OUTSIDE IN MISSION REPORT

A group of third year youth major students from Baptist Theological College spent a weekend exploring various spheres of youth culture recently. Our aim was to find out where young people congregate, determine whether youth pastors can make contact with them there, and begin to formulate strategies for evangelising youth on their turf.

This concept was sparked by reading material written by Pete Ward who suggests there are two disciplines in youth ministry. The first is the more common discipline followed by youth pastors, called "Inside-out." Here the youth pastor works with churched youth, the nucleus, through which they reach unchurched youth. The second discipline, "Outside-In" involves working with unchurched youth on their turf with the ultimate aim of integrating them into the local church.

During this suburban mission weekend the students e decided to spend time exploring "Outside In" youth ministry. Three spheres were chosen: (1) Rave Club; (2) Blade Park and (3) Shopping Mall. The following insights were gained:

1. Rave Club
We gathered on Friday night at 7pm and spent some time researching various aspects of rave culture from articles published on the Internet. We explored the essence of rave culture, the music styles, the drug connection, the spirituality of raves and the structure of raves.

A. What We Experienced
We left for the rave club Krypton in Rosebank just outside Johannesburg's city center at around 10pm. The club was pretty empty at this stage, but swiftly began to fill up towards 11pm. The things we discovered include: (1) Dancing - people danced everywhere - there was a dance floor but this did not limit where people danced. People danced together (in pairs, small groups and bigger groups) and individually. (2) Music - the music was loud and fast, it actually seemed to change the pace of your heart beat. (3) DJ - the DJ e controlled the whole event. He built things up to a near climax and then took it down. The later it got, the louder and more intensive the music became. The music was not from dance tracks, or commercial songs, but created by the DJ with electronic equipment which allowed him to control the experience. (4) Drugs - the widespread use of drugs was a real shock to us. People were openly using drugs all around us. Many could not have danced at the speed they did, and for so many hours, unless they were high. People were rolling dagga joint and the smell of dagga was heavy in the air. One student saw a girl buy a packet of tablets over the bar counter and others were sniffing substances in small groups. By 2am, the impact of the drugs was evident in the way people looked. (5) Touch - people were very touch. People on the dance floor and all around the club were freely touching each other. There was a remarkable sense of unity and harmony in the club. There were no feeling of danger when you bumped into someone or made eye contact - the sense of love and friendship was unbelievable. Despite the heavy music, one came away without any feelings of anger, as is the case with some styles of music. The essence of rave, PLUR (peace, love, unity and respect) was evident in every aspect of the rave. (6) Fashion - although there is clearly a rave fashion, many people were dressed in a very un-rave manner. Yet, no-one seemed to care. There were no up-and-down-check-you-out-glances being shared. Again, you were simply accepted in the event, despite who you were or what you looked like. The one thing that we noted was the amount of flesh on display. Many girls were dressed in bikini costume tops with low cut pants, or very short mini skirts. Even the guys (this was a gay-friendly club) took their shirts off on the dance floor.

B. How We Ministered
We simply observed the scene during the evening. The students who spent some time on the dance floor came closer to being integrated into the actual rave scene, but otherwise, the rest of us were spectators of the experience. There was little opportunity to engage in conversation with people - in fact, the whole environment does not lend itself to conversing with people due to the volume of the music.

C. How We Could Minister
We came away wondering how a youthworker could do more than create a presence within the club itself. Possibly there would be an opportunity for a youthworker to get to know people if he/she attended each week, but we seriously questioned the suitability of trying to minister inside the club. Possibly more could be done outside the club where people hung around during the evening. There is also the danger for youthworkers ministering in an environment which is geared to breaking down inhibitions and creating a group experience (which though individualistic and selfish, is still a communal experience). Youthworkers who are not beyond sexual temptation, and not secure in their own relationships would have difficulty keeping themselves safe within the rave club. We wondered whether a married couple would be able to overcome some of the dangers.

2. Blade Park
On Saturday morning the students spent the morning at Skate World - a roller blade park on the East of Johannesburg. Some of us are involved in using roller blading to make contact with youth. The blade park consisted of two parts: a roller hockey rink and ramps for trick skating. We put our blades on and made our way to the trick section. While some of us have done a fair amount of blading, none of us attempted tricks on the ramps at first.

A. What We Experienced
We met a number of young people who are regulars at the blade park and almost immediately were engaged in conversation with them. One of them was known to one of the students and that probably helped the bladers to warm to these strangers who, though not teenagers, were invading their turf. Their response to us was warm, friendly and they were most willing to help us learn how to blade up and down ramps. After most we had risked life and limb (believe me the concrete was rather hard) under the tutoring of the bladers, we had learnt their names and were engaged in significant conversations. One of the students asked, as he stood waiting to pluck up the courage to blade down a ramp, whether prayer would help - to which a female blader said, "no, God is not interested in blading". Some indication was already seen of how significant conversations would develop if such contact was continued. We were invited to play roller hockey with a group of bladers - an invitation which was readily accepted. For over an hour we played in teams that were a mixture of students and youth. We got to know the youth better and developed a sense of unity in our each teams.

B. How We Ministered
We found that putting on roller blades and approach the bladers as learners created an immediate openness with them. They were more than willing to act as teachers to the adults who were on their turf. There was enough opportunity to question youth as we sat around watching one of the students pluck up the courage to attempt a new trick. All barriers seemed to vanish as we engaged in a mutually enjoyable activity. The roller hockey took our contact to a greater depth as we became one with the bladers through team identity.

C. How We Could Minister
All of the students came away saying how much easier it was to identify with bladers and begin significant conversations with them than it had been in the rave club the evening before. The contrast was stark. We realised that with regular visits to the park friendships could be started and eventually the gospel shared in the process of incarnational evangelism. We noted that we had to participate in the subculture before significant relationships would begin to develop.

3. Shopping Mall
On the Saturday evening the group were given clip boards with survey forms and trained in how to approach young people in a shopping mall in order to complete a survey. The aim during this evening was not to specifically evangelise youth but to find out more about youth at the mall and through observation and activity see whether it is possible to make contact with teenagers in malls. The questions in the survey consisted of the following in order: How often do you visit the mall? What do you do here? What is your favourite song, tv show, movie and magazine and why? What is great about your life at the moment? Do you go to church, if so, what church and how often? If you could design a church, what would it be like? What one thing concerns you the most about life at the moment? If you had one question to ask, what would it be and who would you ask it of?

A. What We Experienced
Many of us wondered whether young people would allow an adult to stop them in a mall to ask them to complete a survey. Surprisingly, only one person said them were not able to stop, and this was because they had movie tickets to collect. Young people were more than will to spend time sharing with us. Many times, more than one person in a group of young people wanted to have us record their ideas.

Through the surveys we discovered that youth attend the mall regularly. They do so in order to hang out with their friends or engage in the activities that the mall provides, such as movies, shopping, playing arcade games, etc. We discovered that youth have criticisms about the church, specifically in terms of the way sermons are delivered. They are also open to sharing about their own concerns, many expressing their concern about crime and violence in the country. When asked about the one question that they would ask, most often the question involved meaning in life or ultimate destiny. Most said that they would like to ask God for the answers to these questions.

B. How We Ministered
There were many opportunities to engage young people in significant conversations at the mall. They would make statements about life or issues that concerned them which were openers for further dialogue. We e only managed to get through about half a dozen surveys in an hour - some indication of how long we were engaged in conversation with each person or group of youth.

C. How We Could Minister
We came away realising that many of the young people we met are regular mall goers. In fact one group of youth called themselves, mall rats - they regularly hang out at the mall. If youthworkers were to create a presence in the mall on a regular basis it would lead to significant contact and they would be able to build relationships with youth as they seemed most open to share with adults who were interested in their world. The strength of the survey was that it allowed youth to share about their lives, their thoughts, and concerns. They were the teachers and we were the learners during the time together. Many of the young people who hangout at the mall are there every weekend. If leaders had regular contact with youth at the mall they would be able to make contact, develop extended contact which would lead to proclamation and nurture!