Christ. The delegation from our conference was sitting next to the delegation from another conference in the visitor’s gallery because one of the advisors of the other state’s delegation was a seminary classmate of mine and we were enjoying catching up alongside of our duties as youth group leaders. That was well over a quarter of a century ago. That couple is still married. Their marriage has endured through some very difficult times. They have faced challenges that have broken up other marriages, but they have endured with grace and joy and deep love for one another. They are an inspiration to me. And part of the people they are today stems from experiences they had when they were high school students.
This week a crew of us were loading firewood into trailers. The cold weather means that folks who heat with wood need more. We had received a call from one of our reservation partners and we decided to get the wood to them ahead of the predicted snowy weather and slippery roads of this weekend. As we stacked wood into the trailer a pizza delivery person came with two pizzas. They had been ordered and paid for by a young mother who lives in a nearby town. She had heard that we were loading trailers and was unable to come and help, so she sent warm food. It was a real treat and it put a smile on all of our faces. I met that young woman when she was in high school. She went on one of our mission trips and got a hands-on view of mission and outreach. She also formed lasting relationships with lay members of our congregation through that trip and other experiences. She is an amazing and wonderful person as an adult. She is an inspiration to me. Part of who she is today has to do with the experiences she had when she was in high school.
I have hundreds of other stories that I could tell about the impact of decisions and experiences in youth have shaped lives.
Knowing those stories, I worry about the youth of today. Studies have shown that high school youth are far less likely to be involved in church than was the case a decade ago. Many of youth are the children of parents who do not participate in the church. Their lack of knowledge about the church is generational. And I wonder where they will be 10, 15 or 20 years from now. Will we know them? Will we be able to reach them?
I am not saying that youth who are not involved in the church are less moral or less likely to be good citizens or less caring or less inspirational than youth who were involved in the church in years past. But it is the simple case that one of the points of meeting of different generations is the church. We have taken four mission trips from this congregation that have involved teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50, 60s and 70s. Seven decades of people in a single mission trip. And we repeated the experience. The connections made between the teens and the other people on those trips are lasting and significant. I know and value all of those people. Not all of them are involved in the church as adults. But all of them have contributed to the attitude towards young people in our congregation.
The numbers in our congregation are down. We are not alone. There is a Roman Catholic parish in our community with over 200 names on its roles of children who grew up in the church to confirmation age. Their average attendance at confirmation preparation classes this year is seven. Attendance is down in church youth groups across the board in our town and in many others. Obviously we need new thinking and a new understanding of who we are and how we build relationships. We are aware of the problem. We care. But we don’t know what to do.
So we will keep trying and we will keep reaching out and we will continue to do what we can to connect with youth today and tomorrow.
I think that four day weekends actually say something about the pace of life for high school students. They are so busy with sports and theatre and band and chorus and all of the other extracurricular activities. It seems like the teens in our congregation are constantly on the move and rarely have time for church activities. Just getting an event on their schedule is a real challenge. I don’t think my high school schedule was as intense.I don’t remember four day weekends when I was in school and I’m not sure what we would have done with them if we had them. I probably would have enjoyed the extra time off from school. I wasn’t especially focused on my studies when I was in high school.
High School students do, however, set patterns that continue for all of their lives. I first experienced a sense of call to the ministry when I was a high school student. I became interested in my wife when I was a high school student. I started pledging financial support to the church when I was a high school student.
Many years ago I had the good fortune to introduce a member of a youth group in the church I served to a youth from another state. We were all attending a meeting of the General Synod of the United Church of Christ. The delegation from our conference was sitting next to the delegation from another conference in the visitor’s gallery because one of the advisors of the other state’s delegation was a seminary classmate of mine and we were enjoying catching up alongside of our duties as youth group leaders. That was well over a quarter of a century ago. That couple is still married. Their marriage has endured through some very difficult times. They have faced challenges that have broken up other marriages, but they have endured with grace and joy and deep love for one another. They are an inspiration to me. And part of the people they are today stems from experiences they had when they were high school students.
This week a crew of us were loading firewood into trailers. The cold weather means that folks who heat with wood need more. We had received a call from one of our reservation partners and we decided to get the wood to them ahead of the predicted snowy weather and slippery roads of this weekend. As we stacked wood into the trailer a pizza delivery person came with two pizzas. They had been ordered and paid for by a young mother who lives in a nearby town. She had heard that we were loading trailers and was unable to come and help, so she sent warm food. It was a real treat and it put a smile on all of our faces. I met that young woman when she was in high school. She went on one of our mission trips and got a hands-on view of mission and outreach. She also formed lasting relationships with lay members of our congregation through that trip and other experiences. She is an amazing and wonderful person as an adult. She is an inspiration to me. Part of who she is today has to do with the experiences she had when she was in high school.
I have hundreds of other stories that I could tell about the impact of decisions and experiences in youth have shaped lives.
Knowing those stories, I worry about the youth of today. Studies have shown that high school youth are far less likely to be involved in church than was the case a decade ago. Many of youth are the children of parents who do not participate in the church. Their lack of knowledge about the church is generational. And I wonder where they will be 10, 15 or 20 years from now. Will we know them? Will we be able to reach them?
I am not saying that youth who are not involved in the church are less moral or less likely to be good citizens or less caring or less inspirational than youth who were involved in the church in years past. But it is the simple case that one of the points of meeting of different generations is the church. We have taken four mission trips from this congregation that have involved teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50, 60s and 70s. Seven decades of people in a single mission trip. And we repeated the experience. The connections made between the teens and the other people on those trips are lasting and significant. I know and value all of those people. Not all of them are involved in the church as adults. But all of them have contributed to the attitude towards young people in our congregation.
The numbers in our congregation are down. We are not alone. There is a Roman Catholic parish in our community with over 200 names on its roles of children who grew up in the church to confirmation age. Their average attendance at confirmation preparation classes this year is seven. Attendance is down in church youth groups across the board in our town and in many others. Obviously we need new thinking and a new understanding of who we are and how we build relationships. We are aware of the problem. We care. But we don’t know what to do.
So we will keep trying and we will keep reaching out and we will continue to do what we can to connect with youth today and tomorrow.