Calling But Not Foreclosing: reworking Our Approach to Faith Formation

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-219
Author(s):  
Chris D. Clements
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Faith Formation ◽  
Identity Foreclosure ◽  
God's Call

Abstract As churches continue to feel anxious about losing their young people, the impulse to find means to secure young people’s faith identities can arise. Such approaches, though well-intended, can inadvertently become exercises in identity foreclosure. Foreclosure subverts young people’s selfhood and can lead to faith and identity commitments that lack resilience. Using Søren Kierkegaard’s writings and the biblical book of Jonah, an approach to faith formation will be articulated that focuses on hearing God’s call. This approach avoids identity-foreclosing impulses by elevating the place of God’s calling in faith formation.

Personal Bible Reading and the Faith Formation of Teenagers in a Digital Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Judith Hildebrandt ◽  
Jack Barentsen ◽  
Jos de Kock
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Faith Formation ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Back Seat ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
People Today

Abstract History shows that the use of the Bible by Christians has changed over the centuries. With the digitization and the ubiquitous accessibility of the Internet, the handling of texts and reading itself has changed. Research has also shown that young people’s faith adapts to the characteristics of the ‘age of authenticity’, which changes the role of normative institutions and texts in general. With regard to these developments this article deals with the question: How relevant is personal Bible reading for the faith formation of highly religious Protestant German teenagers? Answers to this question are provided from previous empirical surveys and from two qualitative studies among highly religious teenagers in Germany. The findings indicate, that other spiritual practices for young people today are more important as a source of faith than reading the Bible. The teenagers interviewed tend to seek an individual affective experience when reading the Bible, so that the importance of cognitive grasp of the content takes a back seat to personal experience.

scholarly journals Gesinsbediening in ’n postmoderne kerk: Modelle en metodes

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus M. Van Staden
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Faith Formation ◽  
Family Ministry ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
The Church

Family ministry in a postmodern church. The aim of the article is to reflect on the necessity for family ministry in the church today, and to explore different models and methods for doing it. This article must be understood against the backdrop of the challenges facing mainline churches, of which the decline in numbers, the lack of support for programmes and initiatives on behalf of families, and the apparent inability to minister effectively to young people, are the most pressing. Since the early church there has been a close relationship between church and home. Not only did rituals and liturgies spill from the gathered congregation into homes; metaphors from family life also provided images and language to the early church. In the last few decades there has been a rekindled interest in the home as the primary incubator for faith formation. Several books, articles, organisations, programs, consultants and churches have described their approach as ‘family ministry’. From a practical-theological viewpoint, there must be a set of criteria by which these approaches could be evaluated. This article aims to contribute in this regard, and to critique different approaches to family ministry.

“Sticky Faith” in Australian Baptist Churches: Surveying Generational Participation and Ministry Priorities

Exchange ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Darren Cronshaw
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young People ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Faith Formation ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Aging Trend ◽  
Baptist Churches ◽  
Demographic Aging ◽  
Church Life

Abstract Australian Baptist Churches share a demographic aging trend with many Western churches — they engage proportionately more older and less young people. Moreover, a significant proportion of children and youth lack “sticky faith” and leave church. The 2016 National Church Life Survey identifies trends in generational participation and ministry priorities. Interviewed Baptist young adults and leaders suggest as reasons youth disengage from church: external societal pressures, “siloed” programs and lack of discipleship, relationships and service opportunities. Many Australian Baptist churches are adopting a more “generational” and less “siloed” approach, but there is room for improvement in resourcing churches for “sticky” faith formation.

scholarly journals Youth ministry as an agency of youth development for the vulnerable youth of the Cape Flats

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Garth Aziz
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Youth Ministry ◽  
Chemical Substance ◽  
Faith Formation ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Vulnerable Youth ◽  
Meaningful Relationship ◽  
The Impact

Religiosity has a profound role and influence on youth development within a community. Religiosity promotes risk reduction and positive moral characteristics and thus remains an avenue of opportunity for transformation in considering the lived experiences of vulnerable young people living on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape, South Africa. The Cape Flats is an area that is overwhelmed with unemployment, poverty, gang violence, chemical substance abuse and a general societal abandonment of young people. It is out of dire hopelessness that a meaningful relationship with God can be experienced by youth. The Cape Flats is, therefore, a fertile space for an intervention of religiosity. This article will research how the agency of youth ministry as a positive youth development can assist in youth development within a community in tension like that of the Cape Flats. While youth development is a broad category for consideration and research, this article will primarily focus on identity formation of young people, in particular, the vulnerable youth living on the Cape Flats.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The agency of youth ministry, in an evangelical epistemology, should seek to address the influencers on adolescent identity formation, as one’s identity has a direct bearing on faith formation. The potential outcome of the article would allow the youth ministry to take serious the impact of the lived realities of youth and adjust their programmatic designs and outcomes, in relation to youth faith formation.

Developing theory-based risk-reduction interventions for HIV-positive young people with haemophilia

Haemophilia ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Schultz ◽  
R. B. Butler ◽  
L. Mckernan ◽  
R. Boelsen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Hiv Positive

Young People, Comics and Reading

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Cedeira Serantes
Keyword(s):  
Young People

Deaf Young People and their Families

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gregory ◽  
Juliet Bishop ◽  
Lesley Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Young People

Social representations of human rights violations: Further evidence

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Clémence ◽  
Thierry Devos ◽  
Willem Doise
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Questionnaire Study ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
High Tolerance ◽  
Individual Actions

Social representations of human rights violations were investigated in a questionnaire study conducted in five countries (Costa Rica, France, Italy, Romania, and Switzerland) (N = 1239 young people). We were able to show that respondents organize their understanding of human rights violations in similar ways across nations. At the same time, systematic variations characterized opinions about human rights violations, and the structure of these variations was similar across national contexts. Differences in definitions of human rights violations were identified by a cluster analysis. A broader definition was related to critical attitudes toward governmental and institutional abuses of power, whereas a more restricted definition was rooted in a fatalistic conception of social reality, approval of social regulations, and greater tolerance for institutional infringements of privacy. An atypical definition was anchored either in a strong rejection of social regulations or in a strong condemnation of immoral individual actions linked with a high tolerance for governmental interference. These findings support the idea that contrasting definitions of human rights coexist and that these definitions are underpinned by a set of beliefs regarding the relationships between individuals and institutions.

Information-Seeking on the Internet

Crisis ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinod Singaravelu ◽  
Anne Stewart ◽  
Joanna Adams ◽  
Sue Simkin ◽  
Keith Hawton
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Young People ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Specific Advice ◽  
Restriction Sites ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Negative Tone

Abstract. Background: The Internet is used by young people at risk of self-harm to communicate, find information, and obtain support. Aims: We aimed to identify and analyze websites potentially accessed by these young people. Method: Six search terms, relating to self-harm/suicide and depression, were input into four search engines. Websites were analyzed for access, content/purpose, and tone. Results: In all, 314 websites were included in the analysis. Most could be accessed without restriction. Sites accessed by self-harm/suicide search terms were mostly positive or preventive in tone, whereas sites accessed by the term ways to kill yourself tended to have a negative tone. Information about self-harm methods was common with specific advice on how to self-harm in 15.8% of sites, encouragement of self-harm in 7.0%, and evocative images of self-harm/suicide in 20.7%. Advice on how to get help was given in 56.1% of sites. Conclusion: Websites relating to suicide or self-harm are easily accessed. Many sites are potentially helpful. However, a significant proportion of sites are potentially harmful through normalizing or encouraging self-harm. Enquiry regarding Internet use should be routinely included while assessing young people at risk.

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