Last week I took time during my school hours to ask 6 young people the following 5 questions.
- Is religion/spirituality important to you and your friends? Explain…
- What is your greatest concern in life?
- Who inspires you and why?
- What is the one thing that adults really need to understand about young people?
- What does the word “church” bring to mind?
Question 1: Of the 6 young people I asked this question to they all said religion or spirituality was meaningless to them (and young people) except one person who said “yes and no.” When asked to explain they had difficulty explaining. One young girl answered it best when she said “We all believe in God, but it doesn’t really mean anything to us, and you don’t have to do anything about it.” In summary I think religion is meaningless to them because they are not aware that God requires anything of them personally.
Question 2: Most of the answers revolved around the idea of being able to find a job when they left school. One student found that being at school itself was a concern. From these answers I received it seems many young people are thinking not only about problems they face now, but also about their future and have concerns about how things are going to work out when they leave school.
Question 3: 5 out of the 6 people surveyed said they were inspired by sportsmen, particularly footballers. (I mostly interviewed boys) Jonathan Thurston was named. They are inspired because it is the life they aspire to.
Question 4: This question more than the others drew out answers and discussion. Here are some of the answers:
- “they don’t get how we think.”
- “they don’t appreciate what we do.”
- “times change and issues are bigger now than before”
- “young people don’t want to play marbles anymore.”
- “young people are interested in different things to adults.”
Question 5: I asked this question because I wanted to get a snapshot into the image church has in a secular youth culture. I am a pastor working in the school and this was personally interesting for me.
The young people I interviewed seemed very vague when asked this question, and most of them it seems have not ever attended a church service or been inside a church. Here are a few of their answers, which are typical of all their answers?
- “big buildings with a cross”
- “jesus”
- “worshipping god”
- “lots of religious things”
I gained the impression from this question that a lot of religious imagery and mindset had been built in the minds of young people from televison and other youth but was not based one experience.
Summary: The responses have taught me that youth culture is varied, but also has some level of consistency. Young people are concerned about the future, but they also feel that they are not appreciated, particularly by adults. They also have a unrealistic view of religion and church becauase of a disconnectedness from these things.
Their responses will help me in my work with young people by giving me greater confidence in speaking about religious and spiritual things. It will also help me to connect with them as an adult, now that I understand they feel misunderstood by adults to a certain point.
Finally, during my travels this week I found the following newspaper clip which pertains to what we are talking about. (clipping from The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Friday Oct 23, 2009)
