A look into 2007

Trendwatching.com released their 2007 trend watch list. We should point out that this is a list that they've compiled from not only their own research, but from the masses of people out there who are making their predictions known. Relatively speaking, to-date, they've been pretty on target. Although you maybe tempted to read through this article and leave it at that, we challenge you to step back and begin asking some deeper questions.

1. If the heart of today's generation is set to become "transsumers" (defined as: An obsession with the here and now, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible, is undermining the perceived value (and thus status) of fixed goods and services.)...
— How does that affect the church? Does that affect the church? Should we care?

2. What is at the true heart of the social network sites? Trendwatching declares "In a post-material world, all that’s left to covet is…. other people? From networking sites to buddy lists to meetup.org to a boom in members-only clubs, social status 2.0 is all about who you connect to and who wants to connect to you, tribal-style."
— Will this change the way you are connecting and communicating with your students?

And finally, we've heard from the older generation that all you need to teach is Jesus and relevancy will line-up. On the flip-side, the younger generation seems to declare that you have to both teach Jesus and find ways to speak to the students that mean something to them. So, we ask the simple question...

Can you disregard "relevancy" and simply focus on the heart, compassion and truth of Jesus? Will that alone, reach our students?

Millennials & the Church

The January/February 2007 issue of Outreach magazine has an article on the millennial generation, targeted towards pastors. Although it's nothing new, their perspective and approach is interesting and challenging. Inside you'll find a handful of statistics, from organizations other than Barna, that will help you understand more about the Millennials and how they think.

A Must-Read

If you want to stay up-to-date on youth culture, there is a recently released book (9/7/06) called Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement that is getting rave reviews. It, yet again, talks about the shifts that are happening in youth culture but equally declares that this "Disciple Generation" is powerful and has a significant potential to influence todays culture. Here's a quick teaser for you...

There’s a new youth movement afoot in this country. It’s a counterculture fusion of politics and pop, and it’s taking over a high school near you. Like the waves that came before it, it’s got passion, music, and anti-authority posturing, but more than anything else, this one has God. So what does it mean when today’s youth counterculture has a mindset more akin to Jerry Falwell’s than Abbie Hoffman’s? Read more here

Church, Synagogues, Mosque, Temples...OH MY!

YOUNG IN SPIRIT (OCRegister.com) - An interesting article on how the youth ministry challenges don't just stretch to the Christian church, it includes all religions. Here's a great quote from inside the article:

"When kids can watch TV on their cell phones, when they can watch movies on an iPod, they have certain media expectations in their lives. And they bring that to church..."

A "Complex Shift"

10 IS THE NEW 15 AS KIDS GROW UP FASTER - - (msnbc.com) A recent suggests that what used to be considered teen issues are now tween (8-12) issues. Everywhere we look, there is a shift.

Redefine a "Christian"

It's funny to see how the church struggles to find a universal perspective of what a true Christian looks like. To some its about appearance. To this new generation, it's about the heart and not their appearance. Funny. I think there's a scripture about that somewhere. Well, anyway. A church in Illinois decided to tackle this issue head on and did a parody video based on the Mac vs. PC commercials you've seen. This one is classic and actually made us laugh out loud. Yes, that's LOL. Enjoy.