Tis the season of “best-of” lists. While we at FYI go dark for a bit around the holidays, we thought we’d leave you with our top five most popular posts from the FYI blog in 2011:
During the season of Advent this year some folks from my church who make films decided to create a short video for our community to reflect on. Picking up the theme “waiting”, they grabbed some folks from the congregation and developed this piece. It has been a powerful tool for reflection across these four weeks.
As we debriefed it together last Sunday morning, I was struck by the different ways folks interpreted the waiting that was (or wasn’t) happening in this video. We’re all waiting for something. Perhaps the question is how will we wait?
In these last few moments of Advent, I hope this might probe a bit about the waiting in your own soul.
PS, this was developed free, and is free to be used if it’s helpful in your own context. Be sure to give credit appropriately. I bet Sam and Benji would love to hear how you use it, too.
I love technology. Well, maybe that’s an overstatement. I really like technology. But as much as it’s a blessing, it can also become a burden.
I was struck by a Harvard Business Reviewblog over the weekend that declared, “Facebook is Making Us Miserable.” While the blog is perhaps a bit one-sided, the author does make some great points, like:
-Facebook can stir a spirit of comparison as we see updates and ask, “Why aren’t I having that much fun?”
-It causes us to multi-task, which generally leads to decreased effectiveness.
-It can lead to a decline of close relationships.
Now I do think the author misses some of the assets of Facebook, like how it can help us be connected to each other, know how to support and pray for each other, and bring relational depth. For those of us who care about teenagers, it can also help us understand their worlds, tensions, and friendships better.
Is Facebook making you miserable? How do you keep it on a leash? How are you using it in your life, family, or ministry?
I keep hearing stories these days of folks putting Sticky Faith in action, and even ideas on how to use the holidays as a way to help teenagers connect with their parents and other adults.
Last week I received this e.mail from a youth pastor in Indiana, who heard me speak at the National Youth Workers Convention. In my seminar, I shared about one church in our Sticky Faith Cohort who asked twenty of their students if they knew how their parents became Christians.
Care to guess how many of the 20 knew?
I’ll give you a hint: it starts with a “Z”.
Yes, zero.
This youth leader has decided to leverage his chance to preach to invite parents to share more about their spirituality with their teenagers, which is an important part of our Sticky Faith themes. Here’s an excerpt from his e-mail:
I have surveyed many of my teens and thus far only one (Senior Pastor’s 6th Grade Daughter) has said they could give an account of their parents conversion and she only knew her dad’s and not her mom’s story– so maybe still a technical zero…I am speaking this Sunday at our Church while the Senior Pastor is in Haiti. Part of my challenge will be to have our parents’ families share their conversion story with their young people over the holidays… As I reflected on the question, I thought about my father who passed away in January and I didn’t know his conversion story or his mom’s story who was a pillar of Christianity in our family. Thanks for your time and the insight and challenge you gave me.
I love how this sharp youth pastor is nudging families toward better conversations in which they share about their faith more organically. I am going to try to model that with my family this season, and I’m going to try to do the same.
When Dave and I used to have large groups of folks over for dinners, we used to set up two tables: the kids table, and the adults table. (Often, we actually ended up with tables in different rooms, making the separation even more distinct.) In many ways, that sort of separation makes some sense. Often adults want to talk about “adult issues” and kids want to be on their own.
But according to our Sticky Faith research, keeping teenagers and adults separate can hamper teenagers’ faith development. Plus it’s not all that good for the adults’ vitality. We’ve seen that when churches and families make the effort to integrate folks of diverse ages, all are lifted.
Today in our E-Journal we are sharing this 1.5 minute Sticky Faith Holiday Video. We hope you can share this video with other parents, grandparents, or leaders to get them thinking about how they can experience more intergenerational relationships even during their holiday gatherings.
Whether real or figurative, there’s nothing like sitting at one big shared table.
Part of what I love about my role at the Fuller Youth Institute is the amazing people I get to learn from. Just about every day, I have a meeting, phone call, e-mail or twitter exchange with someone who inspires me or gives me a new way to think about building faith in teenagers.
Last week I met with some faithful supporters of FYI who are grandparents with teenage and young adult grandchildren. These grandparents will be with their grandkids, who they deeply love, for an extended Christmas vacation. Some of their grandchildren have drifted from the church, and this wise grandmother has told all of her grandkids ahead of time that during their vacation, she’d like to get a bit of time with each of them individually. Whether they grab a meal or some ice cream together, she’s told them that she wants to have a good conversation with each of them, so she’s asked them to come with three questions that they want to ask her, and she will do the same.
Brilliant!
I love how this grandmother has been intentional and proactive with her grandchildren. I love how she’s setting the stage for honest dialogue. I love how she’s decided that at least one of her questions will involve asking her grandkids about their faith journeys and where their faith stands currently.
Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, youth leader, or simply know a teenager in your church or community, how can you use the time off during the holidays to build a deeper relationship with them? Or what ideas have you tried that have helped build good conversations in the past?
I certainly have. For me, the typical college student falls in the category of studying full-time, living on-campus, and enjoying the freedom of being away from their parents without any major life responsibilities. However, recent research conducted by Complete College America shows a different story. Complete College America found that only 25% of college students attend full-time at residential colleges and have most of their bills paid by their parents. Measured against most of our stereotypical views of college students, that leaves 75% of college students unaccounted for.
These students are the commuters. They are juggling a combination of responsibilities while commuting to class. According to the research, “More students are working, and they are working more hours than ever before. Many can afford to attend only part-time, extending the years until they graduate.” The more time it takes to graduate the more difficult it becomes. They say, “Students’ lives fill up with jobs, relationships, marriages, children, and mortgages; the list goes on and on. Not surprisingly, college often gets left behind: a few years of courses, no degree, and a lot of debt.”
This information makes me think about different college ministries. Typically, college ministry is done on campus, or with the full-time student in mind. In this strategy, only about 25% of the college student population is being targeted. What are some ways that college ministries can supplement their ministry in order to target commuters?
What other ideas do you have about the ways this shift in the college population impacts our youth ministries, college ministries, and church-wide approaches to discipling emerging adults?
This week the New York Times featured an “Op-Doc” on “The Role of Youth,” part of a bigger upcoming film project called Teenage (which looks fascinating and has a great docu-blog). Here’s the brief op-doc on the history of youth in US history, particularly in times of crisis:
The filmmakers suggest that perhaps the current reality can call us to think of other ways to integrate adolescents into society. They are not, of course, the only ones to raise this question in recent months/years (as Teen 2.0, our own Sticky Faith, and others are wondering aloud in different ways).
The bigger question is, are we at a unique moment in history where change can again take place? Is it possible that the post-WWII moniker “Teenager” is ready to be replaced with new language and new sociocultural understanding? What do you think?
A recent report from The Futures Company wonders aloud whether we’ve misread this generation. Whereas generational speculation has given a positive spin to this up-beat, do-good cohort, as millennials transition to adulthood questions are popping up about the tendencies of this age group when taken as a whole (which is, of course, unfair in and of itself). According to the report, “Millennials are demonstrating more insular,
self-protective and scrappy attitudes than previously assumed.” Here’s some of their argument for making this statement:
They believe “the system” is letting them down (Occupy movement, anyone?)
They are increasingly cynical about “making a difference” in the world.
Personal success is the priority. And they’re willing to bend the rules for self-benefit.
Now, this report in particular is based on opinion polling, so don’t take it (or any other research) without liberal grains of salt. But it does raise good questions.
How often to we lean into group or age cohort stereotypes and make assumptions before they’re proven?
How much do we write off 22-year-olds or 72-year-olds based on what we think they must be thinking, feeling, or doing related to whatever we are concerned about?
While we’re generalizing, though, what difference actually exists between the beliefs and attitudes of 20-somethings listed above and their 30-40-something counterparts? Rampant individualism is the bread and butter of our cultural feast. Did we expect something different from this generation if that’s all we’ve been feeding them?
And finally, how does any or all of this impact the ways we shape our ministries for the coming year? Should it?
