One of the most challenging and, at the same time, critical age groups to reach in your church are preteens, or tweens. In order to reach these kids, we have to understand the new challenges that they are facing in their schools and in everyday culture. Gregg Johnson, founder of J12 Ministries, has recorded four incredibly insightful vlogs to help us view our students in a new light. Here’s part 1 of this series:
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Transcript:
Hello everybody! Gregg Johnson. Could I have a few of your minutes to talk to you about what I perceive is four preteen/tween trends in our culture today? I’m going to give them to them really quick, and then I’m going to go back and talk about them. I believe kids today, this preteen world, this 8 to 12 year old, they’re getting older younger, they’re getting faster quicker, they’re getting sadder sooner, and they’re staying younger longer. So let’s talk about those for a few minutes together.
The first one: they’re getting older younger. You know I have a 6 year old and an 8 year old so I’m right in the mix of what that all means today. And I’m telling you what: my 6 year old son blows my mind. He’s much older than I was when I was 6 years old. And I think those reasons why. You know they say that superficial change is constant but fundamental change in culture is rare. Some of the things that create fundamental change would be the invention of the wheel or the invention of the printing press… Well the invention of the television would probably be the next one, and then most recently, the invention of this thing called the Internet has changed the way that people grow up in— anybody that has a Wi-Fi connection that is. Isn’t it interesting, Neil postman in his book called The Disappearance of Childhood says it this way: that television has taken away childhood innocence in our world today because before television you actually had to be able to read to learn something. Today, all you need to have is eyesight, and our kids are exposed to images through screen-driven lives that is just… well, I believe somewhat unhealthy. And boy, it’s a challenge as parents isn’t it? To deal with that and to manage the screen that’s on my wall right there.
The second trend the kids are experiencing today is they’re getting faster quicker. Never before has the bar been so high and the age limit so low. Sports, team sports, are going younger and younger, and I think actually you can sign your kid up and your kid isn’t even born yet. I mean, I think there’s a there’s a website for that. And I’m kind of joking, but the point is our kids are faster quicker. They’re being exposed to things… I remember reading years ago the story about a 12 year old who pitched a perfect Little League World Series. Danny Almonte was his name, and it was in USA Today… The Little League World Series title was pulled from them because his father had falsified his age, and he was actually 14, not 12 because dad wanted him to be… Well, older younger, faster quicker… And so he faked his age. Oh such a drive among parents today to make your kids faster quicker.
The problem with that is they’re getting sadder sooner, and it’s probably because of too much stuff. You know prosperity will mess you up if you don’t have a character to handle the current. I heard recently on the radio if your kids have 22 toys, knock it down to 11 and they’ll be happier. Ah, knock it down to 5, and they’ll really be happy. Because it’s not the accumulation of stuff that makes us happy. Although we have more stuff than ever which is why kids are getting sadder sooner. Too much information, too. A hundred years ago, the size of your world was the size of your yard. Today, the size of your world is what’s in your hand. It’s called your phone. There’s more computing power in a bedroom than got Apollo 11 to the moon. There may be more tablet power in your bedroom. There may be more smartphone power in your bedroom than got Apollo 11 the moon. I don’t know, but the truth is is that we have kids that are older younger, faster quicker, sadder sooner… With all kinds of eating disorders that are going on in our world today… Fad driven… Oh, just the materialism and the exposure to so many opportunities…
Beautiful story, actually it’s tragic about a boy who saw a butterfly trying to break free from his cocoon. And he thought it was struggling so he went to help it. It kind of made it easy for this soon-to-be butterfly to get out. The problem was that by taking away the constriction of a cocoon, he had stopped or kind of like short-circuited the ability of that butterfly to get the strength in its wings to fly. And it never flew because somebody tried to help it too early. Kids today are staying younger longer, and it’s because they’re growing up on the outside but they’re staying young on the inside. Could be because of abuse in the home. Could be because of primping and preening and entitlement. Delayed gratification is a challenge today, isn’t it? Yesterday, my son he received a hundred dollars for his birthday from a family member, and he had no clue what that $100 bill was like. So I decided to take him cause he wanted a gift, he wanted to buy something with his money. And so I decided that I would take that $100 bill and try to find somebody who would give me 100 $1 bills so he could get a sense of how much money he had in his possession. Well, we went to, well a store, Target, and they actually had 100 one dollar bills and I gave him my $100 bill they gave me 100 and I made him as he bought his toy lay out every dollar that it would cost for him to understand that things cost. Little help to maybe not stay younger longer. Extended adolescence won’t be the experience of his life.
The basic sense that I wanted us to take home today was that kids today are getting older younger, faster quicker, sadder sooner, staying younger longer, and we need to manage that in their lives. So, I trust that these trends will give you something to reflect upon, and then in our next vlog we’re going to talk about some other thoughts regarding what God was like when he was a preteen. And that will come in a few minutes. God bless you. Have a great day.
Thank you, Gregg Johnson and J12 Ministries, for challenging us to look deeper into how to reach tweens on their level. J12 has some amazing curriculum designed to reach the 10-14 year olds at your church, and it’s all available right now through Disciplr. Click on the link in the description to sign up for a free seven day trial and check out everything today.
