Hope for Today's Teenagers

Category: Youth

There are 22 million people between the ages of 13 and 18 in the United States today. Because three of them live in my house, I'm a bit reluctant to dish out advice for parents of teenagers! My wife and I are praying, listening, and learning a lot these days—and watching with considerable concern as times grow tougher for Christian teens.

According to a Fordham University study reported in The New York Times, the index of indicators of our nation's social well-being has fallen to its lowest point in 25 years, with children and young people suffering the most. In 1994, the most recent year covered by the study, child abuse, teenage suicide, drug abuse, and the high school dropout rate all grew worse. Fordham spokesman Marc L. Miringoff notes the obvious: "The decline in the social health of children and youth tells us something about the future shape of our society."

Pulse magazine (July 19, 1996) reported the results of an advertising agency's survey of 25,000 teenagers from 41 countries. According to the survey, only 22 percent of North American teens expect the world to get better during their lifetimes.

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse issued on August 20, 1996, revealed that teen drug abuse has risen 105 percent in the United States since 1992. Big increases in adolescent use of marijuana (up 33 percent between 1994 and 1995), cocaine (up 166 percent), and LSD (up 55 percent) are especially alarming. It's no wonder some call today's teens "a generation at risk."

On the other hand, "This can be the generation that changes the world for the better," insists Paul Smith, president of Christ In Youth, Inc. CIY sponsors 16 annual summer youth conferences attended by 15,000 teens, three winter conferences, five international conferences in other nations, and 18 annual mission trips for high schoolers and adult leaders.

Other indications of hope? Doug Clark of the National Youth Ministries Network says an estimated three million teens and younger children participated in last September's "See You at the Pole" prayer service at schools all over the country.

Commitment cards displayed at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta last February represented more than 340,000 teens from 76 nations who have made commitments to sexual purity through the "True Love Waits" program.

Researcher George Barna notes several reasons churches need to maintain a positive, proactive approach to teenagers: they respond to Christ (seven out of 10 people who come to Christ do so before the age of 18); they energize the church; they redefine our culture; they are our future leaders. Furthermore, they will respond positively to adult leaders who are willing to be transparent and serve as role models.

What's the single most important thing a church leader can do to help today's teenagers? "Make sure their parents don't get divorced," Barna says.

Whatever else they may need, there's no escaping a basic fact: young people need stable, intact families.

"People call them Generation X," Smith observes, "but with a little turn, that 'X' can become a cross. We'd like to see this be the generation that turns the world toward the cross."