YOUTH IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
A Research Project: Part 1

During the week of the 17th - 22nd May 2000 it was my privilege to set up a week of research with two youth major students Brad Kurth and Richard Garton). We set up a number of appointments with people involved in relating to youth in South Africa; and we reviewed two movies. The following transcripts and summaries hopefully capture something of the heart of what we discovered. A list of common themes is presented later in the document.

INDEX
Koki Seshabela (South African Association of Youth Clubs)
Kevin Webb (Tricor Marketing)
Movie Review (Human Traffic)
Darryl Toerien (The Ontological Shift Café)
Movie Review (American Beauty)
Professor Malan Nel (Institute for Contextual Ministry, Vista University, Pretoria)
Andrea Kraushaar (SMC KIDZ)
Common Themes that Emerged
Insights on Marketing to Youth

Koki Seshabela (South African Association of Youth Clubs)
Our first appointment was with the Executive Director of SAAYC, Mokoka Seshabela. Koki shared with us that the association of youth clubs is involved in the following areas: leadership training; computer labs; resource center; gender issues; life skills; exchange programme; youth and racism workshops and HIV/AIDS. They work among youth in the age category of 14-35 and are currently involved in a process of becoming more specialised at different age groups within that broad category. Koki shared how that in South Africa more youth identify themselves as part of a church group than a political group.

Apartheid created barriers between people. Koki believes that much of our difference are due to socialisation – the different world views are more about how we have been taught to behave than about intrinsic differences within people. Today you will not find a White person who supported Apartheid; and some Whites carry blame for things that were not their fault (they were as much victims of the system as Blacks were). He shared that this is the country in Africa with the most White folk (over 11 million) and that Whites have largely not taken other culture groups with them as they have developed. White youth have been advantaged in that they had better education which helps to expand one's horizons.

He spoke of how this universe is stressed. The external factors are no longer solving inward realities. The main problem in SA is moral decay. In the Black context, youth are flocking to churches, both to the new Charismatic churches and the traditional churches. Youth are heterogeneous: there is incredible diversity among youth. If we are going to understand youth we must see them in the context of their family – only then can we understand their needs. Youth in politics are not willing to invest in their own development. They want everything handed to them on a plate. Youth in a church context seem more willing to pay for their development. We must engage in community youth development rather than dealing with youth in isolation – we must treat youth as stakeholders in society. Youth must be active participants in our programmes. Youth have two disadvantages: (1) they think they know everything; and (2) they think they will last forever. Koki shared that one of their main aims is to fast-track integration. People are still largely separated in South Africa.

When we asked Koki how we should work with youth he said: (1) We must be ourselves – we cannot be fake. (2) We must not be too rigid in the way that we work with youth – there must be give and take. (3) Peer education is important but it has limitations - we still need educators, adults who can guide youth. (4) Our aim should be to help youth improve the quality of their lives. We must help them with knowledge (some need to be sent back to school; with skills (we must help them write CV's; teach them how to do tasks; teach them economics and entrepreneurial skills); and with exposure to new opportunities. (5) We must use events, but they must relate to a process and not be an end in themselves (we must keep contact with youth after events and follow up with them). (6) We should not separate youth ministry and youth work – they should not operate in isolation from each other. Social and spiritual issue relate to the whole being of a person. We in our integrated approach, there is room for specialists who handle different areas.

As we reflected on our time with Koki, we identified the following key points: (1) We must recognise diversity – youth accept the reality of diversity and are living in a world far more diverse than what many of us grew up in. Koki's statement is critical: "youth are heterogeneous." We must be careful of projecting our ideas and concepts of life on to youth. (2) We must avoid making blanked statements – with diversity we have to be careful of extrapolating tends and descriptions to all youth. There is almost nothing that we can say about youth that s a valid generalisation, except that they are young! (3) We need to hold the social and the spiritual in tension. We discussed afterwards whether we should pursue a spiritual sociality; or a social spirituality in the way we minister among youth. In the church we must primarily focus on the spiritual side, a relationship with Christ is our primary goal, but we must broaden our definition of how that is done. For example, building up self esteem in youth so they can get a job can be a tool to connect the person into a relationship with Christ.

Kevin Webb (Tricor Marketing)
The next meeting was with Dr Kevin Webb, the managing director of Ixesha/Tricor Marketing. Kevin shared that we are an incredibly diverse country with 11 official languages and over 200 dialects. Tricor divide the country into three market segments: Urban (the average urban youth can speak and understand 6 languages); Peri-urban (they can speak and understand 2 languages) and Rural (they speak 1 local dialect). 68% of Peri-urban and rural people live under the breadline. He shared that modern marketers concentrate on urban people using TV/Radio and face-to-face media. They target an area, recruit people and take a brand message to people through multi-sensory marketing. They believe in face-to-face marketing where they use word of mouth, story telling, fables (if you can relate a fable to a product you have a winning combination) and sensory stimulation to sell their product. They use graphic demonstrations of their products to prove that their product works – this experience based approach is effective.

They have a big emphasis on symbolism. In South Africa there was a lost generation between 1974 and 1980 where there was a six year gap of no schooling. Prior to '74 there was Bantu education which on average gave people a standard 2 schooling. At present, 58% of the population live in rural areas – and are largely illiterate. So posters and advertising boards without graphics are useless.

In urban areas they use direct marking, where they go straight to the customer with their product. They have found that the more senses you can stimulate the more chance you have of getting people to buy your product. But, the inherent quality of your product is also important.

They also make use of pester power – where they have noticed that kids have incredible power in influencing what adults purchase. Parents will often not say no to something that a child wants them to buy because they do not want the pain and embarrassment that comes when they go against what the child is wanting. Kevin claimed that up to 85% of all purchases are influenced by youth in some way. In South Africa, 65% of the population is under the age of 19 – kids should be our primary target – they are already spending their parents money!

Kevin said that he is finding that older teens are more accepting than they were ten years ago. They used to rebel against all authority, but now they want to be part of the system. Younger youth are much brighter that kids their age ten years ago – probably due to TV, schooling and computers. This is the first literate generation – youth baffle their parents today. They are able to make their parents change brands. When youth start changing the face of the nation there are dangers in that they can be exploited.

There is a big Americanisation trend in townships at the moment. Yet there is also xenophobia (fear of foreigners in the country). Still, people are embracing America more and more. The African renaissance is leading to further product infiltration from the States and Europe in Africa.

Kevin presented a model that showed the forces that operate when people make decisions. At the centre of seven concentric circles is the Ego; then comes Intimate (like a spouse); then Family; then Social; then Community; then Nation and finally World. When people change their mind it is normally caused by factors that operate within themselves. Black culture is community-based; even socialist at heart. Black folk battle to move from the community level to the national and have an even greater struggle moving from Nation to World.

We ended by chatting about how we need to market our product as Christians. We must get our product out to people. The church is sitting on the product and not taking it to the people. We need more direct marketing methods in the church. We have to attract attention; then create a generic message that will be applicable to all people and finally take it to the people – not expect them to come to us. Maybe we don't believe in our product and that is why we are hesitant to take it out to people. Secularisation and pluralism have also made us hesitant to take our message out. We must do market research first and then market the product through aggressive marketing. There are six elements to consider: (1) Product – we have the gospel to deliver; (2) Place (we must go to people with the product); (3) Promotion (we must put more effort into publicity and promotions that we do at present); (4) Price (we are guilty of both over and under pricing the gospel); (5) Packaging (this is the programmes we use); and (6) Pester Power (we need peer sharing in our strategy).

Kevin told us about the Gift to the Nation campaign in New Zealand – where they wanted to get Jesus into every home in NZ. They have given the Jesus video to every home with a copy of the four spiritual laws; a contact number of a local church and a hot line to call. They realise that we cannot get people into God's house, but we can get Jesus into people's houses!

As we reflected on our meeting with Kevin, we added the following insights that either came up in the meeting or were sparked by what we had discussed: (1) The teacher's word is truth - therefore they influence kid's perceptions. (2) Marketing shapes the way people perceive their culture. (3) Marketing creates a global culture by promoting an aspect an already established culture that will appeal to the wider market. (4) There is a synthesis between originality and creativity - something marketers create new products, but other times they simply repackage and redefine older products. (5) The church believes incorrectly that promotion is unnecessary - they perceive that there is no competition in their field. This is simply no longer true.

Movie Review (Human Traffic)
Human Traffic follows a group of ravers though a weekend of raving and drugging. It shows the outlook of Nineties Youth culture as miserable. There's nothing special about the lives of the five friends (Jip; Nina, Koop, Lulu, and Moff); they're just hanging out together and showing you the way they lead their lives. There are no clear solutions, in fact very few problems in the first place. At the end of the day, what Jip and his friends are doing is living. They drink, smoke dope, pop pills and party; they know the risks and they're prepared to take them. Within this lifestyle, what first appears to be social unity, we see traces of individual isolation that are easy to bypass in a culture of hedonism. Jips paranoia of sex, Koops jealous possession of Nina and Moff as his drug habit digs him deeper into his own hole and further away from his family, asks the question 'are things really this good?'

They group work in mundane jobs, live for the weekend which they spend 'aving it large' at clubs, pubs and parties. Jip and Lulu are having problems with their relationship, Koop thinks his girlfriend Nina is sleeping around, and Moff is sorting his mates out for pills but is heading for burn-out. The film revolves around a weekend for a younger generation who feel alienated – they just want to forget about life for a few hours, or rather days.

Richard Garton one of the students on the research team wrote the following review:

The beats loud, the drugs free, reality is a dream, realness is a feeling and sex if the result of the anthem of a generation and yet an anthem that is so removed that al you can say is get out of the way, there are humans coming through.

One of the most striking features that is associated with the post-modern generation is the fact that they are craving relationships. It is clear from the movie that although this is true, in another way they don not desire real relationship. Realness has been replaced by with superficiality that has certain profoundness attached to it. Their superficiality is based on the fact that they are at heart still very individualistic. They are lost to the outside, yet are longing to feel a part of it.

The only concrete thing within the entire movie was the ecstasy that they were taking and embracing. This enabled them to reach this profoundness and yet it was the very thing that was destroying them. It seemed as if God was the ecstasy, they were the young and the parents were the churches. Their reality was such that they couldn't identify with their parents as they were so far removed from their reality.

Their existence was about an escape. It was as if Friday night was their escape. They upped it into Saturday and slowly came down into their trappedness for Monday. In a world where taught actions are the trappings and where relativity is more the superficiality than negative, the question is "where is the church?"

Maybe Faithless had it right all along: God is the DJ and the clubs are their churches. Ecstasy is their Jesus and salvation is popping it. Their scripture is weed and heir solid food alcohol. "Man shall not live on bread alone, but also by the beers and hops that accompany them."

Life it seems is impotent and one needs to relax and chill to get the rush.

Darryl Toerien (The Ontological Shift Café)
Darryl Toerien is the pastor of a new church plant that has taken place within a Methodist church. A group of twenty-something year olds have formed a new work, not called a church, but a community of faith. The Ontological Shift Café, as it is known, has the following mission: to be a community of disciples of Jesus. They believe that the two things that are not understood or experienced today are community and discipleship. Darryl stressed that most of what we think is community is actually superficial. You don't find community - you build it. The work of the 'church' is to create an experience of living in community - community that is a state of being, not based solely on events or a venue.

This is a community that has been called into being by God, and it is orientated around its mission. This is a church for postmodern youth. There is no talk of worship leader and preacher – rather they talk about singing and storytelling. They believe that Christians are supposed to penetrate into each others lives; that they must come to give more than to receive. It has taken two years to get to a place where they feel that they are starting to experience community.

Darryl shared how that they follow a concept known as a design limit. They build on sociological and theological research that suggests that people cannot enter into significant relationships with more that 100 to 150 people. Malcolm Gladwell, speaking from a secular perspective in The Tipping Point, which is a study of the way that ideas spread in society, links the examples of the company that manufactures Gore-Tex (which opens a new plant when an existing plant reaches around 150 employees) and the Hutterites (a religious sect that forms a new community when an existing community reaches 150 members) to research by a British anthropologist that indicates that 150 is the maximum number of people that: (1) anyone can know intimately enough to bond with, and; (2) in which the incubation of contagious messages can take place. Leonard Sweet, speaking from a Christian perspective in Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic, suggests 100 as the "design limit" on a community if one expects meaningful interaction between all of the members of that community to take place. The imposition of a design limit of between 100 and 150 on the horizontal growth of the community so that vertical growth within the community can take place introduces an obvious tension: How do we factor horizontal growth into our mission without exceeding our design limit?

As a result, they will not allow their community to grow beyond that number and will begin new communities when they reach that size. The end result will be a network of communities in relationship with each other.

The main weekly events are their Sunday night service and their mid-week small groups.

In being disciples of Jesus, the community stresses two aspects: in the community and outside the community. (1) Internal to community – there is two aims here: becoming disciples where a person comes to recognise Jesus as Lord and embracing the Great Commission where people come to recognise Jesus as Saviour. The key emphases in ministry are orientated around practises that will help people learn how to hold to Jesus' teaching. They believe that this will take place through the impact of lifestyle and through the influence of personality on personality. The following practises will provide a context in which this influence can happen (these are not laws or rules, but disciplines that facilitate the development of Christ in us): (a) prayer; (b) the Word (they get people to work through the whole Bible in a year; they emphasise that we cannot understand the New Testament unless we understand the Old; and they view the Bible as God's story); (c) Tithing (funds are needed to look after the community); (d) Fellowship (this happens in two contexts: in their corporate times of singing and storytelling on Sunday nights and in their midweek tribe meetings. Each tribe has a tribal leader who is responsible to shepherd the group); and (e) Communion (they come together to remember what Christ has done for them). (2) External to Community – this is the second part – where they encourage people to make disciples. They base their approach on the Great Commission: (a) Witnessing - both by speaking and living a Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins. (b) Baptizing – this is a baptism into Christ's body and into community. (c) Teaching – to obey, where people become disciples through the practises mentioned above.

Their Sunday night story telling is not just a normal three-point sermon, but a genuine use of story telling where they present God's story and help people to connect their story to God's story. People are given an object to keep with them during the week, which helps them to apply and internalise the message. The story telling is not done with neat conclusions – people are encouraged to make the connection to their own lives for themselves.

Each tribe takes a turn to lead a Sunday night service – including doing all the setting up and clearing away that is required to make a service happen.

Some other insights that arose during out time together include: (1) Church must help people make sense of the changes to a postmodern world. We must help people make a distinction between what is true and what is real. We must live what is true – let it be real in our lives, or this generation will not accept what we are offering. (2) Community involves accountability – as people become part of the community they will need to open their lives up to others – confronting weaknesses and confessing failings. (3) Postmodernism is all about pluralism and multiculturalism. (4) We must help people unlearn what they have come to understand as church, so they can learn about a deeper sense of living in community.

Darryl prepared the following detailed description of how they will become a community of disciples of Jesus in a postmodern world:

1. Internal to Community [Jesus is Lord]: Becoming disciples of Jesus by learning to hold to His teaching (Jn 8:31)

A. Discipline of Prayer: Personal; Communal
"Prayer is attunement. Our body is an instrument, tuned for the right pitch, which is God's pitch. But we all get out of tune very easily. We become out of tune with God. Part of prayer is lifting life toward God. Prayer is getting in tune with the eternal. Jesus is our tuning fork for the eternal. Jesus is God's perfect pitch. Prayer is attuning our beings to the frequencies of the Spirit until 'resonance' with the divine is reached. When we reach those rich, full registers where mysterious things happen, then something has to give, and our lives are transformed, transfigured, if you will, into the divine image. Our minds and bodies then vibrate until it's as if they have wings. When people not just individuals combine their thoughts and tune themselves together to the divine, then act in harmony on the basis of those vibrations and pulsations, there is a rhythmic entrainment of group consciousness until the church becomes literally what the Bible says it should be: the Body of Christ on planet Earth. New paradigm churches will help postmoderns develop a rich personal and communal 'prayer life' through natural ways of praying, not prayers bogged down with a slag-heap of spirit-breaking, mind-numbing jargon. It is time for some hermeneutical retrievals of the old-fashioned 'prayer meeting,' the 'concerts of prayer,' and 'prayer breakfasts.' It is also important to celebrate 'answered prayers' publicly, something already being called by some as 'thank you notes to God.'" (Sweet)

B. Discipline of the Word: Personal; Communal
"A New Light apologetic involves a postmodern relationship with the Bible, not as an object but as with a 'friend.' This is less a posture of control and 'criticism' than of listening and playing and imagining. The modern period directed its attention to how the Bible, the 'scholar's book,' could be read scientifically. It was more concerned about interpreting the Bible than with interpreting life from the standpoint of the Bible. The disciplines of both exegetical and devotional Bible study must be taught if New Light leaders are to pick out biblical passages that seem bland to the untrained eye and then peel those passages open, showing how they illumine an entire life. The postmodernist challenge is to make the scriptorial pictorial, transforming biblical images into healing metaphors that become a curative medium of meditation and prayer. … Only in the life-style of a common life, however, do the Scriptures come fully alive with the power of snares broken, cords loosened, wounds healed, and prisoners freed. There is a role for daily personal Bible study as well as for conferencing study and small group discussion. But as the Puritans liked to put it, 'The sparks are beaten forth by the flints striking together.'" (Sweet)

C. Discipline of Firstfruits
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" (Malachi). "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke).

D. Discipline of Fellowship: Community; Tribe
Singing: "Indeed, group singing and interactive musical experiences are the chief communifying forces in the postmodern era. … In the past, church was a 'tuning' place where people could sing, chant, and intone together, thereby tuning their mindbodyspirits to their families (in this way the family could be 'in tune with itself'), their village community, and their geographical place and time in history. A life silent of 'joyful noises unto the Lord,' or a worship life where others (whether choirs or soloists) make those noises for you, is a life lived out of tune; we become out of tune physically, mentally, morally, spiritually, and socially. Through the resonant fields created by liturgy, the whole person comes together and becomes alive through music, and from the heat of that aliveness individuals weld together to form a community. Singing in worship is indispensable, because it is by singing that we tune ourselves to each other, and tuned together we then turn to God and tune ourselves to the music that is God. It is by singing that we become a vibrating community, resonating with the divine music of the spheres." (Sweet). Storytelling: "Without a story, one is without a self, and without a community. Story is the beginning and continuum of community, for it is by adding voice upon voice to story upon story that communities are built. In fact, a 'narrative culture' is perhaps the most succinct definition of a 'community.' The development of a moral life depends on one's capacity to hear and tell significant stories. The church needs postmodern storytellers who will see themselves as 'wordsmiths' and 'imagesmiths' or what I call gardeners of words (and word-processors); storytellers as 'image builders' or what I call gardeners of images (and gardeners of omni-media); storytellers as 'world builders' or what I call gardeners of a new world that is struggling to be born through our stories: 'This is my story, this is my song.'" (Sweet)

E. Discipline of Remembering
"Jesus' ministry was characterized by what scholars call 'fellowship meals.' The Last Supper was the last of this series of 'fellowship meals.' Biblical scholar James D. G. Dunn wonders whether the transformation of the common 'Last Supper' into the ritual act of 'The Eucharist' and its separation from the context of an actual meal table in the home hosted by the head of the 'house church' did not 'mark the loss of a dimension of fellowship, common participation which was a central force of Christian beginnings.' Can we bring back the 'Lord's Supper' as a community celebration, not simply an ecclesiastical performance?" (Sweet)

F. Discipline of the Commission [Jesus as Saviour]

2. External to Community [Jesus is Saviour]: Making disciples of Jesus by carrying out His commission (Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15,16; Lk 24:46-48). This involves: (a) Preaching, through word and deed, the gospel [good news] of repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus. (b) Baptizing those who believe the gospel in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (c) Teaching those who are baptized to obey all that Jesus has commanded us.

On the Sunday night we attended a community service at the Ontological Shift Café. We had already anticipated on the basis of our interact with Darryl that we would discover a church that is breaking new grounds in their desire to reconfigure themselves for a postmodern world. We were therefore not surprised to discover that in many instances they were doing just that. The set up went some way towards being a café and the story teller made a genuine attempt to relate to the audience in a fresh way. While it is easy to criticise what others are doing when we are not doing much ourselves, we did find that the service still had a very modern feel. We suspected that the main leader (Darryl) was actually way ahead of the rest of the leaders and that they have a way to go before they develop a true postmodern service. It seems like they are still trying to cater too much for people who are journeying with them, and who have not yet made the shift to a postmodern paradigm. At some point they will need to decide whether they truly want to be a postmodern church, and then set out to become one in all aspects. For example, there was too much explanation on the evening - too much of the communication was modern in orientation. People must leave a service questioning something. The highlight of the evening was a short word that Darryl brought in which he stood up and shared that he believed God was wanting to say something to the community. A dance track played in the back ground and a voice shared about how society needs rites of passage for youth - otherwise it is sick. We thought that the way in which the singing, offering and announcements were done was very traditional and new approaches could be found.

Movie Review (American Beauty) (HollywoodJesus Review)
This film gives a glimpse into the spiritual poverty of affluence. It shows how self-centeredness is able to destroys relationships, family and community. Behind the calm appearance of a middle class suburb we find a chaotic world. The father of a 'normal' family, Lester Burnham, decides to make a few changes to his life which he comes to realise is stuck in a rut. As he becomes happier (after quitting his job and taking a job at the equivalent of McDonalds) his wife gets more angry and when he turns his attentions onto his daughters friend, Angela, his daughter is resentful. When a troubled family moves in next door (the father is a strict Marine officer, while the wife is just vacant) the son, Ricky, develops an obsession for Jane. The film mirrors the disconnectedness between families and friends in society today. While people spend their time wanting and needing meaningful relationships, they are not able to appreciate those that are right in front of them. We are left wondering why it is that families can have an appearance of being happy while they are actually unhappy, and emotionally disconnected.

The film is narrated from the point of view of the father who is on the other side of the grave and is recounting his last day on earth. He is trying to tell us what is really important in life – but it is too late for him to appreciate what he was missing.

The film makes a connection between hate and lust. The wife ends up sleeping with a competitor that she hates – she can't beat him professionally, so she sleeps with him. The film also shows how that happiness is such an illusive commodity.

The only truly human person in the film turns out to be the peeping tom next door neighbour who is also a drug dealer. He is on a quest for truth and is a keen observer of others. He is someone who cares.

The Burnams lives in a typical middle class suburban home. They may eat together but there is incredible distance between them. The husband and wife are intimate strangers. The daughter finds a soul mate in the boy next boor. Her boy friend seeks truth through video images; and video becomes are catalyst to express here deepest thoughts, needs and pains. Her boy friend has a controlling and abusive father making an honest relationship impossible.

The film speaks loudly about our desire for connectness, for intimacy and for relationship. Yet it remains an illusive commodity. People spend so much time living up to appearances, they are so wrapped up in their careers that they do not recognise that sitting right under their noses is that which is most important: family and friendships.

Reflections and application to ministry: (1) Heroes are people who have lived their passion - we can think of people like Bill Gates and Richard Branson. In the movie Lester Burnham decides after years of working outside of his passion, that he is going to follow his passion. Interestingly enough he is influenced in this direction by young Rick who is living his passion. Passion leads to productivity. (2) Ricky's dad is a closet homosexual - his conflict with Ricky over his miconception that his son is homosexual is a cover up for his own repressed homosexuality. The scene where he knocks Ricky to the ground and where Ricky leaves home, could be seen as a picture of what is happening as the modern and postmodern churches meet. Although Ricky is not homosexual, but his dad is, his dad is fighting strongly for a reality that is not his own. In the same way the modern church is fighting the characteristics of the postmodern church rather than embracing them. As people break out and enter into postmodernism they may find that the modern church tried to 'kill' them. (3) The fundamental way in which people interact with the world is changing: "I can't see the world as you see it!"

Professor Malan Nel (Institute for Contextual Ministry, Vista University, Pretoria)
Professor Nel is the head of the Institute for Contextual Ministry, an organisation attached to Vista University. He shared how he believes that we are in the midst of a great change in the way young people think and act. We have not had a proper youth revolution in South Africa as yet, but could be heading towards one. The passion of youth and the wisdom of adults must somehow be integrated. One without the other is useless. His approach for ministry is an inclusive congregational approach – this is a difficult route to go, but a necessary one.

The pre-modern cultural paradigm was one in which people wanted to be told what to do. In this world parents know everything and children know nothing. He shared a model from educational theory that speaks about the move from a pre-figurative society, to a post-figurative one. In a "pre-figurative" society, children learn from parents (the parents are in control of everything). In a "post-figurative" society children teach their parents (they know more than their parents do), and in a "co-figurative" society (adults and youth learn from each other). Modernism fits well with the pre-figurative society approach. The best approach is the co-figurative one.

Postmodernism is heading towards a relative destination. For Christians the destination is a person – it is Christ. If we rationalise our understanding of God (a strategy that worked well in modernism) we will be in big trouble - we must connect people to a personal God. In fact, we need to get out of the way so that people can see the beautiful person of Christ. Youth don't like Christ because they confuse what they don't like in us with Christ.

Modernism was anti-spiritual in its outlook. Only things that could be proved by science rationally could be believed. In postmodernism we have a reactionary paradigm – the pendulum has swung to a strong openness to the spiritual and the supernatural. The swing of the pendulum will be excessively emotional – where anything beyond the natural is acceptable – what was previously suppressed is now coming to the surface. In modernism people over-defined God – in fact, they overly defined every area of ministry. Postmodernism allows for the unexplained (quantum physics is the ultimate postmodern science). In postmodernism there is a desire to know God in a more relational and experiential way. While modernism defines interaction with God, postmodernism frees people to interact with God.

Looking ahead, Professor Nel says that the future of how we will respond as Christians in a postmodern context will involve a lot of experimentation as we try to interact with a new world; and it will require that we stay together (community) – if we work together we will be able to accomplish more than if we work alone.

We need to train people to discern where people are at. In each context there will be mixture of worldviews. There will be those who are pre-modern, those who are modern and those who are post-modern. But more than this, there is in each of us a blend of the three paradigms: we like to be told things (pre-modern); we like to prove things and be convinced by proof (modern) and we want to stay open to learning (post-modernism). Youth live in a world in which they intersect the different worldviews all the time – from their parents, friends, school teachers and other authorities – the result is incredible tension and stress in youth today.

Professor Nel made a powerful statement when he said: "nobody changes outside of relationships!"

We ended with a warning against overly categorising people according to generations or worldviews. While researching the differences is a valid academic pursuit, we must not overplay the stereotyping that is involved. We must still meet people where they are and try not to pre-judge people according to our categories.

Reflection: We were amazed at how a senior man within the Dutch Reformed church could be so incredibly in touch with the changes taking place in society. It was a great example of what we had learned during the week about not judging a person prematurely. Professor Malan shared that he was 61 years old - and yet we found him to be right on the pulse of youth culture. His basic philosophy is that we need each other- we need to combine the wisdom of age with the passion of youth.

Andrea Kraushaar (SMC KIDZ)
Andrea Kraushaar who works for a marketing company geared exclusively to youth, shared insights about the youth market in South Africa. The following trends are significant: (1) KYOG (Kids Getting Older Younger) - this is due to changing patterns of parenting; technology; greater exposure to the world through the news and school curriculum; and media messages. (2) Fragmentation - kids participate in a number of parallel activities at the same time. (3) Globalisation - brands operating on the global scale have enormous impact. (4) Fashion - the rise of branded sports wear and casual wear is most notable. Clothes make a statement that one belongs to the right social set. (5) Food and Drink - dieting and fast-food outlets are major trends. (6) Technology - kids fragment their time by engaging in different activities simultaneously - ie. playing a computer game, while chatting online and listening to music; and youth have access to diverse means of communication - ie. cell phones, pages and home phones.

The 14-16 year age group has five shared experiences: the common schedule of the high school curriculum; the physical transformation from adolescence to adulthood; the impulse to bond with those sharing similar attitudes and preferences; the need to learn and the willingness to try new things; and the following common values: (1) integrity - they value an adherence to core-principles. Integrity is staying true and keeping it real in the face of change. (2) Passion - the energy, dedication, enthusiasm, being fervent about likes and dislikes and letting it show. (3) Attitude - teens use attitude as a defense mechanism against the rigors of the teen world.

Andrea shared how marketers use a living standard measure (LSM) - where they have designed eight levels at which people are targeted. The levels are set according to what people own and not disposable income. Level 7 and 8 is a category that includes people with satellite television, bonds, computers, etc. This groups sets the trends for people in the lower categories. Level 5 and 6 is the merging market. Level 7 and 8 kids define what is cool and level 5 and 6 kids go out and buy it.