Youth Revolution?

There is an abundance of bad news today related to youth, however there are also some emerging signs of hope, hope that there may be a revolution of sorts occurring among young people. By revolution I mean a rejection of liberal social and moral positions, the post sixties sexual ethics, radical secularism, and even facile "feel good" theology.

This seemingly growing phenomenon is occurring in numerous parts of the Western world as well as here in the U.S. For example, on January 22nd more than 10,000 young people took to the streets of Paris in the second annual pro-life march sponsored by a group calling itself, 30 ans ça suffit! or Thirty Years is Enough!. That's right, Paris, one of the most liberal and secularized cities in the world! What's more, the French march drew large groups of youth from Spain, Germany, and Belgium representing the four most secularized countries in formerly Catholic Europe.

Similar marches took place in Ottawa and Washington DC. The Syracuse Post Standard reporting on the Washington DC march said that "the overwhelming majority of the marchers, estimated at over a hundred thousand, had not yet been born when Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in the US." More and more, pro-life marches are being driven and dominated by the next generation. According to a Gallup survey of youth, "72 percent of American teenagers (aged 13 to 17) agree that abortion is morally wrong while only 26 find abortion morally acceptable." Those numbers are promising and reveal that teens are more pro-life than their Baby Boom predecessors.

Regarding sexual ethics, a survey conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy revealed that, "nearly all (93%) teenagers [now] believe that teens should be given a strong message from society to abstain from sex until at least after high school." Additionally, a Harris poll conducted in December of last year reported that, a majority of young people ages 18 to 29 say they believe abstinence programs are an effective approach to teaching healthy sexuality. This, despite the fact that according to the same poll, a majority of older adults said they did NOT think abstinence was a successful method to reducing sexual disease and unwanted pregnancies. Nonetheless, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sexual activity among teenagers has in fact been dropping for the past several years along with teen pregnancy rates.

There does indeed remain an unhealthy attitude of sexual promiscuity among many American teens however I would argue that this may be the residual effect of ongoing media and cultural influences combined with disconnected and permissive parents. Nonetheless, teens do appear to be responding to the counter-cultural messages of abstinence until marriage and thus rejecting the values of the post-sexual revolution generation.

Regarding youth and religion, a recent groundbreaking study led by sociologist Christian Smith at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill reveals that despite opinions to the contrary "religious faith is important in their lives." In reviewing the book, Soul Searching which summarizes the study, Kenda Creasy, Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary writes, "Soul Searching is a bombshell, and one that is long overdue. It convincingly demonstrates that many of our assumptions about youth and religion in the U.S. are well off the mark. Instead of finding hostility toward religion, we meet young people from every corner of the culture who echo their parents' religiosity to an astonishing degree..." According to Barna, 82% of American teens say they are Christian. Three out of five teens say they are "committed Christians." And more than seven out of ten teens are engaged in some church-related activity in a typical week: such as attending worship services, Sunday school, a church youth group or a small group.

I will grant you that these figures do not tell the whole story. If we look closer at the theological beliefs of this generation there is certainly grave cause for concern as Dr. Creasy echoes in her concluding remarks, "...but this, as it turns out, is hardly a formula for vibrant faith. Soul Searching puts American religious communities on notice: if religion matters, then we had better stop 'exposing' young people to faith and start teaching it to them. Anyone who lives or works with teenagers simply must read this book. You won't be able to sit still after you do."

In reaction to the superficial form of faith revealed in this study I believe we may be witnessing a movement within the Church that represents a spirit-led quest to recapture an authentic faith by the next generation and that is the Emerging Church. In particular, I am referring specifically to those in the Acts 29 network of churches. I recently met with Mark Moore, the young pastor of Providence Community Church, an Acts 29 church in Plano, Texas. I have also visited their worship services and I can tell you that I was thoroughly encouraged by the sense of community, love of each other and the lost, their understanding of and approach to culture, and their emphasis on teaching historic orthodox theology and doctrine. They are discipling and training new believers in the faith at a much deeper level than many evangelical churches today.

I believe this may be one of the major attractions for many young people; these churches, while seeking to present the Gospel in terms that are contextually relevant, do not patronize young people intellectually but rather challenge them to grow in the knowledge of their faith. In my own experience teaching youth I have found that many are yearning for more substance - a solid foundation upon which to rest their faith, something more than mere cultural tradition. They want to know that there are real reasons for believing in and following Christ as Lord.

It is interesting to note that the teen population is expected to grow at twice the rate of the rest of the population during the next decade, peaking in 2010 with approximately 30.8 million teenagers. This is 900,000 more teens than ever before. In fact, it's 4.1 million more than in 1969 - when Woodstock woke up mainstream America to youth culture's existence. In light of this fact and the apparent shift in attitudes, albeit it slight at this point, it is imperative that we take seriously the responsibility to train and instruct young people in the comprehensive knowledge of the Lord and thus provide them with the necessary understanding and ability to fulfill their mission in the world. We should all be encouraged by what is happening but we must also resolve to invest our lives into putting the youth of today on the right path to responsible cultural, intellectual, and spiritual existence. Pastors, parents, and youth workers; let us work to nourish these seeds of hope.

Copyright 2006 S. Michael Craven, All rights reserved. For reprint permission contact Philip Barnett at philip@nationalcoalition.org.