Youth or Student: Does Language Really Matter?

I read a fascinating article this weekend over at youthministry.com by Christian Smith, the director of The National Study of Youth and Religion. Anyone connected to youth ministry over the past few years has undoubtedly heard about, read about, and spent time reflecting on this study.

The article is titled Student vs Youth: Is there a difference?

I remember reading a blog post a few years ago, which I won't link, where the author talked of his first task at his new youth ministry position would be to change the term 'youth ministry" to "student ministry."

According to this article, that was a bad move. Smith pulls no punches as he describes how language does matter and calls using the term "student" a travesty. He encourages all youth ministries to use the language "youth ministry" instead of "student ministry" and "teenagers" instead of "students."

Some of the commenter's tend to disagree- but I believe Smith makes a compelling argument. I really resonate and agree with what he says here and my language in ministry reflects that. However, I never really connected the why, or saw any problem with the term before reading this.

I have good friends who have websites, ministries, and blogs using the name "student ministry" in some form and would be interested in hearing their perspective on this.

Comments

[Ben]

I read the article and wonder if this is a necessary battle. We must choose our battles carefully, and while I understand his reasons, I wonder how many students really think this deeply about being called "youth" or "students."

[Blaine]

I really think this is mostly a silly battle.

However, I think the best points are made by one of the commenters named Crystal thn the author. The change was made to differentiate between children's programs (youth sports, youth sizes, etc) and teen programs. But, it still doesn't matter that much. They aren't offended- or excited- about either title.

Actually, we need to find something cooler...

[Tim Schmoyer]

It seems like every couple months there's another big terminology deal pushed somewhere on the web: workers vs. volunteers, pastor vs. minister, director vs. coordinator, etc. Sometimes I feel like we're making a mountain out of a molehill. Are we not ALL students? Throughout our entire lives we are all learning from each other, the church and God's Word. But if you want to get technical, in most of my conversations, students identify themselves more as a student than a youth. Plus, culturally speaking, some studies argue that the "youth" demographic now extends into the early 20s. (Every retired adult in our church would agree at people in their 40s are still young!) "Youth" is relative.

[-Justin-]

Hey guys- thanks for the comments. I do agree that out of all the issues we deal with in ministry- this is a minor one. My main point of agreement forms out of the church not allowing the state to determine our theological terminology. Sure, as Christians we are all students, but we only classify teenagers by that distinction.

But again- it is a molehill. Teenagers care much more about community and relationships than terms of classification.

[Blair]

Justin,

Glad that we could reconnect. You've got quite the thriving community here.

I don't think that this is a molehill. I don't think it is a mountain either but it is not inconsequential what we call each other. I'm not sure that Brethren or African American churches that call each other "brother" or "sister" are always more loving than other churches but they at least are implicitly valuing each other as family. That is much different than valuing young people for what they do or how the state defines them.

At issue here is ecclesiology. Is the church a place where people come, consume their faith product and are primarily defined by what they do in relation to their income? Or is the church the collected witness to God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit? Or is it something else? Youth Ministry too often settles for "efficient" when we should strive for "faithful." We never surface what we implicitly believe about the church and therefore things like how we address each other become "molehills" when they are in fact important.

In many ways, I don't care what young people want to be called. As a minister it is my responsibility to engage them in constructing an identity based on the life changing message of the Gospel. I don't want to denigrate young people and call them something that will infantilize them. At the same time, 'students' to me puts them in a box, a box unrelated to the Gospel I proclaim and therefore a box I'm not willing to support.