Research Papers

Creating Urban Evangelicalism: Youth Ministry, Moral Boundaries, and Social Diversity
by Rhys H. Williams, University of Cincinnati
& R. Stephen Warner, University of Illinois at Chicago
May 2001

Presented to: “Evangelicals and Political and Civic Engagement Conference,” sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, June 2001

Part I

INTRODUCTION

Two propositions have a degree of societal consensus that seem to qualify them for the status of “facts.” First is the idea that young people today face a huge number of social problems that make growing into a healthy adulthood a challenge. Substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, crime and violence in society and in schools, and uncertain economic futures are among these issues. Second, much recent research on religion and adolescent well-being (see examples such as Donohue and Benson 1995; Stark 1996) shows that religiousness (variously measured) is positively correlated with prosocial behaviors and attitudes, such as success at school, and negatively correlated with behaviors such as substance abuse and suicide attempts. These correlations withstand controls for self-rated educational ability, gender, and household type; they also seem to apply across ethnic groups and religious traditions. These two “facts” lead many parents to be particularly concerned with the religious upbringing, continued involvement, and identification of their children. On top of this assessment of the benefits for young people of religious involvement is the fact that many parents feel their religion holds truths that are important to their children’s spiritual lives and salvation.

Along with concern for their own children, people from many religious traditions – and for the purposes of this essay we are focusing on evangelical Protestants – also feel a ‘calling” to spread their faith to those who are not churched. It is part of their religious duty to spread their faith; and, in addition, many believe that bringing their faith to others in society will help ameliorate wider social problems. In this essay, we will report on some research that is concerned with youth programs in a number of evangelical churches, and examine the ways in which these programs reach out to youth, trying to encourage in them the growth of healthy religious and social identities, as well as prepare them to help make a better society.

It is also the case that many parents who are evangelical Protestant feel that passing on their religious tradition may be a particular challenge for them. They often represent what are generally considered “conservative” religious traditions, in a society often known for its liberalness. Evangelicals often infuse the world with religious significance, but live in a culture that has come to differentiate, segment, and compartmentalize religion. Thus, many American evangelical Protestants regard themselves and their religious commitments as “embattled” (e.g., Smith et al 2000). Finally, of course, almost all American young people go through a period of adolescent rebellion, and thus resist many of their parents’ attempts to mould their lives, whether the young people have secular influences from the wider culture or not.

Young people express their religion and their spirituality in many ways, often in non-organizational settings. Young people, particularly if they leave home for college or a first job, eschew involvement with religious organizations. They often claim they “don’t need a church to be a good Christian” or that they find spiritual nourishment in nature, or with friends, and the like (scholarship documents many examples of this type of thinking and language; e.g., Bellah et al 1985; Roof 1993; Williams et al 2000). Nonetheless, churches and parachurches as social settings are particularly significant sites for developing and passing on religious commitments, and are often key to the prosocial benefits religion has for youth. The networks young adults develop in these settings provide role models, self-esteem, emotional, and even material support. True, many associational activities do this, not just churches (see McLaughlin et al. 1994). But all associations have a particular content to them, and religious organizations give this content a specific moral character. They can link that moral content to a community and its past, present, and future. They offer a vision, both explicitly and implicitly, of how a moral person should live in the world.

We are interested in religious organizations and institutions and how they work with young people – and reciprocally, how youth are involved in and oriented to, religious organizations. In part we are asking organizational-level questions because organizations are so central to the formation of individual, group, and social identity. We live in an organizational society, both religiously and otherwise (see, for example, Demerath, et al. 1998). Our sociological conviction is that involvement in religious organizations matters because institutions matter to the development of healthy individuals and the maintenance of a healthy society. People do not grow up in an institutionless vacuum, they are shaped by institutions in many ways, some of which they can only dimly perceive. Thus the character and nature of institutions matter; if we as a society are to have informed, engaged, and compassionate citizens, we must have institutions that foster those qualities.

By looking at the involvement of young people in organizations, we are looking as much at the development of “collective identity” as we are personal, individual identity. Collective identity is directly centered on giving shape and content to the "we" with whom we identify and the "they" from whom we distinguish ourselves. Such distinctions take place through "boundary markers" that are symbolic, and that are often embodied in the organizations with which people are associated (see Hunt et al. 1994; Lamont and Fournier 1992; Williams 1997). Of course, religion often plays a role in establishing those boundaries; they can be discriminatory and narrowly sectarian. However, religion can also provide leverage for negotiating and transcending those boundaries – when a "we" is securely held, a potential universalism can encompass a "they." That identities and boundaries are being actively negotiated in late adolescence is well known. Thus, the intersection between young adults and their religious organizations is a particularly useful site for exploring questions of both individual identity and institutional and societal health.

In sum, we are asking two questions in our current research on youth and religion. First, we are asking how religious organizations and institutions (from here on out generally referred to as “churches”) are reaching out to young people, attracting them to their organizational programs and keeping them involved in the institution. Second, we are interested in what types of individual and collective identities these programs are fostering, and how those identities are oriented to society and public life. For this essay we focus specifically on evangelical Protestant churches.

DATA

To address these questions, we draw upon data gathered among young adults in the Chicago area under the Youth and Religion Project, which we co-direct. The project has focused on young people and has examined their orientations to and involvement with religious organizations. We have divided youth into two basic categories – emancipated youth (organizationally involved in what we call “young adult ministries”) and youth still living with their families of origin (involved with what we call “family ministries”). These categories are not mutually exclusive and exhaustive, however. We have also studied youth ministries that are largely composed of high school-age students; many of these youth are attending the same church with their parents, but many are not – either their parents are not churched at all, or the young people are attending a completely different church (often in a different faith tradition) from their families. Some of the young people we are most interested in form this latter group. They are often from poorer neighborhoods, and are often more at risk from aspects of life “on the street.” In organizational terms they are more like emancipated youth in that they are making autonomous decisions about religious involvement, but they are not living separately from their families.(1)

We recognize that we have been in touch with young people most connected to their religion and to religious communities. As a result, we make no assumptions or generalizations about young people generally, especially about those who have left their religion behind completely. We assume, in fact, that remaining connected to – or developing anew – a religious identity is important to the young people with whom we are concerned. Our data come from a variety of sources. Specifically, we use data from: individual depth interviews; focus group interviews; site visits to religious organizations for both worship services and religious lectures and classes; and analysis of literature and periodicals available at our investigative sites. We have also done interviews with adult religious leaders of young adult, youth, and family ministries. Because of human subjects concerns we have not done depth interviews with anyone under 18 (although informal conversations at a youth group meeting often appear in our field notes). Finally, we have done – and are in fact continuing to do – “family ethnographies,” in which spend a day with a family, participating in and observing their religious practices (whether this means attending a worship service, performing a ceremony in the home, or participating in some church-based activity).

1.Leaders from one church estimated that 60% of their senior high group comes to church with their parents, and 40% comes alone.

Continue: Part II
Continue: Part III
References: Part IV

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