I-MORPH:
Characteristics of an Emerging Generation
Murray Brown
Recently at our children's school board meeting a team of
teachers from the senior school (Years 5-8) made a presentation
of the new approach to numeracy (maths) being trialled in
various schools by the Ministry of Education. A core concept
is to teach young people to not only know what
the right answers are to maths puzzles but more importantly
to understand why the answers are right.
This is done by showing them there are a number of ways to
solve maths puzzles. For example, when confronted with the
sum 57+21 most of us (who couldn't work it out in our heads!)
would want to put one number below the other and add the columns
vertically - what's called the algorithm technique. This new
approach to numeracy, while not dismissing the algorithm approach,
teaches there are other ways to fin an answer. For example
if we take the one off 21 and add it to 57 our sum now becomes
58+20 which is much easier to solve. Or we might take 3 off
21 and add it to 57 giving us 60+18. Thus through this approach
to numeracy young people are learning that there are a number
of ways to solve problems, and what works well for them might
not work so well for someone else.
Does this sound familiar to any of you who study youth culture.
Postmodernism: What is truth?
While the multitude of recent books analysing culture may
disagree on detail, all agree that we are in the process of
a significant cultural shift. The term most used (some would
say over-used) is postmodernism which asserts that: "As
the individual is socially constructed by society, each person’s
reality is created by the experiences and insights gleaned
from their social environment." The logical outcome
of this belief is that truth is relative - on other words,
there are many ways to solve the questions of life and what
works well for one person might not work so well for someone
else. More than that, unlike numeracy where there is only
one answer, postmodernism says that there can be many answers,
none of which is necessarily right or wrong.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not opposed to a new approach
to numeracy that teaches young people to think rather than
blindly parrot back answers. But I do think such approaches
are affecting the way they view the world and in order to
be effective in youth ministry we need to understand these
changes and respond in a way that meets them. Postmodernism
has its faults, as did modernism (the believe that everything
"true" can be explained by rational logic). But
it also presents us with opportunities that we must be ready
to take advantage of.
I-MORPH: Characteristics of and Emerging Generation
If our young people are growing up learning to view the world
in a different way, what are the characteristics that we must
see and take notice of in the way we approach youth ministry.
Having read widely and considered many points of view and
tested them with my own observations, not just of young adults
but also of younger teens, let me suggest six, based on the
acronym I-MORPH (I = "me" and MORPH
= "change").
a. Intuitive
Postmodernism leads young people to reject
the idea that there is some overarching system of truth that
must be discovered and lived by. Instead it leads to a self
reliance upon their own constructed system of truth developed
in no small part through intuition. The subjective sense or
feeling that something is true, at least for them, carries
great weight, even more so than rational argument. Thats not
to say rational explanation no longer has its place. Says
Brian McLaren:
"A lot of people seem to think that since modernity
was rationalistic, postmodernity must be either antirational
or irrational. No, that's antimodernity, not postmodernity.
Postmodernity more likely seeks to integrate rationality
with things beyond rationality—things like imagination,
intuition, and faith. In fact, if the medieval era is seen
as an era of faith (in a Hegelian progression, the thesis),
and the modern era as an era of reason (the antithesis),
we could expect the postmodern era to be a synthesis of
faith and reason." 1
With this worldview the experiential becomes all important
as it becomes a pathway to the discovery of their own subjective
truth. Thus young people have a desire to both experience
faith and experiment with it, rather than to simply accept
rational presentations of truth.
b. Mystical
A move away from the modernist perception
that truth is both inherently rational and provable, has led
to a greater willingness to embrace and explore the mystical.
Increasingly through the internet young people have access
to, and inhabit a virtual world which they switch in and out
of at their convenience. Just like this virtual technological
world, the mystical world is both unreal and real to them:
unreal in the sense that it transcends the world they live
in, and real in the sense that they can expect to experience
it. Its appeal lies in the fact that it is not rational in
a scientific, provable sense and so offers a sense of mystery
that intrigues and attracts their postmodern minds.
c. Open-ended
Again, because there is no absolute truth that exists independent
of cultural and societal conditioning, young people affected
by postmodernism view definitive statements of fact with scepticism.
They readily embrace those statements and propositions that
are open-ended and leave them space to explore and discover
their own solutions. An ambiguity does not create the dissonance
that exists for the one who operates at a purely rational
level. If a truth seems paradoxical that is seen as making
it more attractive, not less.
One author, commenting on the rate of change and the speed
at which information can be gathered, says:
"The acceleration in the rate of change coupled
with the acceleration and massirication of input has created
a state of seemingly permanent paradox. A condition and
its negation, a set of data and its apparent contradiction,
a course of action and its own anticourse, no longer arrive
incrementally or sequentially; they arrive instantaneously
and simultaneously, and because they do, there is no time
to resolve the difference between them by traditional methods."
2
d. Relational
The lack of a unifying and objective truth
which all can subscribe to creates a sense of disconnectedness
for young people in which no one can fully share their reality
because their experiences and therefore their perceptions,
are different. This along with a more general relational disconnectedness
that exists in our fast-paced and broken society, creates
a desire for some form of communal experience in which relationships
can be experienced with authenticity. Through such relationships
we incarnate truth – in other words we demonstrate truth
by the way we live, and more importantly, are challenged to
consider new truths by the way others live. Thus this desire
to know and be known is not simply for friendship’s
sake but as a means of making sense of life and of discovering
meaning in an inherently meaningless world. Thus the need
to be authentically relational in youth ministry is critical
if we are ti effectively communicate the gospel. The saying
that young people "don't care how much we know until
they know hoe much we care" is becoming more true than
ever.
e. Pragmatic
In setting about constructing one’s own system of
truth or reality, it is difficult, if not impossible for young
people affected by postmodernism to be anything but ultimately
pragmatic – if something doesn’t "work"
for them it must be discarded from their truth system. Therefore
experimentation is a critical life tool when it comes to discovering
truth. Rather than make passive observations about truth they
have a need to actively participate in life and learning in
order to comprehend and adopt truth. Furthermore, the immediacy
of our society leaves little room for patience and so anything
that doesn’t work now is discarded in favour of anything
that does.
f. Holistic
A move away from a solely rational way of thinking has led
to young people having a more holistic view of life in which
truth can be discovered through more ways than just reason
and logic. Symbols and the interpretations one subjectively
chooses to draw from them are a means to finding reality,
as are a range of creative expressions (art, music, dance),
which provide ways to effectively experience and express truth.
Comments Dan Kimball, author and pastor of a "postmodern"
church in Santa Cruz:
"A refreshing thing is that — virtually
across the board — we are moving away from a flat,
two-dimensional form of worship in our gatherings. There
is a definite move away from worship services simply composed
of preaching and a few songs. We are now moving toward a
much more multi-sensory approach comprised of many dimensions
and expressions of worship." 3
A logical extension of this is that all of life is both a
way to discover and express truth which, to the postmodern
mind, is more than simply intellectual. The gulf between belief
and action has narrowed under a single term “reality”
which must be more than just believed – it must be actively
lived. Thus we see a new activism emerging, that is less about
changing the world and more about changing their world.
Implications
Just as philosophy affects practice, so must culture. As
we consider the changes taking place around us and they way
in which these changes are reflected in the characteristics
of young people in our ministries, we must be willing to adjust
the ways we lead, worship, and study Scripture if we are to
remain effective. Future articles will explore this further.
Note: This article draws on insights taken from section
one of the YouthTRAIN manual, Youth Ministry Practice. For
a free download that covers the above in more detail click
here.
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1 McLaren, B. & Campolo,
A. Adventures in Missing the Point, Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan, 2003 (p.252)
2 Wacker, W. The Visionaries Handbook:
Nine Paradoxes that Will Shape the Future of Your Business,
New York, New York: HaperBusiness, 2000 (p.17-18)
3 Kimball, D. Emerging Worship,
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2004 (p.5)
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