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Our Mission to Youth
Captain CLIVE ADAMS, International Headquarters
A paper prepared for the European Zonal Conference. The views expressed may sometimes reflect the fact that they were concentrating on the European situation.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE for our youth work to experience phenomenal growth in the next 20 years? Everyone is agreed about the theory: The secret to future survival / success lies with the youth.
The reality is frequently different.
For example, the expenditure of programme and personnel, for whatever reasons, is disproportionate to the theory. Many of our young, more energetic, more idealistic workers are engaged in maintaining a status quo that is a constant denial of the theory. Consequently, for many young people, the image is wrong; the role models seem uninspiring.
I was asked to address two questions in this paper:
1. How can we harness and use the energy, vision and idealism of our youth?
2. How can we reach today's 'Youth Culture'?
These questions focus on the two aspects of this subject:
Retaining our youth / Reaching the youth.
To begin to answer them, it is essential that we answer another: What is the primary reason for our existence -
Discipling the lost or Preserving the status quo?
The way we answer this question affects our whole approach to the subject of our mission to youth. It affects not only our methods, but more importantly, our motivation. Salvationists often miss the very significant difference in focus which these two goals represent.
Retaining or restraining
General Rader speaks about the three ways in which any Salvationist relates to The Salvation Army: as a cause, as a community and as a corporation. When we fail to appreciate the differences inherent in these aspects of Salvationism we become confused about our relationship to the movement and the mission. Thus, a 'corporation-issue' (such as uniform style, to use a predictable, and trivial example) can be mistaken for a 'cause-issue', and whether we wear a bonnet or not becomes a measure of our commitment to the mission.
When this is not clarified in our thinking, the focus can become, not retaining of our youth, but the restraining of our youth. (How can we rope youth into commitment to service in the Army'? How can we get youth to fit into our system and structure?) Depending on your agenda (cause or corporation? see also p.323), the way you address the concept of mission will differ accordingly. Today, particularly in the western world, there is a polarization between radicals and traditionalists.
Traditionalists argue that the Army's identity and image are inextricably linked to its mission. Tampering with our identity, changing the image will affect our focus and consequently our mission.
Radicals claim the military metaphor is not always culturally relevant. Imagery has left reality behind. Middle-class suburbanites, in officer mess-type uniforms (as opposed to battle fatigues), sing about being in the vanguard of the war before returning to comfortable, unruffled, peaceful existences. It doesn't ring true for the spectators, and often, not for the singers either.
Between these extremes are a spectrum of opinions which contribute to the confusion of many Salvationists, and would-be Salvationists about their identity and mission. Two of the problems facing us are:
1. We are experiencing culture shock
Someone has said: 'Attending a meeting, or just entering an Army hall can be an exercise in time-travel - backwards!'
We do not speak the same language as the youth;
We do not share the same interests as the youth;
We are not searching for the same answers as the youth.
Thus, the needs of the youth are not being addressed, the status quo becomes irrelevant - and therefore unattractive - and communication is effectively blocked. Sue Ranald, a British Christian vocal artist, says:
The youth may not be rejecting Jesus, just the cultural packing he is wrapped in.
Captain Terry Camsey, United Kingdom Territory Church Growth and Planned Giving Secretary, expresses a similar thought in a recent article:
If the wrapper is unattractive, we should not be surprised if the unsaved are not interested in undoing the wrapping.
2. We are experiencing what Alvin Toffler calls future shock'
We are out of our depth culturally and have not coped with change. Our methods are dated - compare the music many young people sing in our meetings (even in their own groups!) to the music they listen to and enjoy! Our image is dated - the military metaphor is hard to accept in an anti-war society.
Part of the answer lies in the aspect of relevance. Booth-Tucker set a fine example which missiologists agree with today: Assume the attire and lifestyle of the local culture in order to reach them.
City Missions expert, Michael Eastman, says:
The demands of mission among and with those who are geographically close but culturally distant is as challenging and urgent as that in other lands.
The Army was born in the midst of a society which believed in order, military might, uniformity and acceptance of authority. Such attitudes shaped the leadership structure of society in general, and of the Army in particular.
An organization that disempowers
Post-modern society rejects many of these values in the face of society's past, spectacular failures. The continual wars of this century, coupled with the collapse of fundamental values in society have prompted young people to be suspicious. There is scepticism about hierarchical structures and opposition to institutionalized authority. Respect for authority cannot be placed in a position or title: it has to be earned by the incumbent. Yet we are expecting our youth to commit to an organization that still disempowers them by failing to involve them in the decision-making process.
Ironically, many of these talented, resourceful young people are being given just that kind of empowerment and responsibility in their vocational pursuits.
Non-consultative leadership on the one hand, and non-participation on advisory boards and the like, on the other, makes it difficult for young people to 'own' the organization. So, how can we keep them?
The answer is not simple. If it were, it would have been found long ago, and we'd be enjoying much greater success than we are now. One difficulty lies in the fact that cultures vary so significantly. What's effective and relevant in St Petersburg may be archaic and meaningless in Santiago.
However, I believe certain key principles could be adopted despite such cultural divides and differences - principles which may go some way to alleviate the problems we are facing.
1. Acceptance
The knowledge that young people are loved and valued unconditionally (a sense of belonging to the community), regardless of whether they sport a baseball cap or a bandsman's cap, whether their hair is close-cropped or shoulder-length, is an important factor in any formula for success. The congregations that are keeping their youth invariably display this kind of acceptance.
Some 60 years ago, Brengle prophesied:
The Army is so thoroughly organized and disciplined it is unlikely to perish as an organization, but it will become a spiritually dead thing if love leaks out. Love is the life of the Army - if the future is to be glorious, we must [love].'
2. Education
Discipleship is an area that arguably has been neglected over the years. We have been efficient at training our young people to play and sing. Nevertheless, young people are not trained to be committed to the mission, and are not equipped to participate.
In many respects, I believe this is a legacy from our earliest beginnings. Booth had no intention of starting a new denomination. He was an evangelist whose mission was to the lost. His original intention was to set up a mission that could serve and feed the existing churches. 'GO for souls and go for the worst' was the cry of an evangelist.
As it became apparent that the churches were as disinterested in receiving the new Christians as the new Christians were in joining, Booth changed his focus, and seeing the potential of his converts being used in the mission, gathered them around him. The rest is history.
However, for many the original idea of winning the lost remains the goal, and while this is a vital part of our mission, it is my contention that, with a shift of focus when we became a denomination, the mission changed, or should have - to discipling the lost!
This is a subtle, but important difference. No longer should it have been sufficient to place the new convert in the ring to testify or, as often happened later, to supply a few copies of The War Cry or a drum stick and set them to charge off and win the next perishing soul. While we have seen improvement in the programme for new converts, I fear that discipling is still a weak area, partly because of our mind-set.
3. Empowerment
Involvement in decision-making and participation in dialogue is a key to finding solutions for present problems. Lip-service about the value of youth to the movement must be seen to be replaced at the highest level with action. How many territorial advisory boards boast members under 30? Or even under 40? People who are gifted and skilled as leaders and visionaries should be entrusted to be part of the decision-making process at all levels of Army operations.
4. Integration
Youth experts claim that the multi-generational congregation, where everyone participates, where everyone is catered for and everyone shares in worship and celebration, is one of the secrets to retaining youth.
Focus on the family, rather than exclusively on children will help to alleviate the problem of fall-out in early teens. Otherwise, children develop an understanding that the 'church thing' is what kids do, while grown-ups do something else.
Aspects such as styles of worship and music should be flexible and adapted to the local needs. This was one of the features of Booth's Army - they had meetings that the locals enjoyed and could relate to.
5. Investment
A greater proportion of our resources should be invested in diagnostic and developmental work among children and youth.
For example, given the choice between appointing a youth worker in a corps that needs one and can afford one, or a corps officer where the work is concentrated on elderly people in a place where prospects for future development among young people are limited, the choice should more often than not be for the youth worker.
The present situation, where many corps officers spend a disproportionate amount of their time ministering to the mature people in their 'parish' at the expense of the younger people in the corps and community, should be redressed.
6. Programmes
The 17-30 age group is frequently neglected in corps programmes. In fact, strategy for involving this group into the community of the corps is a neglected area in many territorial youth programmes. They may be adults and should be treated as such. However, their needs are quite different from those who are younger and, more importantly, different from those in their thirties who have usually settled to a greater degree.
Giving the late teens and twenties a sense of purpose and a feeling that they have a part to play in the overall mission of the movement should be one of our chief priorities.
How can we reach the youth 'out there'?
Again, the answer is far from simple.
Yet two elements should be ingredients in whatever programme we elect to follow.
'Street-cred'
Young people must feel that the Army knows where they are coming from and understands them. If we fail to convince them of this, we will not be allowed to get close enough to be significant to them.
Perhaps the Army needs to take a leaf out of the book of some sporting associations in England who recognize that though they 'invented' such sports as football (soccer), cricket and rugby, they have fallen far behind the opposition in terms of effectiveness where it matters - on the pitch! They have started looking at appointing leaders with 'street-cred' who know what is happening in other countries and have the confidence of the present generation of players.
We, the Army, 're-invented' aggressive evangelism, but in many respects have been outstripped by 'new(er)-comers'.
They have learnt the invaluable art of adapting to present-day conditions, and are reaping success.
Cultural relevance
The needs are really the same. The truth is the same. But the message has to be dressed in clothes suitable for the occasion.
To return to the sporting analogy: It is 30 years since England hosted a major football competition. Significantly, the manager of the present team has seen fit to move away from the playing system based on the last time England enjoyed success - 30 years ago! In those 30 years, other nations have evolved styles that have exposed the limitations of the English style repeatedly. It is the same game, with the same objectives, but the methods have had to change.
Ray Fields, a public relations expert, said: 'If it ain't bust, bust it!'
In other words, no method is so good that we cannot improve and adapt it to changing needs.
Terry Camsey speaks of the importance of maintaining the impetus, energy and vision of the movement by its constant, generational renewal. The older it gets, the more difficulty it has adapting to change. As he puts it: The chicken does not produce a chicken, but an egg. The next generation does not necessarily resemble the 'parent' at birth. It may grow up to resemble the parent, as an egg becomes a chicken, but it does not have to start out like that.
Perhaps we have to begin to accept the possibility of an Army that does not resemble the Army that we love and recognize and in which we feel comfortable
But that Army - if it has the life and vitality to relate to the culture and needs of the present day and the coming century in the same way as Booth's Army related to the world of his day - that Army is the one upon which we should pin the hope of our future.
Captain Clive Adams describes himself as 'a sports fanatic who loves to see England suffer'. He writes poetry, is South African, and Marianne, his wife, is Norwegian. They have two children.
Following a period in corps work in UK and Southern Africa he became assistant to the DC, Zululand; then came training work, followed by an appointment as DYS in Norway. The Adamses are the International Youth Forum Co-ordinators.
