What If There Was A Different Way?

A new study has been released that offers new insight into the sleep habits of American teenagers. Brace yourself, this may shock you. They don't sleep enough. New research is out that gives as a fairly in-depth peek into the sleep habits of our students.

In this latest report, we are told, once again, that almost all of America's teens do not come anywhere close to getting the recommended nine to ten hours of sleep per night.  According to this study it is far more likely that a typical American teenager will get closer to five hours/night rather than the highly recommended nine or ten.  If my math is correct (which is no guarantee) that would mean that, assuming that most have to awake sometime between five and six o clock in order to get to school on time, on average, our students are finally drifting off to dreamland well after midnight and perhaps as late/early as one or two o clock in the morning.

While the statistics are interesting, they, for anyone who either has, was, or works with middle school and high school students, are not the least bit surprising, nor is this anything new.  I remember these same conversations taking place when I was in high school and as I remember my own sleep habits as a teenager, I was certainly on the five to six hours a night side of the scale. When it comes to teenagers getting an even somewhat adequate amount of rest each day, the struggle is real.  As I was reading this article, I found myself thinking about a conversations that I have had over the years with students, and I remember thinking, as they detailed to me how much homework and how many hours of extracurricular activities they had each day, "Gosh, when do you sleep?"  And as it turned out, they really didn't.  Of course, the causes for the sleep deprivation that exists among our students has been well documented and debated.  It seems that everyone has their own opinion about what needs to change in order for some semblance of balance is restored.  It's either school start times, the amount of homework that is assigned each day, the amount of hours required by band, choir, theater, and athletics, after (or before) school jobs, or maybe it is in fact the increased prevalence of technology in the bedroom of our teenagers.

The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle.  It is a combination of these factors in addition to a variety of other variables that contributes to the seemingly constant sleepiness of our students.  No matter which way we slice it, teenagers are busy.  From the moment they wake to the moment they (eventually) go to sleep, they bounce from activity to activity and obligation to obligation. It hardly seems that for many, there is even enough time left in the day to eat, let alone rest.  So what place does the Church, and it's ministry to her students, have in the already jam packed lives of those same students that we have been called to serve?

On average, youth ministers and volunteer leaders get somewhere between three to six hours a week of "programmed" time with their students. Currently, at the church I serve I am blessed to have about four hours a week set aside for our youth ministry program. There is a temptation in those precious few hours we have to share together to pack as much in as we possibly can.  This, of course,is the continuing trend in our culture, and thus, in our attempt to "stay relevant," this is the continuing trend in youth ministry.  It seems only reasonable, after all, if we only have four hours a week to "bring kids to Jesus," then we better pack it all in, right?  The temptation is there for us to bounce from music to games, to Bible studies in quick succession, feeling like time (and attention spans) is at a premium.

This is an approach to ministry that I do not understand, and one that seems completely counter intuitive as we consider the already over programmed and exhausting lives so many of our students already lead.  Why does the Church, the place where all (students and adults alike) have traditionally come to seeking sanctuary and rest, have to resemble each and every other moment of our chaotic lives?  The short answer is, it does not.  Lest we forget that we come to Church on the Sabbath, the Holy day of rest.  Youth, how often do you leave your places of worship just as exhausted as you would leave your schools, rehearsal halls, or playing fields?  Adults, do you ever come to church just as (if not more) concerned about what you are responsible for that day as if you were headed off to work?  If you answered "yes" to these questions than that means we, as ministers, are doing you a disservice and that our congregations have lost sight of our original charge: to be a place of safe haven where a meeting between the Creator and Creation can be facilitated.

What if there was a different way?  What if there was a way of ministry that was not so much focused on "what we are going to do," but instead was focused on "how we are going to be?"  What if we were able to create safe, sacred space within the midst of our fundraisers, Bible studies, mission projects, and trips to the bowling alley, for rest, for silence, for intentional prayer, and for unstructured conversation that allows faith, life, and relationships to intersect in altogether beautiful and unexpected ways?  What if "Youth Group" (or whatever fancy name you have for your program) could once again be a place where we no longer hear how tired our students are, because we are giving them the space to rest and recover in the way that the need that night? What if, in short, our ministries became far less about program, and far more about presence?