Welcome to another week of the Friday Five. With things like Ahmaud Arbery, the remaking of religion, new shows, social media and influential leaders on the docket for today’s post, let’s jump right in!

1. Remaking Religion- How many of our teenagers would classify themselves as a religious “none”, even though Bethel is under the ECO Presbyterian denomination? A lot of teenagers would consider themselves “nones” or not wanting to have any affiliation with any particular religious tradition. Most cite things like sexism, homophobia, intolerance, dogmatism or the way a tradition holds organized worship as just a few reasons they do not want to have any affiliation. The one thing to note here is that studies show most teens use their personal beliefs to justify being considered a “none” when in reality, their personal beliefs may not align with what we are taught to believe biblically. How do we as parents, youth pastors, church members and friends teach our teens what the bible says and what we are to do with that biblical knowledge? It cannot all happen at youth, church and Sunday school. What better a place to start than at home… especially with all this time on our hands!
2. Talking about Ahmaud Arbery- Obviously it is a very tragic thing that happened to Ahmaud Arbery, but how are you talking about it with your teens and helping them cope. It’s not like we can hide our teens from hearing about it because if they have a cell phone or computer… it’s being talked about everywhere. And how we do or do not react speaks volumes to them. They need us to help them process everything, including and especially all the outrage and new details that keep coming to light. They need us to show them how to weep with those who weep while still seeking justice and defending the oppressed. They need us to model the heart of God by caring about all people, even those who have done wrong. Our world is broken and messy, and we will tremendously help our kids by having a nuanced approach to a horrible situation.
3. Outer Banks- A new Netflix show called Outer Banks is grabbing the hearts and minds of our teenagers as they relate so much to a show which is set on NC’s Outer Banks. They relate mostly because it has all the drama they are used too which includes things like family, friendship, romance, murder, shipwrecks, and surfing. Unfortunately, the show also sends some extremely off-putting messages glorifying casual drug use and advocating for the disregard of parental authority. It’s an interesting story about loyalty and love, but the showrunners could have been more thoughtful in the way parental relationships in particular are depicted. Just be careful if your teen is watching this and make sure you talk about some of the things that they are seeing in the episodes they are watching.
4. Tik Tok Lawsuits- TIkTok has had its fair share of lawsuits about user privacy and much to no one’s surprise… they have violated most of them. Most of the meme’s and videos that are being consumed by your teenagers from their favorite or most popular influencers, don’t always have the best message. Although there is a lot of good on social media, there is just as much bad. Trying to shelter your teen from seeing some of this is only good for a little while because they are more than likely going to see it on a friend’s phone or sent as a screen share via snapchat. The best thing to do is have an open dialogue about what content your teen sees on the popular apps like TikTok, Instagram, or snapchat. Let them know that everything they see is not as it appears and assure them that not everyone has it all together like it may seem.
5. Ravi Zacharias- The Christian community has been reacting to the news of popular writer, teacher, and nonprofit founder Ravi Zacharias’ terminal cancer diagnosis. Celebrities from Lecrae to Tim Tebow posted under #ThankYouRavi, commenting on how teaching from the apologist changed their lives and encouraged their faith. Zacharias became known for addressing philosophical questions of suffering with a strong emphasis on the Bible and an unwillingness to settle for easy answers. Especially for teens with a lot of questions, sharing books and videos from RZIM within your family might be an activity worth looking into. Apologetics is something that most teens really have taken a liking too and the more grounded we can make their faith now… the better chance they will stay connect to their faith in college and beyond.

We hope that each week you can pull one piece of teen culture that you didn’t know and use it to better the lives of those teenagers that you have in your life. Reach out if you ever have any questions about anything and as always we want to thank the folks at Axis Youth for helping with content for our Friday Five. Until next time… Jeremy