 All right everyone but thanks again for joining in and welcome to the good ministry class All right. Oh Up next says we see two videos of me is everyone else seeing two videos of me because I can see just one When Kennedy's name also, I can see you pasta on the video. So I was wondering. Oh, okay It seems fine at my end of me. I'm not sure. Oh It's closed now. Okay. Thank you. No problem. I guess I good morning and Welcome once again to the ministry session. I hope you all are doing awesome. I hope your Sunday was good I've got some good rest So, yeah, good to see you all right Let's get let's get on with our course. So in the previous sessions we studied about what we learned about the challenges in youth ministry and we kind of divided that into two different categories We looked at the challenges faced by a youth leader be a youth pastor Youth core team leader or whatever and then the challenges faced by the youth themselves, right? That's what we those are a couple of things We looked at in the previous session Today we look at to begin with chapter 6 That is understanding youth culture of this day and age Okay, chapter 6 understanding youth culture all right, so listen, I wanted to kind of start off by You know sharing that like understanding different generations right so like up like I said in very briefly in the previous sessions that This generation is going through a lot of changes. They experience change at a very But it's just very often right we It happens very often and they are all just going through different kinds of changes in different aspects of their lives Very fast and so that's this generation. But so for us to just understand, you know This generation better. I thought it's better It's be better if you also understood. What are the different generations in the last century? That's Kind of seen changes and who are they and how have the society labeled the different generations? Okay, and so And and the studies say that each generation is typically defined in 15 year time brackets 15 year time brackets. Yeah, so And apparently currently our society is made up of five different generations. And so that's we look We just glance through them and just to understand a little better So those who are born before 1945 right pre 1945 Are known as the builders or the tradition or silent generation Right those who are born before 1945 are on as the silent generation or builders and those who are born between 1946 and 1964 baby boomers and then generation X Born between 1965 and 1979 generation Y Millennials are born between 1980 in 2001 and generation Z the post millenials upon between 2001 onwards Okay, now again the different Regions of the world parts of the world understand millenials and these but just you know There's a slight difference between a year or two, but then this is like an overall overall general Age brackets if I may say that okay, so you have the builders of the silent generation You have baby boomers or just known as boomers or and then generation X generation Y generation Z okay, so Each of these different generations were raised in different worlds Okay, and that's almost literally I mean think about In this day and age as we mentioned BC change every year, you know We can go back to 2016 and say is like you you know in 2016 the currency looked like this But and then you can I mean go back all the way to the 40s 1940s Onwards, I mean you can only imagine You know what the world kind of looked like back then and the way people functioned Okay, so, you know the different generations were raised in a Very different environmental settings So the silent generations are known for the sacrifice They've made for their families Right they sacrifice their needs and those for their families They would sacrifice their lives for the country and whatnot So these this is the generation that would have gone through the Great Depression in the 20s and 30s and the British rule They were a witness to World War To as well. So this is the silent generation. They're children Okay, the baby boomers or boomers Embraced the consumerism Con right that is the pursuit of money and all the materialistic things and the thing of excess Okay, and we have any baby boomers Let's go on So the baby boomers generation people were born between 1946 and 1964 They embraced consumerism in decision-general right overarching thing pursuit of money materialistic thing and it's not just and they were not satisfied with what they had they always wanted excess That is the boomer generation Okay, and then we look at So having seen the excess material goods collected by their parents. That is the boomers who are now the parents Generation X and the millennials are more prone to focus on the quality of their lives than the quantity of their Collections so now they have apparently, you know, they see they have excess You know, and then the the generation is like, okay They prefer quantity of their lives than the quantity of the collection. So These vast differences can cause generations to misunderstand each other So in just three different generations, we see how each think and act and react Okay, I hope you guys are with me so far just between these three generations or four generations We see how they think and act and how they would have done life and whatnot so just understanding the way they did life can cause misunderstanding between generations Because again going back to the 40s the life span The you know the 1900s to again the 40s because of all the war and everything that was happening The life span was said to be the average of 48 And and now it's kind of double to 78 or 80s Okay, and so in the previous eras there were only three generations that would coexist Three generations where you have your grandfather father and the great and the grandchildren kind of thing situation But again the studies suggest for the first time in history You know because of the life's increase in lifespan and whatnot. We have five generations Coexisting In the families in churches and communities in societies. Okay five different generations. I mean We'll have to think about it. That is huge, right? Because every generation Wants to communicate something each generation Wants to be heard and so this can cause a lot of misunderstanding miscommunication and labeling and this and that and whatnot. Okay, I All with me so far. Yes following. Yeah, okay, cool. It's so At this point in time, right so the ability to just To understand and relate to multiple generations at one time is more crucial than ever before Right, it's very crucial for us to listen to one another because Everything it nowadays is loud When I say everything is loud, I don't necessarily mean audibly, but it's just Everything is huge everything is big You know if the billboards and the and all the lights and everything trying to get your attention Is big right so the advertisements are Everywhere the products everywhere the brands the number of brands and companies have increased and all of them want to be heard like from you can take from any brands from any you know From any sector like it could be automobile it could be you know clothing And what not food and products that is just I mean growing up I think I'm sure most of us at least in India could relate You know, there would I think maybe three famous coffee powders in a brand that was brew And kothus kothus every home had a kothus coffee Okay, so brew kothus and kothus is actually chronologically older than brew and then you have the Latest one was miscafe sunrise coffee powder But then now I mean you just log on to Instagram or Facebook or whatever. They're like the I mean the coffee culture is It's you know, it's gone to another level. They're like so many different entrepreneurs who have gone into the coffee thing And they all want to be heard Right. So all of these brands all of these, you know, the different generations are trying to communicate constantly They want to be heard everything is loud and this is the kind of day in age We are all living in because as the study suggested, right? There are five different generations for the first time trying to coexist Right so in all of this Business in all of this we are trying to minister to the youth of this day in age How can be generation? Why Z and post millennials? Okay, generation by Z and the post millenials we are because again There are three diff so from the teenagers to the youth to the young adults. That's how we are looking at because Youth ministry in the United States of America is very different from the way it's done in at least in India Because youth ministry in US they target teenagers. That is youth ministry for them between 13 to 17 That is what they call as youth ministry while as in India our target audience starts from age 17 age 17 can go up to the maximum of say 28 or 30 and from again 28 to say 35 or 36 onwards are considered to be young adults So you have teenagers youth and young adults again, they Read different generations between the young people itself who are trying to coexist and they all want to be heard They all have their own trends that they are going through and they all have their own passion that they want to communicate and talk about and whatnot so Very briefly we'll try and see Understand who are these millenials and how can we reach out to them? Okay, so going forward if I just use the word millenials that means I'm talking about Generation y z and the post millenials, okay Is everybody alive all okay? Am I talking too fast? Okay. All right, so why why all these emphasis on the millenials, right? Again talking about why is he and post millenials? You know all this sudden hype around them. I mean honestly until I Heard this word millenial for the first time in 2017 There was there's this a very famous you the motivational speaker or a coach By the name called Simon Sainik Simon Sainik. I'm not sure if you've heard of him. He's pretty popular and now became famous There was one video in 2017 that went viral It's a video where he talks about millenials in it was a very short video, I think for four minutes or something and So in that four-minute video which went viral across the globe He just lays in on millenials as in like okay millenials are this millenials are entitled They are because basement dwellers who are not content to let their best years Who are content to let their best years slip past them. They are like this. They are like that They're pampered blah blah blah and what not now, you know, I'm a kind of millenial myself 87 bond, you know, I come somewhere in the some category some bracket of why is he why I guess So I was like, hey, that's not true You know, that's not entirely true, but You know, but the world is right now thinking about every brand every company is Constantly thinking about You know, how can we impact them this millenial? Because the brands and the companies don't set the trend They look at the younger generation to see What is happening? What is popular among them and the brands follow the trend that is being set by the young people? Okay, so it's very important that we pay attention as even the church Those who make up the millenial generation right by getting to know who are there, right? You ask simple questions Like how do they live? How do they get get here? Where will their path take them? What does their faith look like? Why don't they not attend church as much as the generations who have gone before and again The list of questions doesn't need to end there But you know, it can go on and just contextualize it to your setting But these are some of the few questions that you need to ask yourself if you are going to minister to the youth of this day and age Because they are changing They are constantly evolving in a sense that they're constantly changing socially intellectually emotionally morally and spiritually Like I mean all of those five things are what makes us up as human beings Right take socially intellectually emotionally morally and spiritually. They are constantly Changing they are constantly asking these questions like who am I who are my friends? Where am I going? What am I going to do? You know, what's my role in life? What's the point of my life? You know is Spiritual spirituality really important. Is it religion important? Is it is it worth having this moral code? Do I need friends? I need friends all these things. I Yeah, so there's this constant change that they are experiencing You know on a daily basis or on a regular basis and as if this wasn't enough There is also outside influencers that are shaping their values right from music to other medias peer groups materialism desirable lifestyle substance abuse this rising cases of depression and suicides and Then again, you know, we've spoken about sex with no rules. It's it's more of a recreational thing You know, they think it you know, anybody can do it with whoever they want whenever they want However, they want is this another thing that can be enjoyed You know, and so this is very prevalent than used to be in the generations before So and what all of this has done is it's Led us to observe a few trends that has in I mean all of these changes that they are Experiencing has been communicated in the form of different trends that's being set by these generations Okay, I've mentioned a few Friends in your notes. We can just look at it. So So all these challenging influences are leading to these trends One is secularization Right, secularization is nothing but just simply an act or it's a process of making something secular or becoming secular from a from religion Religious perspective, whatever, right? So in secularization religion and the religious value associated with it disappears from culture and are replaced with government ideals and other secular institutions Religion loses its influence over people as they embrace non religious movements This is one of the rising trends in this day and age and Then you have the gender revolution another trend that's a skyrocketing in its numbers across the world Where they are not happy with just a binary categories, which is male and female It's becoming more of a fluid thing or even optional, right? I mean, it's and it's not just limited to you know sexual thing biological thing Every day a person can identify themselves as whatever they want to There's this I'm I've mentioned this before it's one of the sessions There's this new culture called the woke culture. Anybody heard of it woke culture Yeah, it's It is I don't know what to call it It's yeah It's something else So you can identify yourself as whatever you want You know, you can You can identify yourself as a vegetable any vegetable you want to you can identify yourself as a camera You can identify yourself as an animal and go to school You can be going to face with a lion or a cat or a wolf and whatnot and then there's this Rise in the pronouns that they like to be identified as Like so, you know, they Entitled to call themself that if you want to address them you need to address them with a certain pronoun as they the whatever and it's and And if you look at it, it's when you look at it beyond it's Craziness Especially with these pronouns and whatnot You look at the Gospels and the demons in the Bible used to refer to themself as they and them and you know and it's it's very very demonic and That's what we need to keep in mind when we as we are, you know, this is going through certain some of these trends. It's just How the enemy Has an impact on the younger generation and trying to get a hold of them in in terms of these Trend and popular topics and whatnot. So gender revolution is huge At the moment and and another trend that is going on across is Privatization it's what you're one of the main reasons for privatization is that The government might be looking to improve the quality of services at a lower cost Okay, the government is may might be looking to improve the quality of services at lower cost which has led to private sectors or Company or contractor Contractors can manage to improve service quality without affecting cost due to their flexible policies You know, we talked we spoke about entrepreneurship and whatnot. So this is again another trend that is being set and Pluralization You know a plural or a plural society I'm just is one where the idea of the truth is not absolute Okay, it's a society where the idea of truth is not absolute. There is There is no understanding of truth like, you know before, you know The difference the difference between fact and a truth was understood like the fact can change But truth is consistent. It's constant that the truth will not change Yeah, that's why we say Jesus is the truth, right? He calls himself He is the truth because he is the same yesterday today and for ever, right? But so in a pluralistic society that is a society where Multiple groups again with unique ideologies and values work Collaboratively to influence government policies and are active in government Process or groups in a pluralistic society can be It can be determined by say culture or religion or Different ideologies or common ideologies and values and whatnot now all of this If you remember we spoke about five different generations Right and all of this is due to different generations wanting to be heard and that is and especially with this Days younger generation also wanted to be heard and they are pushing is causing all this Trends Okay, and we all know about the technology revolution. It's like nothing else. We've seen before and You know, everybody's talking about chat GPT and all of that Yeah, I mean we are heading somewhere Right and and finally Another trend is up that is observed is hyper individualism Right hyper individualism occurs it this trend is occurring when an individual need is Elevated above the needs of the collective society It's an all about me attitude that can that takes into account little consideration of others Right, how I mean I can give several examples and I'm again The only example that I'm able to think of at the moment is the entitlement of the say the LGBTQ community who Put their own needs above the needs of anything else Like it's you know, if they want to be addressed a certain way, they want it to be heard a certain way You know, they feel entitled and that has led to hyper individualism and that's kind of become a big group in itself It's all about me like it's all about how I feel I will wear whatever I want to because it's You know, because I feel like it who is who's the government to tell me who you know Who's a society to tell me what to wear what not to wear? You know, who should who I should you know, marry and who I should sleep with etc. Etc right you this following So and all of this and it's kind of intertwined in all in between all these trends Right. Are you guys with me? And so I Don't know about you, but it's a little scary Right And so when we just pause and slow down just a little bit When we try to drill down and look more closely at the influence of these friends we begin to understand how and why the local church is also being impacted and Why we need to take notice as well as action Okay, you're like, okay Roshan, why are you talking about all these trends? How is it relevant to youth ministry? It is when we stop noticing When our ministry especially in our context youth ministry becomes ineffective We think okay, it's you know We think it has nothing to do with the church and whatnot But it's very important. This is where the local church is being impacted And it's not just that we need to take notice, but we also need to take action It's like the challenges that the youth are facing that we spoke about in the last classes It's not enough know the challenges that they are facing But it is up to us now to take to do some measures to help them in their challenges Okay, and judges chapter 2 verse 10 Talks about after that generation died another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord Or remember the mighty things he had done for israel Let's look at that scripture After that generation died another generation grew up Who did not acknowledge the Lord all that is fine Or remember the mighty things now. How are they supposed to remember? Only if it was talked to them Right only if it was spoken off if it something was shared you tend to remember It seems like there was no proper discipleship Or mentoring that happened between one generation and and another and that That led to an entire generation Not knowing who their God was Um, so, you know, it's generations are passing away, you know One generation goes away and the other generation rises and that that'll keep happening. That's how life has functioned Um, and there's another study that says by 2030 by 2030 that is another what seven years from now. Yeah Millennials will represent 75 percent of the global workforce The question is will they represent 75 percent of your church Is I think it's an important question for us to ponder and ask ourselves as Leaders or pastors teachers whatnot. It's a very realistic number, right? They will represent 75 percent of the global workforce will they represent 75 percent of our church? Uh, I think it's a crucial Thing to notice. Uh, and do you that does anybody have any thoughts that you want to share or any question? Like anything that you've spoken of about so so far makes sense has made sense or you've observed somewhere You agree disagree Yes pastor. Um, this is my irp project topic which you are taking today So I am really enjoying every bit of it and turning so much But what I was thinking was where did it all start? Like what was that thing which triggered this, you know kind of trends Time and and how many how much when when actually it all began because And If we see in the history of uh, the word when we see the history We see even Sodom and Gomorrah was going through kind of challenges Yeah thousands and thousands years back homosexuality was prevalent even then Right, so it's not exactly what is you know, it's not very new To this this particular issue But apart from that technology has changed and what I believe is that nuclearization of the families Where you know children are left unmonitored in the house when both the parents go out to work and they are on their own and parents feel that to keep them engaged The best thing is they are with the technology where they were with the grandparents with their families around having been monitored and Being caught the right thing immediately being corrected is very important. Yes There and then if they get the message that this is right and wrong I think it helps a lot because by the time people realize things have gone out of hand It is so difficult and they don't have time now because they are constantly into that process where you know, they have to earn Because I use to that lifestyle Mother cannot leave the job sit with the children teach them the right thing to do Yeah, so maybe I might sound being a you know gen why I think so i'm I may think That women when they get out got out to work last maybe 100 years it's been more where you know, there's In the name of women's liberalization or you know, uh, that empowerment empowerment, you know, uh, where's the secular Teachings have come where uh, you know, women have Been educated to go out and work Has impacted you know fathers were always I know God had ordained them to go out and work and they were supposed to earn and prepare Provide for the family But mothers going out and then families being divided and being nuclearized has actually impacted this generation so much I was thinking From the foundation where the change had come and why we are not able to you know Impact the children the way They can be uh taught on the right track So I sometimes I may sound like I'm uh, you know against it. No, I'm not against women working or something but There should be a you know, there should be a prioritization of your Where you know your children need you more than the money you need because Yeah, uh, that is where the whole system has Changed and trends have you know on out of Everybody's control so we cannot probably blame blame the church for it. Yeah Church is doing its best but It's individual family values that matter. Yes Families knit into that chords of love where elders are respected in front of the children And children know my parents are respecting the elders and that is what I'm supposed to do If I'm being told no, I have to take it as a no Yeah, there's no way out and they they cannot manipulate parents because both are not available So they take advantage of here and there and they just Yeah, yeah, so that's what I was you know thinking about when you're teaching. That's what I want to share pastor. Thank you so much Thanks. I mean, thank you. Yeah Yeah, I think it's like this different. It's like the circle Uh, you know, it keeps going but it just looks a little different every time it goes around um as in say from the the silent generation but pre-45 It was all about they sacrificed their needs, uh, you know, the desires and whatnot And they would give up and then because of that after which they came the baby boomers who were kind of let's say, um spoiled and you know, um Like they they went after materialistic things and whatnot Uh, but if you look at the context even nowadays It's kind of the circle, but it looks just a little different So for example, let's say, uh, you know, as I'm sure a lot of you can relate to my kind of a, you know, raising up was, uh Growing up having uh, say having food from a restaurant was a luxury Having a bottle of coke at home Once in two months was a luxury. It was a party But uh, so but now You know We I I I can buy, you know every day if I wanted to or every week if I wanted to I can and thanks to swiggy and zomato I can order food from restaurants on a regular basis. Um, it's again It's it's it's a different kind of Circle it's like but it's similar circle, you know, it's same same but different kind of a thing Uh, but yeah, as as you mentioned it also begins with the way we have we were raised as well And some of the parents that I've had conversation Say that okay because I was raised a certain way because I did not have this because I was disciplined Constantly while growing up. I am not going to discipline my child. Uh, you know, there's a difference between abuse and disciplining Right, so you you see the drastic changes because I did not have anything that uh, because I did not get anything I asked for while I was growing up as a kid. I'm going to give Everything that my kid is going to ask for Which is fine as in but to a certain extent but uh, you know And the parents in this dna is I feel like there's an impulse to uh buy everything that your kid asks for and then to just Calm down and ask yourself. Okay. This is really necessary. You know, we're learning how to say no to our own kids It's very important. So, uh, you see, uh, I hope you get what I'm saying but um Yeah Anybody else want to add to uh, what's what what we've discussed so far? Yes, Christopher I was just thinking you mentioned about 75 percent of Of million years in the workforce and is it I mean, what is the I mean the 75 percent that that church I just wanted to find out in ABC judge, for example, uh, you know, what is the percentage right now of million years and The whole No, Christopher, uh, sorry. I don't have the exact count at the moment. Uh Like so we get this attendance every week that our administrator sends uh, as in the number of people who attended and whatnot So there you get to see the averages about 950 from across locations and then and just As just being as a youth pastor, I just come out of as a youth pastor You know, there are at least uh, uh 200 young people and so, um Yeah, that is between the teenagers and all the way to, um 34 Uh, so that's about say 200 Or so out of say a 9 9 58. That's about I don't know 25 20 percent um or not so And uh, the other question is with regards to uh You know this this work culture, uh, as I understand it's you know, it has been there for some time I mean for many years It's actually sort of like it's the word work is really coming from the word a walk as in wake up And um, I think it stemmed from, you know, racial uh, discrimination and social discrimination All right, where um, you know that has been there for me for many years I think this the Sort of fundamental difference is that now people can actually do different issues, you know And then that becomes, you know, that is part of the work culture And they're very vehement about, you know, that they are right and you know, they will, you know, sort of Push it down now people's throat Yes, yeah, I'm just trying to understand. I just trying to you know, I guess understand from a point of view of Where we are in the end times. Are there any biblical references to this kind of culture this kind of attitudes that that people have had? I mean, I guess uh, uh, you know, uh, I mean People are there any references to that? Uh in in the bible specifically not like, you know With exactly what we're talking about or the challenges, but then I mean it just it is very clear about He talks about persecution in one way, but it doesn't talk about that, you know The different kinds or the forms of persecution very specifically And so by looking at it all these kind of the I mean the church in In the states or you know is being persecuted because of certain cultures like this and it began like you said, uh, You know while ago where a gay couple wanted to sue the church because the church disagreed to conduct their marriage um So you you see in the church is being persecuted in its own way And so, uh, this bible doesn't specifically say, okay, this kind of thing this this this is going to happen But then uh, you identify overall at the way the church is being persecuted and say, okay, these are the end times Okay Okay, um, yeah, I mean finally one more person anybody else would like to add anything Okay, uh, great. So, um I thought I think I'll pause here, uh for this session And uh, we'll resume on Wednesday. Maybe stop Probably Wednesday will be our last session. Um, I think the next session we kind of complete, uh the course content Yeah, is that okay? Cool. All right. Um, awesome. Uh, thank you guys for joining in. I will see you all around the guys. Take care Okay, bye