(This is a part of a series: Reaching Teens in a Digital World)
What do you currently customize?
As a kid I was never allowed to customize what I watch on tv, or when I wanted to watch a tv show. I couldn’t customize my lego, or other toys that I played with. Today, the teen culture that we work with customize everything.
Take a moment to think about all the things you can customize? You can create custom playlists for your ipod, iphone. You can customize the background of your computer. You can customize everything about your phone, or computer. We live in a generation that customizes everything, and they view their lives as customizable.
Don Tapscott in his book, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World, states, “Millions around the world don’t just access the Web, they are creating it by creating online content. Now the need to customize is extending beyond the digital world to just about everything they touch. Forget standard job descriptions and only one variety of product. As for government portals, they want “my government” customized online.”
This quote stands out, “Forget standard job descriptions and only one variety of product.”
Here is the question. Do we make our youth ministries one size fits all? The reason I say this is because I have noticed lately that the one size fits all students youth ministry doesn’t work. Students want choices, but more than choices they want community. The students I work with want relationships with other teenagers, and leaders. They want multiple avenues to achieve this. Students are looking for a youth ministry that they can customize around their schedule.
Is your youth ministry a one size fits all, or do you have different ways to connect? Share below.
(This is a part of a series: Reaching Teens in a Digital World)
