The President’s Listening…Are We?

A few weeks ago I posted about a video made by a group of high school students not far from here who shared some of their very real reflections and fears about the impact of the current economy on their lives.  Turns out they sent a copy of that video to the President, who today directly addressed their concerns in a speech on education.  He said:

It was heartbreaking that a girl so full of promise was so full of worry that she and her class titled their video, “Is anybody listening?” So, today, there’s something I want to say to Yvonne and her class at Village Academy: I am listening. We are listening. America is listening.  And we will not rest until your parents can keep your jobs—we will not rest until your parents can keep their jobs and your families can keep their homes, and you can focus on what you should be focusing on—your own education…

The point is not that Obama is a superhero who is going to solve all of these problems.  The point is that kids spoke up—honestly, authentically, passionately, and in an appropriate way—and they gained a voice. And an adult was helping them through that process, present to their pain and helping them express it.  In my previous post I suggested that in our own ministries we have the opportunity to cultivate a culture of listening to the pain rather than avoiding it.  Obama’s no youth pastor, but he did just that: he listened to an insignificant group of public school teenagers with a video camera.

So…how are our churches modeling that same kind of listening and response?  How many of our kids would agree that they feel heard and supported by the broader congregation?  How many would agree that church is the place they go to be heard?  If the answer is “not many”, are we satisfied with that answer?  I’m not.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute