Bakerview Youth What's going on around Bakerview?

Plugged In

One of the questions I field the most since starting at Bakerview is why I don't allow electronics on Youth activities. Whether it be a regular youth event, or the youth retreats this past November, nothing raises the ire of youth like saying that ipods are off-limits.

I'm not surprised by it, if I'm being honest. This is a generation that lives their lives online. Whether it be Facebook, texting, or chatting, their primary form of communication is not the telephone or talking to one another, it's with a screen and the internet in-between. It develops shallow relationships, encourages distance, and reduces transparency. A strange juxtaposition from a generation that values authenticity more than anything else.

A recent study out of the US brings this to light. The New York Times says, "Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cellphones." You can read the full article here.

If you're looking for the original study, you can find it here.

Leading a Post-Modern Generation

I was looking through the news this morning and came across this video from the TEDx series. Karl Moore from McGill University in Montreal gives a talk about the next generation, some of their values, and particularly what it's going to take to lead this next generation, integrate their value structures, and allow them to flourish.

The reality of this naturally jumps out to me as we think about how to integrate teenagers into the church, and allow them to flourish as young adults. This transition is just as critical, if not more as the changeover from being a child to being a youth. It's rocky, but the older generations can make all the difference in it.

The video is about 18 minutes long, but well worth your time. You can read the transcript here.

Building a Base

Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them afterwards.

- St. Francis Xavier

Make no mistake about it, the kids nowadays are going under a bombardment unlike anything that has come before. Every generation faces new challenges, each unique in their own way, and each are significant hurdles that must be overcome. The teenagers of today have some unique challenges they must overcome.

This is the first generation that is growing up natively digital. They've never known a world without computers, without TV's, without cell phones. These are essential parts of their lives that are major game changers in the way they process information and interact with the world around them.

The concept of talking to someone face to face is almost foreign to them. Texting someone is the natural form of communication, and even a simple phone call can be a massive invasion of their world. The unfortunate effect of this has been the complete erosion of relational foundations in their lives. They are highly relational beings that are wholly shallow in their relationships, commitments and spirituality.

How do we combat this? Shape a worldview. One that is based around family and deep, meaningful relationships rather than shallow, 160 character ones. They crave it, it burns deep within them to be loved and to love others, but the avenue for expression has eroded along with culture around them.

I tell you this to give you some information on how I'm working with your kids to help them become more relational with each other, and also with our Heavenly Father who deeply wants them to stop and converse with Him. Small things like leaving iPod's, iPhones and other electronic devices at home. Giving them opportunities for community and personal conversations, and good Biblical teaching to show them that God works today.

I hope you've seen some of the results at home, in their own lives, and will continue to see that grow. The best thing you can do is spend time with your kids. They might seem foreign, edgy or angry. They very well might be, but that is all the more reason for someone to dig into their life, just to say "I love you." No strings attached. It will take time, but you'll notice the heart melting, and their lives opening.