"Understanding Their Culture" by Ron Hutchcraft

"Understanding Their Culture" by Ron Hutchcraft

 Reaching the Global Youth Culture: How to Understand
and Rescue Lost Young People (Day 3 of 15) Â
They are the largest generation of young people in history, the most unreached generation in history, and the most reachable generation in history. If today's young people leave their early years without Christ, they will probably live without Christ, die without Christ, and spend eternity without Christ! No one who has answered Jesus' call to "go into all the world and preach the good news" (Mark 16:15) can ignore half the world - especially the half who are, by far, most likely to come to Christ. It's time to rescue lost young people!
Day 3 - Understanding Their Culture
Last time we found that when we let God show us the life-or-death situation our young people are in - that they will die forever if we don't get to them - we will do whatever it takes to rescue them. We will have to go where they are or they will simply go on dying. For Jesus and for us as His life-saving team, the motto of the Life-Saving Service captures our mission: We have to go out. We don't have to come back.
What do you know about their generation?
In the days when some of the Israelites were "of one mind to make David king," the "men of Issachar" were some of the key players. Living at a decisive moment in history and fighting for the rightful king to take his place, they exhibited two traits that made them "make a difference" people. It is said of the men of Issachar that they "understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chronicles 12:32).
Like them, we have been assigned by God to live at a decisive moment in history - perhaps even in the final quarter of the game. We, too, are fighting for the rightful King, Jesus, to take His place in every heart He died for. It is a time and a mission that is crying for servants of God who understand their times and, as a result, know what to do.
Nowhere are those requirements more vital than in the life of one whose heart is broken for lost young people. Because so much has changed so rapidly, we need to first try to understand who these young people are that we are being summoned to rescue. Then, we can know what it will take to rescue them. To try to understand the children of the new worldwide youth culture is to do what every effective missionary in history has done - learn about the culture of the "tribe" you want to reach so you can know what approach will reach them.
In order to prepare ourselves to impact the next generation, we need to stand back and see who they are and why they are what they are to see the needs behind their deeds. Some of that becomes apparent as we consider ten sentences that define a generation.
1. Loneliness runs deep.
No word more accurately describes most modern young people than the word "lonely." With family support systems weakened or devastated by divorce, neglect, abuse, fatherlessness, economic and political upheavals, the emotional harbor of home has become a battlefield for many. Increasing numbers of young people are, in the words of the movie title, "home alone." They spend endless hours raising themselves, often "parented" by television, music, the Internet, and their friends. Deprived of the closeness a family was supposed to provide, many young people feel very alone in the world.
Some seek a short-term sense of closeness and intimacy by getting sexually involved. Others carry their loneliness into a gang or counterculture "family" of their peers. They are starved for a loving feeling and will do almost anything to get it, and to keep it. Lonely young people are extremely vulnerable to peer pressure and destructive choices because they will do anything to feel accepted, even if it is only for a night. Often the people they find most accepting are not Christians, but peers who don't care about much at all - peers who will almost surely take them down with them. Loneliness defines so many young people and drives them to awful compromises and deadly mistakes.
Although their loneliness is an open door through which counterfeit love can come, it is also a door through which Christ's love can enter. Young people need to hear about a Savior who offers them the only "unloseable" love in the world, who has promised, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). Many times it has been my privilege to tell a lost teenager, "From the moment you give your heart to Jesus Christ, you have just spent your last day alone." In addition, lonely young people will be attracted to a leader and an atmosphere where they feel loved. In fact, for many, whoever loves them first will have them!
Tomorrow, we will discuss how boundaries don't matter, worth is a struggle, and escape isn't a solution for today's young people.
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"Reaching the Global Youth Culture: How to Understand and Rescue Lost Young People" by Ronald P. Hutchcraft is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial- No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.Hutchcraft. com
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