c. 1999 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.)

UNDATED _ The Rev. Eugene Rivers, who runs Boston’s acclaimed Ella J. Baker House for troubled youth, tells the now famous story of an inner-city drug dealer’s approach to influencing young children.

The drug dealer, Selvin Brown, contrasted his success in reaching kids with the corresponding failure of the local church.”I’m there,”he said,”when Johnny goes out for a loaf of bread for Mama. I’m there, you’re not. I win, you lose. It’s all about being there.” Being there. Wherever there is.

As the Christian church enters the new millennium, ministry is increasingly going to be about being there. For many in the church, this will require a change in the way we do business.

Look at the evidence.

According to a recent Gallup Youth Survey, more than half of the nation’s young people are pessimistic about the future. When asked to make projections about the state of the world in the year 2025, 65 percent of teen-agers said the quality of life for the average American will be worse in 25 years than it is today.

According to Youthviews, a publication of the Gallup International Institute, which published the results, the remaining 35 percent”think it will be the same. No one thinks it will be better.”Similarly,”a majority of American teens think that in 2025 it will be harder to raise children to be good people (69 percent); to find and keep a good job (65 percent); or to afford medical care (59 percent).” Teens have equally dismal expectations with respect to such subjects as the likelihood of catastrophic events _ a nuclear strike, for instance; the possibility of economic collapse; and the continuing proliferation of illegal drugs.

Keep in mind such”doom-mongering,”in Youthviews’ words, is being fostered within a social context where all truths are perceived to be equal. With approximately 40 percent of children living with only one parent, responsible, adult guidance is in short supply.

Yet, according to Gallup, guidance from responsible adults is exactly what teens crave.”Fully two-thirds of teens (67 percent) say they have a role model _ that is, someone that they admire and want to be like.” Contrary to popular belief, such role models are rarely rich or famous.”Nearly all say their role model provides a good example for them in his or her personal life and behavior.” In addition, studies indicate a keen interest among young people in things spiritual, including a desire to know and understand God.

Thus, for the Christian church, the future is now.

We have before us an opportunity to positively impact a generation of dispirited, pessimistic young people who are looking for role models to exemplify godliness through personal integrity.

But we have to be there. Wherever there is. Weekly youth groups are not going to be enough. That approach may have worked a generation ago, when both parents lived at home and could reinforce the principles taught at church by the group.

But not today. With the proliferation of single-parent families, many young people are raising themselves and their siblings while their custodial parent _ usually the mother _ is working. In such cases, the mother is less concerned about getting the teen saved than she is about ensuring that he is safe.

Thus, the church must partner with the family, making itself available, in Selvin Brown’s terms, by being where Johnny is. Indeed, it is only by being accountable to Johnny, in being where he is, that the church can demand accountability from Johnny.

Jesus said of the lost,”The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest”(Luke 10:2).

Any takers?

DEA END ATCHISON