Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture - 1

I've started reading this book and I am quickly finding out that it is a book that I am going to read real slow. My hope is to post a lot on the truth in this book and its challenges. Today will be just one small part of chapter 1!

Walt Mueller has a great website - CPYU, which is a great resource of information for those who are looking to bridge "Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth," the subtitle of this book.

The book is divided into three sections. The first section is his analysis on the postmodern worldview and the world teens live in. The second section (which I am really looking forward to) is going to deal with the phenomenon of our culture and how followers of Christ are called to approach it. The third and final section is going to map out a strategy for engagning the soul of the youth culture!

In his first chapter (additional resources for this chapter HERE), "Reality Bytes - Snapshots of a Crying and Dying Culture" he gives a great picture of the crying and dying that is taking place in the home. After speaking in a seminar a mom came up to him and read a poem her daughter had written. Things had been going well in their relationship until she turned twelve and it all began to unravel. The mom was lost. So was her daughter. Listen to her daughters words, "Somehow I lost my mouth. Somehow you lost your ears."

I want to ask you, which came first? Did the daughter lose her mouth, or did the mom lose her ears?

Walt suggests, and I believe it, we have lost the capability to listen to teenagers. Listen to his words, "Instead...of leading the young to soul-satisfying 'bread of life' (Jn. 6:35) and 'streams of living water' (Jn. 7:38) we may have unknowingly locked the bread box and shut off the water valve through our inability or unwillingness to hear the nuances of their unique worldview and experience before attempting to answer their cries." - I love this sentence!

When we aren't connecting with teenagers our first look needs to be off of them and in the mirror at ourselves. Are we locking the bread box and shutting off the water valve because we aren't using our ears twice as much as our mouths?

Here's a thought when it comes to engaging the soul of youth culture. To you students, we as your leaders, parents and teachers will start evaluating our effectiveness with you based on whether or not we listened more to you rather than talked down at you!

There's no question our youth need guidance, but how can we guide them if we haven't heard them?