Coming of Age in the 21st Century

Emerging Adults

What does it mean to be an adult? How do you know when you have arrived?

Defining terminologyEmerging adulthood: DevelopmentalMillenials: Generational term

“The search for youth is not all-permissibility, but rather for directly facing up to what truly counts”

Erik Erikson, psychanalyst

Emerging Adults

There is an increasing number of people with post-secondary education in Canada.

Macro Changes Leading To A New Life Phase

Series10%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

46% 49%

60%66%

1997 2000 2006 2011

Marriage In CanadaThe age of first marriage is increasing. Reasons for not marrying include the need to become your own person, cannot afford it, travel narrative, parental resistance, inclining confidence in the institution of marriage, a pursuit of sexual chemistry.

Macro Changes Leading To A New Life Phase

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 201005

101520253035

24.3 25 24 23.5 22.9 23.726

27.9 29.627.8 28.2 2725.2

22.825.9

27.6 30 31.6

Females Males

Career (In)stabilityThe average person changes jobs 7 times in the first

ten years after completing post-secondary training.1 Therefore, employees and employers see employment as a low commitment arrangement.

Only 1 in 10 18-26 year olds think of their current job as a career2.

In US, emerging adults reach the median wage at 30 versus 26 in 1980.2

1Arnett, Emerging Adults In America2Failure To Launch (Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce)

Macro Changes Leading To A New Life Phase

Financial Apron StringsIt is estimated that US parents support their

children on average $38,000 after high school graduation until complete financial independence.1

About a quarter of university graduates move back in with their families after graduation. Most see this as temporary and have moved out within a year.1

1Arnett, Emerging Adults In America

Macro Changes Leading To A New Life Phase

Moral Therapeutic Deism1

A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.

God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.

Good people go to heaven when they die.

1Smith & Denton, Soul Searching

Macro Changes Leading To A New Life Phase

The Water They Swim In

The Cultural World of Emerging Adults

The subjective self rules1

PerspectivismDue to perspectivism, emerging adults typically

dislike espousing a “judging worldview”; one that stands above and judges another’s worldview

“…but hey, that’s just my opinion”Two versions of tolerance (Carson)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfulscXM2EY

1Smith & Snell, Souls In Transition

The Cultural World of Emerging Adults

Mental heathAbout 20 percent of Canadian students have felt

“overwhelming anxiety” in the last 2 weeks1

About 13 percent of Canadian students have felt “so depressed that it was difficult to function” in the last 2 weeks1

There is a heightened incidence of anti-anxiety/anti-depression medication. In Ontario, there has been a +300% increase in use in the last 15 years.2

1National College Health Assessment 2013, Canadian Cohort2Ontario Centre For Addiction and Mental Health

The Cultural World of Emerging Adults

Relationships are keyAn essential outlook of emerging adults

is ethical standard of “not hurting anyone”.

Without an objective assessment of moral standards, the highest aspiration is to be civil and non-judgmental

Smith & Snell, Lost In Transition

The Cultural World of Emerging Adults

Doors, Bridges, and The Freedom To ChooseEmerging adults see their twenties as a time of

exploration, hence they are loath to make commitments that lock them in and eliminate options

Individual autonomy, amorphous relationships, aversion to moral judgments keep commitment at bay. Religious words like devotion, worship, and commitment are problematic.

Religious commitment then is a type of settling down, which belongs in the future.

The Cultural World of Emerging Adults

Sexualization, Objectification, Pornification

The highest use demographic of pornography are 18-29 year olds. Pornography is the de facto sex educator and serves as a sexual surrogate, bridging puberty to marriage.

Most research shows a rate of incidence over 75% for Christian men and 25-30% for Christian women. These rates of incidence are only slightly lower than the general public.

The Cultural World of Emerging Adults

Are they “losing their religion”?

The Religious Lives of Emerging Adults

Making sense the “nones”Cohort effect or life course effect?Making the distinction between Evangelicals,

mainline Protestants, and CatholicsThe polarization of religious affiliation (R.

Putnam)Increased social acceptance of secularism (C.

Taylor)The challenges of measuring spiritual

maturity and commitment. Objective versus subjective measures.

The Religious Lives of Emerging Adults

Current SnapshotsOne third of Americans under 30 report being religiously

unaffiliated1

Eleven percent of Young Adult (YA) Protestants (ten percent of Catholics) become unaffiliated when “raised with a very strong faith”1. Then is this a parenting issue?

A majority of YAs raised in evangelical homes retain that affiliation (57% men, 63% women). However, 32% of men identify as “none, agnostic, or atheist”; (22% for women)2

Most level the Christian faith through a gradual drift away (70%) and walking away from church teachings (65%)3

1Pew Forum For Religion and Public Life2Hemmoghaging Faith Report3Pew Forum For Religion and Public Life

The Religious Lives of Emerging Adults

Canadian Religious Affiliation Changes (Canadian Census; Canadian Household Survey)

The Religious Lives of Emerging Adults

1971 20110%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

41%

27%

47%

39%

4%

11%4%

24%

ProtestantCatholicsOther ReligionsUnaffiliated

Finding A Place to Begin

Ministry To Emerging Adults

Why are millennials leaving the church?

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/

Ministry To Christian Emerging AdultsMake commitments short and focusedBecome conversant in the same sex marriage

debateDon’t over estimate the need for a “trendy” feelA focus on community is both a biblical and

PoMo value“Christian” is not always seen as a positive labelMissional and incarnational have lost some

moxy as terms but not as concepts

Ministry To Emerging Adults

Ministry To Non-Christian Emerging AdultsThe gospel as addressing ultimate valuesBecome conversant in the same sex marriage

debateWhile the church is not always respected, Jesus

isCommunity involvement lends credibility to the

churchThe two-way street of community, plausibility,

and personal pain

Ministry To Emerging Adults