Africa is continually getting younger.  In nearly ten years of travelling and ministering in Eastern and Southern Africa, one of my most vivid images is that of streets, villages, and churches all teeming with youth.  In many parts of Africa, “more than sixty percent of the population is under twenty-one years of age” (O’Donovan, 2000:205).  Due to the AIDS pandemic, life expectancy figures are expected to drop below the age of forty by 2010 in at least eleven African countries (CNN, 2002)! Among the many severe consequences of a continent being emptied of its adult population, one obvious effect is that society is left swarming with unguided youth. This phenomenon is not entirely negative.  Young people bring with them great zest for life, an eagerness to tackle new challenges, and an innovativeness.  They are also more willing to question the status quo, which is necessary at times.  Young people have often been the sparks God has used to light the flames of great revivals and missionary movements in history. 

1.1 Top Troubles 

Yet there are also serious challenges and concerns arising when one deals with today’s youth.  For all who seek to help youth toward maturity – whether parents and relatives, pastors and youth workers, teachers, counsellors, social workers and health workers, or neighbours – there seems to be no end to the number of obstacles along the path. Suppose that one was asked by a local newspaper to attempt a list of the top troubles currently among youth.  Here is a suggested list (in no particular order), using South Africa as an example (where I live and work; yet many items on this list are universal youth issues) (Codrington, 1999a; CASE, 2000; Gillis, 1994:96-169; Schwartz & Codrington, 1999:120-133; O’Donovan, 2000:205-216; van Greunen, 1994): fear, anxiety and stress, especially over: AIDS; death of parents; crime; failure in studies; relationships (friendships and dating) unstable or broken homes (65% have already experienced a divorce; only 23.5% state that they “definitely” spend regular meaningful time with their parents), depression, suicide, addictions – smoking, alcohol, and drugs, peer pressure, sexual immorality and HIV/AIDS (by far the number one youth killer, with estimates from 30% of young people to as high as 75% infected in some areas), crime, pressures especially in African communities:  poverty (57.2% of black community); poor education; pressure regarding traditional practices (e.g., initiation rites and circumcision).

Is society blind to these glaring problems?  On the contrary, great effort and energies are being expended on exposing most of these goblins that seem to attack and devour our precious youth.  In South Africa, among Christian sources alone there is a massive arsenal of detailed research and statistics on major youth issues, seeking to understand, evaluate, and offer workable solutions (Codrington, 1999a; Price, 1998). One can now consult in-depth profiles of “Generation X” (“Busters,” born between 1970-90) and “Generation Y” (“Millenials,” born between 1990-2005) for exploring any aspect of South African youth culture.  Church growth analysts, demographic experts, and youth researchers are all being enlisted to give youth workers and parents the latest data on their teens.  You can now receive up-to-date forecasts on every possible influence your teen will encounter in a typical day.  As a result, many youth pastors/clergy are eagerly restructuring their entire ministries in both style and content to attract the postmodern young person (Zoba, 1997:18-28; Schwartz & Codrington, 1999:120-133; Codrington, 1999c).

As seen above, none can doubt that contemporary youth-problems are being well documented.  But are these same problems being equally well diagnosed?  All too often the experts are found disagreeing over the causes of youth problems, resulting in even further confusion over what are the best solutions.  The number of revisions in the standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in the last fifty years since it was published is one indicator of the ‘fog’ in today’s counselling (Almy, 2000:291).

Another evidence is the number of experts now starting to question standard diagnoses, such as the long-standing belief that low self-esteem is the root of many youth problems (Hewitt, 1998; Baumeister, 1993; Vitz, 1994).  Recent news articles have carried such titles as, “Losing Faith in the Self-Esteem Movement,” and “Self-Esteem’s Dark Side Emerges” (Chavez, 1996; Colvin, 1999).  These articles recount examples such as exams where students’ performance was inversely proportionate to their self-confidence (Colvin, 1999:3), and research showing that “high self-esteem is more often associated with violence than low self-esteem” (Chavez, 1996).

In one popular counselling book in South Africa written for “parents, teachers, and those in helping professions,” the very first chapter (taking up a quarter of the whole book) is a daunting description of the four different, often contradictory theories for diagnosing youth problems (Gillis, 1994:10-49).  The psychoanalysts think the answer lies in actively uncovering a teen’s unconscious hurts, while the person-centred (or client-centred) therapist passively listens and relates to the teen, believing that youth already possess the capacity to change.  Insight therapists (or Rational-Emotive Therapy) focus internally on changing thought patterns, while behaviourists focus externally on use of rewards and punishment to bring change.  The author then concludes by telling us that the counsellor must keep trying each approach until he sees what works.  But in the meantime, the dear youngster sits there like a guinea pig waiting to see which experiment succeeds (usually at no small cost either)!

Should we then be surprised that therapists and sociologists cannot agree on the remedy for youth problems when they’ve never first agreed on a diagnosis?  Everyone knows that diagnosis determines remedy.  After declaring that the patient has an ear infection, the doctor does not reach for the throat lozenges.  If he did, that patient would take it as a prescription to find a better doctor fast!  Who would keep going to a doctor who applied useless or superficial remedies based on a faulty diagnosis?  The success of the treatment depends primarily upon his skill in interpreting the problem.  Surely at some point an unhealed illness drives us to question the diagnosis!

Doubtless, today’s analysts have insured that we have a detailed grasp of all the symptoms of each ‘disease’ found among our troubled youth.  Now more than ever we stand staring with sadness at the infected, pitiful fruits dangling from the tree.  Yet we still await evidence of true healing.  We wait to see solid, lasting changes in the fruit our youth are bearing in their lives.  One searches hard for a movement of youth who are not merely learning how to stay out of trouble by coping with their circumstances but who are being equipped with true wisdom for how to live all of life.  One longs for more youth, as well as parents and counsellors, who are learning to recognise the root motives behind behaviour – the ‘whys’ behind what we do (Tripp, 1997:89-91).  Until this is grasped, we fear that few youth will be well armed for the future waves of temptations to be faced throughout life (Tripp, 1997:127-166, 191-209; Hine, 1999:296-304).

– Tim Cantrell, President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Shepherds’ Seminary