How Has the Family Changed?

The definition and structure of family has gone through some major transitions in the last 100-200 years in Western societies.

Although many in the U.S. believe the nuclear family (an independent unit of husband, wife and children living together) was the norm in history, in reality, it was not. The extended family was/is the norm in many countries which consists of other relatives, husband, wife and children living together.

In pre-industrial (agrarian) societies, families were created out of a sense of duty and economic production. Children were seen as a source of labor. The father (or oldest male) had authority in the home and in society. The result was soaring birthrates; children and wife seen as property; extended family support; limited to no divorce. In post-industrial societies, families exist for companionship and personal happiness. It is the norm that both parents work outside the home. The result as been declining birthrates; rise of singleness, childless couples, single parenthood and other alternative family structures; high divorce rates; less child rearing support; extended adolescence; cohabitation.

In the past, an adolescent’s identity was tied to a clear hierarchical family structure and traditions. (This is still true in some developing and a few Western countries.) But today, youth culture often provides several identities to youth to make sense of the world.

As a result, how has this affected adolescents?

What is your specialty in adolescent development?

The grad class I teach starts next Tuesday but in the meantime, I thought it would be good to acquaint ourselves with one another. Post a bio, tell us where you are based and the areas of adolescent development that you are involved in.

My name is Ron and I grew up in North Philadelphia which was considered a poor working class African-American neighborhood at the time. (It has been gentrifying over the last 20 years.)

A local church reached out to me during my teen years in a time of crisis. Through the help of my church community, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design (the first in my family to get a college degree). I have worked with at-risk youth as a Christian youth minister and youth advocate in various capacities over the last 20 years in Philadelphia, Lancaster, PA and Wilmington, DE. In Delaware, we started an elementary after school program in a distressed community and I ran the character development component. As the students moved on to middle and high school, I built initiatives around their needs and desires. My goal was to start young and help give young people the tools to navigate through their teen and adult life. I mentored youth in their schools and in their communities. Every summer, I would take middle and high school students on weeklong camping trips. I gave them the ability to lead some aspects of my programs and recruited board members, volunteers and donors.  Three years ago, I received a Master’s Degree in Urban Studies with a Youth Leadership concentration. One my crowning achievements is seeing some of the youth I have known since elementary school make good choices as adults. We are still connected. I have also used the arts to connect with youth. Right now, Prophetik Soul tees is my latest venture.

Two years ago, I traveled to South Korea and observed their youth culture and their culture in general. Seoul is a great city. (I also traveled to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya 20 years ago which changed my whole approach to adolescent development.)

Presently, I teach high school students part-time during the day and teach adjunct college classes at night. I am based in Philadelphia.

I specialize in youth leadership development, mentoring, character development and media education.

This class will have a strong faith-based approach to adolescent development but I am open to hearing about other methodologies and best practices. Whether you are a scholar or from the school of hard knocks, anyone who is crazy enough to work with youth today is important. Feel free to comment on each other’s posts.

What’s your story?

That’s me, second from the right.

Youth Workers Dialogue

Hello,

I will be teaching an Urban Youth Culture graduate class in Eastern University’s Urban Studies program starting January 17. I have been teaching adjunct courses for various colleges and universities for the last 3 years. I occasionally write for online zine Urban Faith and have blogged for adjunctnation. I also have over 20 years of experience teaching, working with adolescents and developing programs for targeted groups. I also periodically annoy my facebook friends with my personal musings on life, culture and society.

I am inviting anyone who is interested to participate in a dialogue as I blog about this class and the topics. I am looking for at least 10 people (youth workers and/or those interested in youth) who are willing to exchange comments and swap ideas based on the class on the blog. A condensed syllabus is posted below to give you an idea of the topics. (A list of books/articles/multimedia is listed below but you don’t need to view these to participate in the dialogue.)

If interested, please submit your email address to the right, LIKE this page and tell a friend before Jan. 10. If you have any questions, email me at rontinsley@live.com.

Ron Tinsley

2012 UYC Topic Schedule

Week	Topic / Description	Assignment(s)
Jan. 23	UYC: History	Have read Bradford Brown, Ch 10; Brady Goodwin, pgs 9-33; Compare and Contrast videos (TBA on Bb); Online Discussion 1
Feb. 6	UYC: Demographics	Have read Bradford Brown, Ch 2; Brady Goodwin, pgs 94-126; Reading Response Paper #1
Feb. 13	UYC: Influences & Subcultures and the Age of YouTube	Viewed PBS videos: Rock the Casbah, China: The Hip Hop Culture, Somali-Born KNaan; Have read Goodplay pgs 66-77; Online Discussion 2
Feb. 20	The Facebook Effect: Globalization at Your Fingertips	Viewed ‘Did You Know 4.0’ video; Have read UN World Youth Report, Ch 5; Online Discussion 3
Feb. 28-Mar. 2RESIDENCY	Identity: Warholism in UYC	Technology History Chart; Image Culture PPT; Peter Berger Ways of Seeing
	Ownership and Authorship: UYC’s Global Impact	Globalization PPT
	Credibility: Rise of Research Based Youth Marketing	TED Video: Seth Godin, The Tribes We Lead
	Participation: Pros and Cons of NDM	Media Effects Chart; Internet Connectivity PP
Mar. 12	Biblical Response to Ethics Issues	Have read Goodplay book; Reading Response Paper #2
Mar. 19	Spiritual Stew: Religion and Morality in UYC	Have read Christian Smith article; Have read Book of Ecclesiastes, Acts 17:16-33, John 4:1-42; Online Discussion
Apr. 2	Communicating Biblical Truth in the Midst of Systems and Structures	Viewed ‘Matrix Red Dress’ clip; Viewed Advertising & Media Industries PPT and lecture; Have read Swartley article; Reading Response Paper #3
Apr. 9	Best Practices for Engaging Youth in UYC	Watch video clips (TBA on Bb); Have read Wells, pgs. 27-49; Conducted youth social experiment; Online Discussion 5

BOOKS

• Bradford, Brown B, Reed W Larson, and T S Saraswathi, eds. 2002. The World’s Youth: Adolescence in Eight Regions of the Globe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Carrie James, Katie Davis, Andrea Flores and John M. Francis, eds. 2009. Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media: A Synthesis from the GoodPlay Project. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning.
• Brady Goodwin Jr. 2011. The Death of Hip Hop, Marriage & Morals: Helping Youth Resurrect Culture, Family and Faith. Urban Remix Project.
• Tina Wells. 2011. Chasing Youth Culture and Getting it Right: How Your Business Can Profit by Tapping Today’s Most Powerful Trendsetters and Tastemakers. Wiley.

Articles

• Christian Smith, “On Moralistic Therapeutic Deism as U.S. Teenagers’ Actual Tacit De Facto Religious Faith,” Summary Interpretation from Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton, 2005. http://www2.ptsem.edu/uploadedFiles/IYM/YCCL/Smith-Moralistic.pdf
• Christine Rosen, “The Image Culture,” The New Atlantis, Number 10, Fall 2005, pp. 27-46. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-image-culture
• Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), ” World Youth Report,” United Nations, 2005. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/wyr05book.pdf
• Peter Berger “Ways of Seeing,” adapted from BBC broadcast television series, 1972. http://www.youtube.com
• William M. Swartley, “Biblical Faith Confronting Opposing Spiritual Realities,” Direction Journal, Volume 29, Number 2, Fall 2000, pp. 100-113. http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?1051

Multimedia

• Janna Anderson, Lee Raine, “Internet Evolution: Where Hyperconnectivity and Ambient Intimacy Take Us,” Presentation: Future of the Internet, July 9, 2010, World Future Society in Boston, Mass. http://pewinternet.org/Presentations/2010/Jun/Internet-Evolution.aspx
• Hip Hop videos: Rock the Casbah, China: The Hip Hop Culture, Somali-Born KNaan http://www.pbs.org
• ‘Did You Know 4.0’ video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8
• TED Video: ‘The Tribes We Lead’ by Seth Godin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6xR6sKqSQ4
• ‘Matrix Red Dress’ video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AjvGIBgpF8

Is Christian Discipleship Declining?

I remember exactly when it happened: I was 19 years old in college and I read through the WHOLE Book of Revelation. I also attended a Bible study at another church that was teaching on the topic. Today, I am ashamed to admit that I became a doom and gloom prophet because of my lack of maturity and understanding. I was like the people you see in Philadelphia wearing a big sign with a quote from Revelations with words like ‘burn’ and ‘fire’ (as if it is the only book in the Bible). I was quoting the rest of the Bible but treating the Book of Revelation as a gospel narrative. I was not being discipled. Why?

Today, in the modern American church, there seems to be less and less emphasis on discipleship. Discipleship is what happens when accountability meets responsibility. It is the systematic development of new Christians into mature Christians. This should not be ‘Christian Discipleship for Dummies’ or ‘The Idiot’s Guide to Christian Discipleship’. Those franchises do a good job at simplifying info for the masses. Christian discipleship is hard work for the teacher and the student. Someone takes a direct interest in your life and growth as a believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus discipled 12 people this way but not all at the same level. Seven years ago, I developed a curriculum for youth based on what I understand to be Jesus’ method of discipleship using a bulls eye target:

1. Jesus is at the center and is the source of life.
2. Around Jesus were Peter, James and John. They were there for the Transfiguration (Matthew 17), his troubled heart in Gethsemane (Mathew 26:37-38, when he raised Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) and many other times. As a result, their relationship with Jesus was close and they eventually became evangelist and leaders in the early church.
3. Around the 3 disciples were the remaining 9 disciples. They learned from Jesus and from Peter, James and John. Many of them became missionaries to other regions/countries and were martyred.
4. Around the 9 disciples are the remaing disciples we hear only in number (The 72 disciples in Luke 10). Jesus sent them to the towns he planned to visit. I call them heralds for Jesus
5. Around the 72 disciples are all the people they encounter throughout the Bible with the Gospel message from Nicodemus the Pharisee to the thousands that Jesus fed. I believe most of them were Gentiles.

Why did I share this bulls eye idea?

There is a direct succession of beliefs and convictions from Jesus passed down to new believers. Even in 1 Corthinians 15:3, Bible scholars note that this is the earliest creed on Jesus’ resurrection. Paul encountered Jesus but was discipled by other Christians who either walked with Jesus or had access to the eyewitnesses. In this way, discipleship is shown as the key to maturity.

 But today, things seem different. In my years of being in different churches and talking to Christians, this is where I see the emphasis:

•  Community – Coming together is always a good thing but in the Bible, community was a byproduct of Christian belief and convictions. They did not come together to just fellowship. They came together to learn more about God and fellowship. (Acts 2:42)
•  Diversity – Our world values diversity and sometimes thumbs it into the church’s face because sometimes we embraced diversity later than them in some areas. If you look at race relations in this country, the church (outside of the African American church) was more interested in ‘separate but equal.’ But the New Testament (NT) does not embrace every form of diversity. (For example, in 1 Corinthians 5, Apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church to expel an unrepentant fornicator.)
•  Good Works – Doing good to others should be a given in the Christian community. Yet when it becomes the center, we can become entangled in swift justice and retribution. Prayer can easily become a distraction when there are things we need to do now. Even in the midst of complaints within the early Christian community, people were dispatched to work on the issues while the apostles focused on spreading the Gospel (Acts 6:1).

These 3 things are supposed to be a byproduct of the Christian life, not THE Christian life. These things flow from our relationship with Jesus Christ, the knowledge in His Word and the wisdom the Holy Spirit imparts to us.The real truth is that the world also values these same things as well. If we do it exactly the way the world does it all the time, we lose our distinction. (Sidenote: sometimes the world gets it right because the church is not being faithful to what it knows to be true.) The Christian faith is based on WHOM we believe IN and what we do. It is not supposed to be based on what we do and WHOM we believe IN. This can leave us with a church that lacks discernment, prophetic witness and divine authority. Unfortunately, this is exactly what our world wants: a watered down church with no impact.

What happened to me when I was 19 years old is that I was communicating the Bible from a fearful context and not from a proper Biblical context. I was eventually discipled by mature men in the church. It took so long because I thought I could interpret the Bible properly outside Christian community. Proper discipleship happens INSIDE Christian community. The men who discipled me had to dismantle my unbiblical views, replace them with sound doctrine and allow me to see how this produces good fruit. This took about 5 years and would have happened sooner if I had been discipled when I became a believer at the age of 16. I don’t totally hold the church responsible for this. I was arrogant and did not think I needed the church. I ended up knowing too much about the wrong things and too little about the right things. Thank God this is not me anymore. I have developed a healthy interest in the things of God but I have to constantly guard against this pride.

The thing I fear the most is that, without proper Christian discipleship, we may become a church that practices community, diversity and does good works (the things of men) but have very little interest in the things of God. You cannot become a Jedi Master without a mentor. You cannot become a mature Christian without a mentor. One thing the world is desperate for mentors. If Jesus can accuse Peter of thinking only of this world in Matthew 16:21-28, who says he cannot accuse us?

Is Compatibility Overrated?

The chatter I continue to hear about love is so ambiguous and undefined. In an era of redefinition and reinvention, love is in the eye of the beholder. The problem with this statement is that the beholder determines what love is based on their experiences. This isn’t all bad but what if your idea of love involves harming others? The concept of love that I saw growing up in my neighborhood often involved multiple partners, arguments and anger. I am thankful that I did not replicate this in my adult life.

Unfortunately love today is often vapid and simply frosting on the cake. I was sharing with a small group of teens why I thought they should forgo romantic relationships. I got huge pushback. Some suggested that a relationship helps keep them focused on what is important. Others suggested that relationships are inevitable. But I asked, what kind of relationship do you want and are you ready to give that type of energy? I was met with silence. One of the reasons why I recommended that many of them wait is that relationships may be a distraction from their own personal development. Almost all of them described their relationship is terms of eros love. This kind of love is connected to physical and romantic intimacy. As much as this kind of passion can burn for someone else, it can also burn you when it’s the only game in town. This is one reason some couples become debt ridden focusing on the wedding and honeymoon but less on the marriage. This may be the reason why despite being in paradise, most couples on dating reality TV shows don’t last. This intense desire when not coupled with philo (friendship), agape (charitable) and storge (familial), can lead you to make bad decisions. (You can still make bad choices if  all the elements are present but the risk decreases.)

Eros seems to look for compatibility on the surface. Although this is part of being human, it obscures deeper issues of intimacy and friendship. Compatibility is good if the reasons go beneath the surface and can involve some elasticity. For example, if someone said they would only marry someone who would travel outside the U.S. at least 10 times a year, that’s an extremely narrow view of compatibility. That person should prepare for their prospects to be very narrow. But if this same person said I would like to marry someone who is cosmopolitan (enjoying new destinations, culture, food, etc.), then this broadens their prospects. Traveling 10 times a year is about having the right finances and possibly social mobility. You can be cosmopolitan and not be wealthy. In other words, compatibility becomes broader when we are looking at things that are connected to personality and character. To make a certain amount of traveling a focal point seems to be about compatibility…of the financial kind.

Ultimately, compatibility should be about loving the person we are with and liking them as well.

What do you think?