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C
U L T U R A L
A W A R E N E S S Q
U I Z
(Match
your wits with stuff we’ve learned working with youth in Mexico)
- a. trip to the beach
b. Mother’s Day brunch
c. summer camp
- a. sexual issues
b. finances
c. mother-in-law
- a. an evangelistic mime
performance
b. sweeping and mopping the church building
c. fixing up an elderly widow’s house
Answers: 1: b. The youth are responsible to put on a brunch for all of the mothers in the church. There is no summer camp and beach trips are too expensive for half of the youth. 2: c. A Mexican man’s devotion to his mother supercedes his allegiance to his wife, causing her to seek self-worth from the devotion of her male children, continuing the vicious circle. 3:a. One time evangelistic outreaches are fairly common but addressing physical needs is rare, especially in "mainline" denominations.
THE WAVE IS BUILDING…
Initially we came to Mexico because of the great needs in the area of youth ministry, but with only a hopeful expectation that there would be a growing wave of awareness within the churches of this need and a desire to meet it. Recently we’ve started to see the wave building.
God has brought us in touch with several youth ministry training groups who are beginning to focus on Mexico. They all have a spirit of co-operation and one main goal: to help Mexicans impact their youth for Christ. We’re excited that what we’ve learned through our two years and a half years living here and through our research project can help them understand the situation of youth work and the youth culture here.
A Mexican youth pastor we’ve been working with here in Toluca just finished his college thesis titled "Developing Leadership in Youth Groups" utilizing findings from our survey of people who work with youth. We hope to use his materials in the future.
In July we’ll be giving our first seminars to youth workers, but more on that next month.