Thoughts on Teenagers

I remember a while ago reading Jonathan Edwards' A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. In a nutshell, it describes the outbreak of revival in New England in the 1730's, generally viewed by contemporary scholarship as the beginning of the First Great Awakening in America. Many historians (even unbelievers) have averred that this religious movement provided the spiritual drive that first gave the 13 Colonies a national identity and ultimately led to the War for Independence. The Awakening had political, social, and economic consequences which, I'm sure, Edwards never imagined while preaching in his church in Massachusetts.

Given my professional orientation at this point in my career, I am struck by one particular aspect of Edwards' Faithful Narrative. He continually gave attention to what the youth of his congregation were doing. He writes, "I proposed it to the young people, that they should agree among themselves to spend the evenings after lectures in social religion, and to that end divide themselves into several companies to meet in various parts of town; which was accordingly done, and those meetings have been since continued, and the example imitated by elder people." It was out of this initial leadership on the part of the youth that the revival began.

Later in his narrative, Edwards also writes, "Those of our young people that are on other accounts most likely and considerable, are truly pious and leading persons in the ways of religion. Those that were formerly looser young persons are generally, to all appearances, become true lovers of God and Christ, and spiritual in their dispositions." Apparently Edwards recognized that much of the impetus for, and leadership in, the Great Awakening came from youth.

It has been under two weeks since my youth group and I returned from our Summer Work Mission Trip. As one of my former blogs testifies, it was an incredible week in which the teens and chaperones worshipped our Triune God, became an authentic community of faith, and reached out their hands to others in love. I'm sure its impact will continue to animate conversations here for some time.

Since that trip, I've held two events for the youth: A Movie/Game Night, and my youth bible study where I take interested students into a deeper examination of the texts of Scripture. The youth have invited eight of their friends--some unchurched--to those two activities, and I had the incredible chance to meet them, get contact information, and invite them back for more activities.

I have read enough in adolescent culture and development to know that today's youth are extremely cynical, deeply distrustful of traditional institutions and authorities (and I've seen enough to confirm that observation) but that is only a half-truth, and I think it says more about our traditional institutions/authorities than it does about teenagers.

Youth are hungry for relationships, eager to make a difference, and searching for something into which they can pour their whole heart and soul. When ministers are able to model for them that Jesus Christ can provide the answer to all three quests, I truly believe they will get excited about it and invite others to be excited about it as well. I believe that youth will rise to what is expected of them. If we treat them as selfish adolescents who sit up in the balcony, pass notes during the sermon and giggle during the hymns, that's all we'll get from them. If we follow Jonathan Edwards' example and treat them as leaders who can grow in holiness and influence others, we might just find another spiritual awakening that can transform the church...and maybe our nation and our world as well!