I have worked with youth since 1982. Frequently, adults ask (especially parents of teenagers) what keeps me from quitting. Their questions take various forms, but they all boil down to one basic query: How do you keep doing it? In other words, “How do you put up with teenagers’ selfishness, loud music, drama, junk food, gossip, late nights and bad attitudes?” I have one simple answer every time: They keep me young.
Sure, I could live without ever going to another high-school football game. Yes, their music is pretty loud at times. I will admit that sharing a bathroom with eight other high-school girls, even for just a camp weekend, can try my nerves. However, just as quickly I can point out the great things they bring to the mix: laughter, energy, occasional wonder, and my favorite: their youthful idealism.
Idealism. My old-age cynicism looks at chronic problems, such as homelessness or world hunger and just wants to shut down because I am so overwhelmed by the magnitude of need. Young people hear about these problems through speakers, videos or face-to-face encounters; and their hopeful optimism causes them to think — as if the idea never occurred to anyone else — “Hey, we have to do something about this!”
Before long, plans start flowing; fundraisers take shape; the students surf the Internet for more information; occasionally on-campus clubs are formed at school as a result. The students actually convince me we can do something about it! Their influence on me makes me young at heart once again! More importantly, I am refreshed as I see the truth and power of the gospel message taking hold in their young lives. It really is “good news.”
In turn, the youth group then becomes a great team; the leaders and I come with our experience at organizing and running things and combine with the students and their earnest, faith-filled belief, plus a large dash of risk-taking thrown in for good measure! As Jesus says in the gospels, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (
In my own experience, this combination of teenagers and adults working together in our church to change the world in the name of Jesus has birthed several service trips to Central America, raised funds week by week for years to fight the plight of the “invisible children” of Uganda, and maintained monthly chapel services at the local rescue mission. I am a better person and a deeper lover of the Lord because of the idealistic faith of young people.
Most people who’ve worked with youth also know how easily distracted they can be from their earnest endeavors. Like raccoons around bright shiny objects, their eyes are quickly drawn away to something else. Our job as youth pastors is to help them stay focused. For me, the question is, “How can I keep things fresh and foster consistency?”
In 2007, an idea came together that helped us greatly in regard to this tension. I desired to keep our youth aware and sensitive to the needs of poverty locally and globally; yet it does not work to bury them with an overwhelming flood of statistics. I read some articles about a movement in the UK that called people to live on $2 a day for a week in order to better understand the dilemma of poverty. The article stated the World Bank and United Nations say that people in developing countries can be defined as living in poverty when they have to live on less than $2 a day spread over the course of a year. The World Bank estimated in 1998 (10 years ago) that 2.8 billion people in the world lived on less than $2 a day, mostly in developing countries.
These statistics are difficult to grasp when we’re accustomed to spending more than $2 on a latte at Starbucks! I wanted to figure out a new way for my students really to have to struggle with the enormity of this issue in a tangible way. Experience told me the best way to do this would be to immerse myself in a Third World context, but how could I get 50 students overseas?
Some brainstorming and prayer with a creative and mature student bred an idea we eventually called To Whom. A repeated verse in our youth ministry always has been one taken from Jesus in
The student and I mapped out an idea that called as many of our youth as possible to sign up and pledge to live on $2 a day for two days. It was not a “mandatory” event, but we termed this event a “poverty experience.” We figured out a menu that mimicked, as best as possible, the nutritional contents of a typical Third World diet, and it added up perfectly to $2 a day per person. Because living on $2 used up our “budget,” participants also had to pledge to fast from all luxuries: no electronics of any kind, hot water, driving (or being driven), no money spent on entertainment… Each person had to sleep on the floor rather than in his or her own bed, as well as commit to no complaining.
As we promoted this event, I held my breath. The month previously, we had taken 85 students to summer camp. After that annual event, our church families usually take their vacations; so, I anticipated about 15 students going with us. Nothing about this activity remotely sounded “fun.” Imagine my shock when 40 committed to participate!
The night before To Whom, my summer intern and I bought the food. Then, he rounded up a group of students to pack each student’s food bags, filled with peanut butter sandwiches on white bread, bags of uncooked oatmeal and rice and some fruit, nuts, tortillas and beans. I wondered silently if this really would work.
We decided to run the event from Saturday morning through Sunday night. Students were required to spend at least two hours by themselves during this time. We provided four brief articles (one page each) about various issues of social justice for them to read in their solo time with a booklet for notes and tow devotions, one for each day. We encouraged them to keep all family commitments they might have during the time; rather, we asked them to forgo whatever food was being served and to explain, if asked, why they were abstaining. Finally, we told them the goal was to do the best they could. If they could not complete the commitments they made, they were to note that, sharing their reflections with the group when we debriefed.
Many fun images scroll through my mind as I think about To Whom. My favorite one was at the beginning. Normally, a youth event starts off with a stream of SUV’s pulling in and out of the church parking lot, van doors sliding open and slamming shut. Yet, this Saturday morning was quiet as student after student pulled up on an old bike or beach cruiser. The parking lot looked like a paper boy convention!
We shared bowls of cereal and bananas before we spent some time singing and praying. A speaker came and shared a video from a fantastic organization called Lifewater that informed our students about the pressing health issues related to unsanitary water throughout the world. We played a few more games that helped them engage with some of the heartbreaking statistics about world poverty, distributed their food bags, and sent them off on their two-day assignment.
I gritted my teeth as they left. Could they do this? Could I do this?? Furthermore, would they gain anything from it? The hot afternoon made my cold shower manageable, and years of sleeping on the floor during various youth events must have made me sturdy. I felt like I should be suffering more. Sure, things got a little quiet for a Saturday night when I couldn’t watch a movie, but a night at home reading, without my cell phone ringing or vibrating, was a welcome change.
Our church meets in the afternoon because we rent facilities from another church, so we planned on breaking our fast from luxuries together at dinner after church. I admit my eyes crossed a bit from hunger (or hypoglycemia!) during church, and visions of spaghetti danced in my head once or twice during the sermon. It was comical to hear students talk during the service as they strained not to allow their conversation be plaintive.
Overall, our dinner and reflection time was wonderful. At first, I was nervous when I heard some of our boys stayed out all night, approaching the whole activity more like an episode of “Survivor” than as a poverty experience. In hindsight, I should have kept my cell phone on during the activity in case parents had questions or there was an emergency. Nevertheless, the students’ reflections were fascinating:
• I took the bus to an appointment I had to keep. I hadn’t taken a bus since I was 12 years old. I noticed every person on the bus had “something going on” — he or she was either homeless, mentally disabled, elderly or speaking a language other than English. I definitely did not see anyone I knew.
• At first I thought it was so fun to spend all day with my friends, hanging out at the beach in the sunshine. I didn’t think this whole thing was that hard. Then I realized that if I truly was living on $2 day, I would not be lying around on the beach. I would be working in the hot sun, even though I was really hungry.
• A bunch of us spent the night at (a girl’s) house. We rode our bikes there and laughed the whole way. When we arrived we said, “So what are we going to do now?” One girl said, “Let’s go to the movies! Oh, wait, we can’t do that…” “Let’s drive to the mall… oh wait, we can’t do that either…” We listed several things and realized they all involved spending money or using expensive electronics. It took us 15 minutes to figure out we could just go watch the sunset! Even then, one girl said she wished she had her cell phone to take a picture of it. I was so shocked to realize we did not know how to hang out and create our own fun simply by being together.
The litmus test of effectiveness for me was whether students bring up an event later. I am thankful that throughout the school year several students regularly asked when we were doing To Whom again. Out of the event, some of our small-group Bible studies took up various social justice issues because their awareness had been heightened by To Whom. Best of all, some of our youth want us to put on To Whom again, but this time as an outreach, because they had several friends who are not believers who were very interested in the whole thing.
Let’s not forget: “To whom much is given, much more will be required.” I pray we will continue to look for ways to be stewards of the profound gifts we have received.
