If you've worked in college ministry for very long I'm sure that you heard the term/s:
- prolonged adolescence, or
- delayed adulthood, or
- "thresholders", or
- emerging adulthood, or
- boomerang kids, or even
- youthhood
in describing a new phase of life that has sprung up between youth and adulthood. If you haven't, here's a good article that USA Today published on it back in 2004.
What this article suggests, as do the many sociologists and psychologists who study this new phase of development, is that today's "young adults" [ages 18-32] are taking longer and longer to assume many of the "adult" responsibilities in life.
With all of the technological advances, adult-themed media and families struggles that have experienced firsthand, it seems that too many kids have grown up too fast.
Upon graduation from high school and "moving on" - be it to college, a job or life outside of their parents home - many struggle to step into new realms of responsibility. They don't however, struggle to step into new realms of freedom!
These 'emerging adults' love all of the opportunities afforded to them outside of the parental home... but don't care as much for the responsibility side of that same coin. Because of this we have seen the birth and rise of the 'helicopter parent' or the more recent upgraded version - 'the Apache helicopter parent' - yes, this one doesn't just hover, it also attacks!
I've been wondering for a while now how this phenomenon shapes our ministry efforts to this age group. Some questions I've been asking myself are:
- What kind of effects is this new phase of life having on the faith development process?
- Are the ways we've approached this age group in the past still effective? Efficient?
- What can we expect from college students in this phase - both as students and student leaders?
- Is there something we should be doing to slow down, stop, or even reverse this process? Is anything even possible?
I'll give some thoughts on these questions tomorrow.
But what do you think?
What questions are you asking in relation to this 'prolonged adolescence' factor to our ministries?
