Youth: The Impoverished of the Suburbs?
I once had a conversation with a group of colleagues who made the comment that ministry with youth in the suburbs was hardly ministry because the students didn't really need anything. They were handed everything material, they were given the best opportunities for education, and they didn't ever have pressure to own their faith because they had well-meaning parents, a large and comfortable church building, and the best resources around. From the outside looking in, that is what we would call stereotypical. I've had the same thoughts myself, the same struggle with challenging and motivating sub-youth to own their faith in my 6 years of youth ministry. The deeper I delve, the more I work with and challenge, the more I've begun to see a perspective shift that may be riding underneath the surface perception: the sub-youth feel lonely, oppressed, trapped and painfully subjugated to being something they would rather discover for themselves...normal.
Poverty defined; poverty |ˈpävərtē|; noun
1.The state of being extremely poor.
2.The state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.
In our ethic of life, as those formed in Christian Character, we know that God acts in defense of those who are oppressed (Ps. 35:10) and that we too ought to be acting in defense of those in need. Sub-youth are often not in material need and will always struggle with excess and the temptation to consume. This is their culture, which is just one of many things that all of us have to unlearn and re-orient around an ethic of love. Sub-youth are put under pressure to be the best, which in many cases, is not natural. We aren't created to be superstars in a humble sense, we are created as fallible beings who rely on their strength from the God of redemption, who supplies all of our needs (Phil. 4:19), and will perfect us in his time. Thus, the feeling of never being good enough, the pressure of being told to be someone you aren't, and the idea that you may look materially comfortable but spiritually and emotionally bankrupt adds further to the insurmountable stigma. Sub-youth look fine, act fine, and will smile at you face to face, but beneath the facade of happiness is emotional poverty.
The impoverished walk the streets, beg for change, and rely on the basic means of survival to live each day. The sub-youth could not be more opposite: often afraid of the homeless, made to work at a young age to earn money, and relying on their parents for their basic needs. The painful, unwanted independence of the homeless is coupled by the painful dependence of the sub-youth. Are not both results of an oppressive, money driven machine? One caused by the lack thereof, the other by the pressure to make so much? Money very well can be the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and whether in famine or excess, can cause poverty and be enslaving.
Take what you want from these thoughts, because in theory, are those who are materially comfortable ever really bankrupt and impoverished? Do we separate those who search day to day for food and nourishment to live from those who are mentally and emotionally crippled by the demands and expectations put on them? I desperately want to know. I see youth who need Jesus to save their lives just as I have seen and experienced those who need material and nutritional nourishment to live. There is no distinction in the kingdom of God: no rich or poor, Jew or Greek, male or female. In perspective, are we not all impoverished and in need of help, laying down our pride to receive that which we cannot attain on our own, and admitting that we can't do this and that we are in desperate need of a savior? Whether rich or poor, there is no room for pride at the cross.
Poverty defined; poverty |ˈpävərtē|; noun
1.The state of being extremely poor.
2.The state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.
In our ethic of life, as those formed in Christian Character, we know that God acts in defense of those who are oppressed (Ps. 35:10) and that we too ought to be acting in defense of those in need. Sub-youth are often not in material need and will always struggle with excess and the temptation to consume. This is their culture, which is just one of many things that all of us have to unlearn and re-orient around an ethic of love. Sub-youth are put under pressure to be the best, which in many cases, is not natural. We aren't created to be superstars in a humble sense, we are created as fallible beings who rely on their strength from the God of redemption, who supplies all of our needs (Phil. 4:19), and will perfect us in his time. Thus, the feeling of never being good enough, the pressure of being told to be someone you aren't, and the idea that you may look materially comfortable but spiritually and emotionally bankrupt adds further to the insurmountable stigma. Sub-youth look fine, act fine, and will smile at you face to face, but beneath the facade of happiness is emotional poverty.
The impoverished walk the streets, beg for change, and rely on the basic means of survival to live each day. The sub-youth could not be more opposite: often afraid of the homeless, made to work at a young age to earn money, and relying on their parents for their basic needs. The painful, unwanted independence of the homeless is coupled by the painful dependence of the sub-youth. Are not both results of an oppressive, money driven machine? One caused by the lack thereof, the other by the pressure to make so much? Money very well can be the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and whether in famine or excess, can cause poverty and be enslaving.
Take what you want from these thoughts, because in theory, are those who are materially comfortable ever really bankrupt and impoverished? Do we separate those who search day to day for food and nourishment to live from those who are mentally and emotionally crippled by the demands and expectations put on them? I desperately want to know. I see youth who need Jesus to save their lives just as I have seen and experienced those who need material and nutritional nourishment to live. There is no distinction in the kingdom of God: no rich or poor, Jew or Greek, male or female. In perspective, are we not all impoverished and in need of help, laying down our pride to receive that which we cannot attain on our own, and admitting that we can't do this and that we are in desperate need of a savior? Whether rich or poor, there is no room for pride at the cross.
posted by Levi at
9:06 AM
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