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Notes From Youth Ministry Lab (Continued...)

May 02, 2005

Session 4 - Richard Ross

Richard discussed a new survey done to help Youth ministers better understand the religious lives of teenagers. This is by far the most extensive study done to date.

"The NSYR (The National Study of Youth and Religion) is one of the most extensive and detailed national research study on the religious and spiritual lives of U.S. teenagers to date, providing a depth of knowledge and understanding about the religious lives of U.S. adolescents that was simply not available previously."

The Lilly Endowment Inc. granted an award to conduct a national research study of U.S. adolescent religion, which brought about NSYR. They used a telephone survey of 3,370 teen-parent pairs from around the U.S. who were chosen at random. In each case a 30 minute survey was conducted with one parent and a 52 minute survey was conducted with a teenager randomly chosen from each household. To follow up they conducted 267 personal interviews out of the 3,370 respondents.

Richard shared with us 6 of the top findings in regards to teenagers and religion. Each finding I list below will state what "conventional wisdom" says and then show what the survey reveals:

I. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers typically rebel against their parents and other adults in their lives and thus reject the faith of those adults.

NSYR: The lives and faith of most teenagers closely reflect the lives, faith, culture, and institutional settings of the adult world they inhabit. They are only superficially distinct from or rebellious to the adult world. By the time they reach their twenties, most teenagers will be almost identical to their parents in terms of faith and religious practice.

II. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers reared in Christian homes and the church have a pretty fair understanding of their religious beliefs.

NSYR: The vast majority of teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about faith and practices, and its meaning or place in their lives. They find it almost impossible to put basic beliefs into words.

III. Conventional Wisdom: Church teenagers are aware that their faith and religious practices have been shaped by their homes and churches.

NSYR: Teenagers are profoundly individualistic and they believe they have developed their faith and practices almost entirely on heir own. They do not say that their religious upbringing influences them because they do not really believe anything influences them.

IV. Conventional Wisdom: Church families recognize the value of church life for children and therefore make it a high priority in terms of family schedules.

NSYR: The church operates in a social-structurally weak position, competing for time, energy and attention, and often losing against other more dominant demands and commitments, particularly against school, television, and other media. Parents think community organization is more crucial to the success of their teen than church.

V. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers in the church are no different than teenagers out in the community.

NSYR: Despite weaknesses and lack of importance, religious practice does indeed make a clear significant difference across all standard measurable outcomes in adolescents' lives. It clearly makes an observable difference in the quality of teen's lives, at-risk behaviors, and positive practices. Statistically teens in church are different, unfortunately parents are more concerned about their teens being in community events as seen by the previous finding.

VI. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers are getting good teaching at home.

NSYR: American teens are eminently teachable and desperately need teaching. When it comes to a number of things (school, sports, health), there is direct instruction; but when it comes to things of the faith, parents have failed to teach clearly.

Primary Source: Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton.

SBC Stats and Implications: Transforming Student Ministry: Research Calling for Change by Richard Ross

Comments

Posted by: Flip
May 6, 2005 01:00 AM

Everytime I read the words "youth ministry lab" I get the picture in my head of a huge laboratory with youth ministers locked into little cages, running around in hamster wheels

Posted by: Christopher
May 7, 2005 10:37 AM

A good description of the event Flip!