On my first night attending a youth group, I think I expected something to do with religious instruction. I thought they would talk about the Bible or virtue or something. Whatever I expected to find, I’m sure I didn’t expect Chubby Bunny.
I was an uninitiated non-Christian, and Chubby Bunny created a bewildering uncertainty for me. I’d never seen anything like it—puberty-infected youth jammed increasing numbers of marshmallows into their mouths, the shrill voices of their peers throttling the competitors in a wild-eyed frenzy to see which kid could shove the most marshmallows in and still articulate “Chubby Bunny.”
The contest crescendoed with enormous blobs of half-dissolved marshmallow oozing out of thinly stretched lips and falling off the chins of the losers while the victor pushed a deeply muffled “chhbb bnnny” through a wad of 18 marshmallows just moments before gagging and nearly vomiting in the host’s basement.
So, that’s what we were up to as 12-year-olds—the age at which Zach Hunter started a campaign to end modern-day slavery.
From Fun and Games to Changing the World
Called “Loose Change to Loosen Chains,” Hunter’s goal was to raise awareness and money to end modern-day slavery. He didn’t stop there. At 15, he wrote a book called Be the Change. Since then, he has spoken courageously in hundreds of venues about his passion for justice.
I don’t think Zach asked for permission to take on such an audacious goal. A hall pass to go end slavery. God called. Zach answered. That simple.
Maybe one of the reasons Jesus said, “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” is that young people aren’t so skeptical about God’s ability to show up. Maybe that’s why God calls on young people for His really big assignments. Consider young David, Samuel, Ruth…Mary. God didn’t wait for them to get their college degrees.
We tend to think of the youth in our care in terms of their needs and vulnerabilities. They need guidance, education, nourishment and protection from the evil threats of this world—absolutely true—but we also need to recognize the catalytic power in children. They are God’s agents.
This isn’t a cliché children-are-the-future argument—of course they’re the future. As some of the most powerful influencers in their lives, I’m sure you see it; but sometimes in the midst of all the craziness, it’s easy to overlook. Young people have the power to change the world.
A Growing Youth Movement
Zach, now 18, is not alone.
Teen brothers, Alex and Brett Harris, authored Do Hard Things. They started a rebelution described on the book’s jacket as, “A growing movement of young people rebelling against the low expectations of today’s culture by choosing to ‘do hard things’ for the glory of God.”
The really hard things are the practical actions—the real things that make a real difference and have a personal cost.
Micah, at 7, began setting aside money from every allowance, gift and payment for chores in order to sponsor a child with Compassion International. After three years of saving, he had enough to sponsor for the first year and began supporting a child in Uganda.
Stephanie was 16 when she worked two jobs cleaning hotel rooms in order to earn enough money to sponsor two children with Compassion International.
When I see the inspiring examples of young people today, their engagement with the world and determination to make it a better place gives me hope. We also face a serious adversary.
Just as God often works through young people, our adversary is tireless in his efforts to deceive, indoctrinate and distract them. John the Baptist was beheaded at a girl’s request. There are plenty of modern examples that illustrate the dark possibilities of youth being seduced into enlisting with the adversary.
Which Side Are You On?
The Nazi party established the Hitler Youth in 1922 with little more than a thousand members. In 11 years, they numbered 2.3 million, and the world was already on its way to inevitable war.
Corporate America sees their strategic value and spends billions on youth marketing strategies, every penny of it for one purpose: to create the discontent that motivates their consumerism.
Our children watch more than 20,000 30-second television ads every year. Young American Christians ages 8 to 18 consume an average of seven hours and 38 minutes of visual media per day (2009 data from Kaiser Family Foundation).
Our children are in front of advertisements for more hours every day than they spend at school or engaged in all other conscious activity combined. This is the altar of the god whose bible is written on Madison Avenue.
When my kids were younger, they went to “Adventure Quest” at our church. It isn’t called Sunday School anymore. One day, I went to get one of my boys, which required turning in a bar-coded card that was bleeped into the system to verify I wasn’t abducting someone else’s kid. I asked him about class, and he told me they made Resurrection Rolls. He explained that Jesus was represented by a marshmallow wrapped in a pastry—the Shroud of Turin-Pillsbury, I guess—and then you eat Him.
Jesus, the marshmallow you eat…probably Chubby Bunny-style.
I know Chubby Bunny and Resurrection Rolls are well-intended efforts to overcome the dreaded reputation of church being boring; but it feels as if we’re trying to compete with our entertainment- consumer-culture, and I’m not sure it’s working.
Training Youth for Combat
If we intend to raise up an army of Christ-followers who will pursue justice for the oppressed and fight the adversary in a world afflicted by poverty, then we must begin training our youth for that fight. They are our greatest asset. They are young and full of energy. They are uncompromising idealists, and they actually believe God is all-powerful.
They want to change the world. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is get our own skepticism out of their way.
Some of them are Zach Hunters who need to be taken seriously. We should listen to them, challenge them, live our own lives in ways that demonstrate world-changing intentions and save the marshmallows for a camping trip or a mug of hot chocolate.
Ending extreme global poverty is a 25-year endeavor. Today’s 15-year-olds will be turning 40 as we run the last (and most difficult) mile, and they will be carrying the baton.
Here’s how we can encourage young people to get involved:
1) Visit NotAlways.Live58.org. Ending poverty is not a naïve goal. It is an achievable reality. Confront skepticism with truth. Affirm students’ optimism and faith.
2) Check out our new book Fast Living and the accompanying documentary film, and discover inspiring and evidence-based justification for high expectations. The church can end extreme poverty.
3) Provide support by signing the “I will live 58” pledge at Live58.org.
4) Finally, start a team with your youth group; or join an existing one on the site. Find a project that interests your youth and encourage them to fast and pray together as they fund its completion.
The solutions to global poverty are not awaiting scientific discovery. They are waiting to grow up. They shouldn’t need our permission to climb over our barricades of skepticism. Instead, they should feel our support, nurture and prayers as they work to create a better world.
This article is adapted with permission from Scott’s book, Fast Living: How the Church Will End Extreme Poverty (Compassion International, 2011).
