1. The New Adolescent & Hurt kids
Chap Clark
Professor of Youth, Family and Culture
Fuller Theological Seminary

2. When is someone an “adult”?
Why I got into this…
“The HURT guy”
Development and youth ministry…
When is someone an “adult”?

3. Understanding growing up…
Individuation and the Three Tasks of Adolescence
Individuation:
The process of becoming a unique person
Identity – Who am I?
Autonomy – POWER
Autonomy – Do I matter?
Belonging – Does anybody care?

4. Understanding growing up…
The overall process
Timing and duration

5. Timing and Duration Puberty Culture Pre-1900 14.5 16 1970-1980s 13
18/20
11/12
mid-20s
Today

6. The overall process Timing and duration Changing Stages
Understanding growing up…
The overall process
Timing and duration
Changing Stages

7. Changing Stages 1930s-1990s Independent Dependent Interdependent 14-1513
18-20
Dependent
Interdependent

8. Teenage brain
“If you think of the teenage brain as a car, today's adolescents acquire an accelerator a long time before they can steer and brake.”
- WSJ, What’s wrong with the teenage mind?“ Alison Gopnik, January 28, 2012

9. Changing Stages 1990s-2000s Independent Dependent Interdependent 14-15
19-21 12
mid-20s
Dependent
Interdependent

10. Changing Stages Independent Emerging Adulthood Dependent
mid2000-Today
Independent
14-15
19-21 12
mid-20s
early-30s?
Emerging Adulthood
J. J. Arnett
Dependent
Interdependent

11. Society’s response to kids
Understanding growing up…
The overall process
Timing and duration
Changing Stages
Society’s response to kids

13. Kids have been “hurried” (Elkind)
An overview of research on kids:
What data shows us…
Kids have been “hurried” (Elkind)
Adolescence itself has changed
Less adult support for kids
More stress, pain than ever before

14. They are the MOST STRESSED generation in history
How kids have responded to ABANDONMENT
They are the MOST STRESSED generation in history

15. Kids have been “hurried”
What is it to grow up in today’s world?
Kids have been “hurried”
“TODAY’S child has become the unwilling, unintended victim of overwhelming stress – the stress borne of rapid, bewildering social change and constantly rising expectations.”
- The Hurried Child, David Elkind
(1981,1992, 2001, 2006)

16. Cultural reality?
An exponential loss of Social Capital from those who are necessary in the lives of our kids

17. From fragmentation to atomization

18. “At the core of social capital is trust.”

20. How kids have been treated by adults…

21. How kids have responded to ABANDONMENT
The Cost:

22. They live out of multiple identities
all
How kids have responded to ABANDONMENT
They live out of multiple identities

23. The “successful” kids learn to adapt
all
How kids have responded to ABANDONMENT
The “successful” kids learn to adapt

24. all
How kids have responded to ABANDONMENT
Peers and friendships

25. What a child needs: 1. Family Influence 2. Healthy Attachment
Response to HURTing Kids
What a child needs:
1. Family Influence
2. Healthy Attachment

26. What a child needs: Family Influence Family Safety and Stability 14-15
19-21 12
mid-20s
Family Safety and Stability

27. Paternal Style Attachment
What a child needs:
Family Attachment
14-15
19-21 12
mid-20s
Hope
Communal Attachment
Comfort
Paternal Style Attachment
GentlenessMaternal Style Attachment
Family Safety and Stability

28. When there are holes in the net…
Childhood Attachment
Youth Professional
Community Attachment
Family Safety and Stability

29. When there are holes in the net…
Youth Professional
Family Friend
Ext Family
Childhood Attachment
Community Attachment
Small Group
Teacher/ Coach
Family Safety and Stability
5 to 1 Project: A Community for Every Kid

30. The Biblical GOAL of Youth Ministry
Adoptive ministry…

31. HURT 2.0: Caring for today’s kids:
Changing how we do what we do to Serve and love in today’s culture

32. HURT 2.0: What is life like for kids today?
(Overview of the Research)
What are their most basic needs?
(Overview of Development)
What is our response?
(Overview of Response)

33. Life Today: Basic Needs: Ministry Response: Extended adolescence
To find a safe place to land
Ministry Response:
Biblical discipleship vs. shaming and manipulation

34. Life Today: Basic Needs: Ministry Response: Lack of Social Capital
Supportive adults and systems
Ministry Response:
Trained (and committed) volunteer leaders

35. Life Today: Basic Needs: Ministry Response: Weirdness of adaptation
Empowered to explore life
Ministry Response:
Provide voice and opportunities

36. Life Today: Basic Needs: Ministry Response: Morality? Really… Morals??
Find a moral compass
Ministry Response:
Recast ethical teaching (Modeling)

37. Life Today: Basic Needs: Ministry Response: (Kids) At the Margins
Broader exposure/life experience
Ministry Response:
Invite to agency in kingdom

38. Life Today: Basic Needs: Ministry Response:
The REAL SCOOP on lasting faith
Basic Needs:
To embrace their own spiritual journey
Ministry Response:
Move toward adoption as the goal
of youth ministry