Talks about discernment are nice and good, but the 1-2 hours a week that you spend with your youth pale in comparison to the 6 or more hours a day that our students spend consuming media. Perhaps before you try teaching your students better morality, you should ask yourself why your students consume "unhealthy" music, video games, movies and internet in the first place.
I think the answer is that most high school students feel empty and they are using music they like, entertaining movies and web pages totry to fill themselves up. This is not an issue of morality, its an issue of what is fulfilling in life. Talking about morality only works if your students feel guilty about consuming such media and they clearly do not. In order to fill their emptiness, you need to show them who the person is who truly fills people up. Once they feel more full in Christ, they will be less likely to turn to forms of media in order to seek fulfillment. Showing them Christ means being graceful and understanding of who they are and it also means practicing the spiritual disciplines with your students. Read "Almost Christian" by Kenda Dean and "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster for more information.
Posted in: Adult Content in Youth Ministry?
Talks about discernment are nice and good, but the 1-2 hours a week that you spend with your youth pale in comparison to the 6 or more hours a day that our students spend consuming media. Perhaps before you try teaching your students better morality, you should ask yourself why your students consume "unhealthy" music, video games, movies and internet in the first place.
I think the answer is that most high school students feel empty and they are using music they like, entertaining movies and web pages totry to fill themselves up. This is not an issue of morality, its an issue of what is fulfilling in life. Talking about morality only works if your students feel guilty about consuming such media and they clearly do not. In order to fill their emptiness, you need to show them who the person is who truly fills people up. Once they feel more full in Christ, they will be less likely to turn to forms of media in order to seek fulfillment. Showing them Christ means being graceful and understanding of who they are and it also means practicing the spiritual disciplines with your students. Read "Almost Christian" by Kenda Dean and "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster for more information.