The first time I read Teen 2.0, by Robert Epstein, I couldn’t help but nod my head over and over at how much I actually agreed with his thoughts. I agreed that the stage of life we call adolescence is a cultural label. I agreed that teenagers (again a culturally described word) are capable of way more than we give them credit for and that their potential and capacity are much higher than we are willing to admit.
So, it’s not surprising that I agree with much of what Andy Root says in “Youth Ministry Doesn’t Exist.” Andy states that youth ministry may be “giving credence and power to the made-up category of ‘adolescence’ by giving legitimacy to the perpetuation of the made-up life stage of teenage-hood.” I think he’s right on in that statement.
Andy asks the question, “What if we began treating young people as adults?” This is a good question, but unfortunately, I have little hope that this might actually happen in most churches. I’m jaded by my belief that most churches don’t treat those of us who do ministry to young people as adults. Even as I typed that last sentence, I was thinking about the number of times early in my career that people asked me when I was going to get a real job. I just can’t imagine most of the churches I’ve worked in actually giving students the same voice they give adults. I fully believe in the reformed tradition of the “priesthood of all believers,” but I rarely see the word all being employed in churches, especially regarding youth.
Andy’s question, “Does youth ministry really work?” is helpful but problematic. If we simply look at the percentage of young people whose faith continues post high school, we’d likely answer with a loud “no.” As someone who has been in youth ministry full time for 15 years, that’s a pretty negative reflection of my career. I don’t think the way we do youth ministry works. However, I think the fault and responsibility for change lie with the whole church, which appears not to want congregants to be involved outside their own life stage groups.
I resonate with one key word that Andy uses at the end of his article.
“If the objective is to welcome and treat young people as adults and do this as a countercultural action, then we will need such people to advocate for the full participation of this people. We will need someone to continue to remind the congregation to see these young people not as crazed adolescents, as society continues to impose, but as young, responsible adults.”
The word advocate truly defines what I already see as my job description. There are good sides to this role. I had my church be a part of the first Sticky Faith cohort put on by the Fuller Youth Institute. During that process, we learned about how the entire church needed to be engaged and involved in the faith development of children and students. I had the whole church staff engage Christian Smith’s book Soul Searching, and we examined what the National Study on Youth and Religion meant for us. I regularly share about teenage culture and the changes to culture in general that come from that age group. In essence, I find myself being the point person for making sure the rest of the church recognizes that this group we call teenagers exists, matters and should be engaged and involved more than they are.
Generally when I read Andy’s books I find myself really resonating with his thoughts and ideas but then getting really frustrated with the lack of practical, here’s-how-you-change-this content. That doesn’t mean there aren’t good stories out there that show change. I just don’t see a lot of it, even here in this article. What I actually hope for is that a church will take up this belief that youth ministry as it currently exists does not work, and do something about it. This change has to be more than just canceling Sunday school and having young people sit in church with adults. I haven’t seen any place where young people are given a voice and opportunity to do anything.
Even with my cynical and dismal outlook, I still hope this can happen. Andy proves the point that this should change. Now we just have to figure out how we can stop the church from perpetuating the false social construct of “the teenager” and create opportunities for young people to express their full capacities. I hope to see that happen.
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