We are DELIGHTED to be kicking off season 3 of Youth Updates! This coming season will be jam packed full of insights into youth culture alongside a line up of great guests.
In fact, we’ll be kicking off with our very first guest; Neil O’Boyle. He is married to Joy, has four children, owns two cocker spaniels and is the National Director of British Youth for Christ. We asked him what three key things he sees going on in youth culture right now.
Below is a summary of what was said, but if you’d like to access the full conversation then please check out the podcast above or via Spotify/Apple Music.
FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY: There’s Every Reason To Be Confident About Sharing Jesus
Neil: It’s an interesting spiritual climate in the UK at the moment when we look at how secularism is playing out – from the school system through to what people are watching on TV. The impact is huge and the message we are getting is that God isn’t on the agenda, but what does that mean when it comes to young people?
At British Youth for Christ, we did a piece of research which showed that 51% of young people have a belief in God or something else; those with active faith were considerably less. This means 49% don’t believe (or don’t know what they believe). This tells us about the spiritual climate and where young people are at.
There’s another interesting stat too – that only 8% of young people view church positively. 92% have differing views, but only 8% can say something positive. This shows what they think of institutions and how they view what’s going on in society – it’s an interesting time.
As a parent, it’s interesting to see how this plays out, but where I’m most fascinated is in the work we do. We are about young people’s lives being changed by Jesus, so we want to put Jesus on the agenda, but how do young people respond when we do? Well, the interesting thing is that when we put God on the agenda, they are just as likely to respond to the gospel as any other generation before them – this is good news. Our research also shows that 1 in 3 young people actively want their friends to tell them about their faith and when they do, just over 50% of them view that positively. So, we have every reason to be confident about sharing Jesus.
(Find the expanded conversation on the podcast.)
Find the research here: https://yfc.co.uk/faithandspirituality/
ISSUES: Mental Health – Are We Putting Plasters On Open Wounds?
Neil: There’s a mental health challenge in the UK and stats say that there has been a 50% increase in mental health challenges in the past 3 years. So, what is going on, what are we doing to address it and how do we address it?
It feels like we are just putting a plaster over an open wound and not landing how to address this in a way that makes a difference. As a practitioner, I think Luke 2:52 is really important: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” He lived with balance, and I recognise that mental health has all sorts of components that go beyond just how we live our lives, but I think it goes a long way if we can create boundaries for young people.
Stats say that, on average, young people spend 9 hours and 38 minutes behind a screen each day. That’s huge. Screens are neutral, but it’s about what young people are absorbing. Are we really thinking there isn’t a connection about screens and mental health? We’d be crazy to ignore that. What do boundaries look like and how do we effectively move into that space?
We’ve got to get a grip here a bit and speak into what boundaries look like and how to underpin that with faith. The greatest value of all is that Jesus is the one who can make a difference. Those with significant mental health challenges will need medical help, support and counselling of course, but there’s such a growth in mental health issues that it has got to be more than what we were facing 10, 20 or 30 years ago.
(Find the expanded conversation on the podcast.)
HOT TOPICS: 500,000 More Young People Entering Poverty
Neil: If there’s 8 million young people in Britain, right now there are around 2.9 million living in poverty. There are various definitions, but the first level is that you are struggling to get your basic needs met. The Rowntree foundation estimates that in the next 6-9 months, another 500,000 young people will enter poverty. This is of real concern.
Our local centres and youth work practitioners are telling us that their young people are coming to them hungry and more of our staff are going into schools to do breakfast clubs, drop-in clubs and cooking classes where they feed the young people, because they know it’s the only time that they’re guaranteed food.
One of the challenges right now is recognising the connection between crime in deprived communities and the need to eat. Much of the low-level crime young people are committing is just to get money to buy food – where is the real crime there? We, as a society, shouldn’t be in a situation where young people don’t have enough money to buy food or just not have food in the house.
This needs to change. As the church, we are doing a great job to address this need, but the need isn’t going away, and we have to get creative on how we meet basic needs, such as feeding people.
(Find the expanded conversation on the podcast.)
Word Of The Month
‘sent into a coma’ – to shock someone
For example, on social media videos have been going round saying things like ‘10 things in England that would send Americans into a coma’, ‘things I did as a kid that sent my mom into a coma’ ‘Things that would send a Victorian child into a coma’ and so on.