Helping Youth to Hope

by Dawn Darwin

Though many seem to be in a hurry to do so, “growing up” was listed among the top three fears of youth in a recent poll.1 When you think about the young people in your group, you may feel alternately hopeful and fearful about the lives they have ahead of them. Loving youth is like loving all people—we hope and pray they will make choices that will help them fulfill the potential God places in their lives. Youth, unlike most adults, however, do not yet have the freedom to make many choices. They must go to school, they must live with their parents or other adult, they cannot vote, they must wait to drive. While adults may look back at adolescence as a time of real freedom, “stuckness” may be a more realistic part of being a teenager. Whether a teen is obviously experiencing “stuckness” or not, all teens need to be pointed toward the future. Those who seem to be excelling, those who are getting by, and those who are “on the edge” need to be comforted by our God who calls them into the good life ahead and challenged by our God who delights in seeing them grow into all they can be.

Adults like you can be a door to the future for teens:

• You can take care of yourself in your own adulthood. If teens realize that you continue to grow in faith and find new fulfillment in your own life, they will begin to trust that growing up, while frightening, is also enjoyable and rewarding.

• You can challenge youth who are acutely feeling their “stuckness” by encouraging them to look toward the future. Youth who are in crisis certainly need your comfort and support. They also may need your loving confrontation. “I’m with you” may be the best first response to crisis. Yet at some point along youth’s journey, they need to hear a bold call to Christian hope.2 You can give youth a “future shock” and remind them that these will not always be the circumstances of their lives, though youth may be experiencing them as permanent. To a youth struggling with home life, you could ask a question like, “What will you do when you don’t live at home anymore?” To a youth having difficulty in school, you could ask, “Once you’re out of school, where do you want to spend your time during the day?” You can help youth imagine the freedom that will soon be theirs and take heart in planning for those days.

• You can encourage teens to hope, and to ground their hopes in the God of the past, present, and future. Youth may not think that God is on their side. In order to move into the future with confidence, they must know that God is working on their behalf, not to ensure that everything goes their way, but to unfurl a path of abundant life. Your care in the life of youth can offer reassurance to youth that God is “for” them. Ask youth what they hope for in their futures. You don’t have to hold them to their hopes—they may change! But you can invite them to practice glimpsing into tomorrow with the certainty that life’s goodness will continue.

• You can hope for the individuals in your group, and for your group as a whole. When you pray for young people, pray by asking God to give you a vision of the hope God holds for them. Envision youth moving beyond their present into a good future. Share your hopes with the youth individually, either verbally or in a note. Have courage to hope for youth, even when they cannot hope for themselves. Your hope could foster their own hopes, sending them into the future with faith, hope, and love.

1 A group of 75 youth were polled at a retreat hosted by the Southwest region of the Disciples of Christ churches.

2 See Tom Long’s article, “Beavis and Butthead Get Saved” in the July 1994 issue of Theology Today for a poignant look at challenging youth.

From Intersection, Teaching Guide for Older Youth: Year Three, Book Two, by Dawn Darwin.