Tough Topic: Sumer Time Sexuality

Summa-Time!  We who’ve been in youth ministry over the years know the highs and potential lows of this season.  When summer kicks in, you know that you’ll have teens that have so much more free time on their hands and although an idle mind might be the enemy’s workshop but the body connected (hopefully) to that mind is definitely the playground! One summer survey conducted among teens showed that only half of sexually active teens say they've ever discussed sex with their parents. Meanwhile many teens are being bombarded with sexual messages: More than half, especially girls, say there's too much sex on TV. More than half get pornographic e-mail spam at least occasionally. Nearly three in 10 have visited porn Web sites, rising to 51 percent for older teen boys. And half of 17-year-olds, girls and boys alike, have looked at online sex chats.

We in the church MUST equip our students with a safe place to discuss, inquire and learn about sexuality instead of forfeiting that responsibility to the world.  Part of that equipping needs to be encouraging parents to get involved, but once again, if we look at the stats above it shows clearly that parents need an encouraging hand in dealing with such a sensitive issue.  Tyra Banks conducted a survey last summer among girls and found some interesting stats:
 
On average, girls are losing their virginity at 15 years of age.
• 14 percent of teens who are having sex say they’re doing it at school.
• 52 percent of survey respondents say they do not use protection when having sex.
• One in three says she fears having a sexually transmitted disease.
• 24 percent of teens with STDs say they still have unprotected sex.
• One in five girls says she wants to be a teen mom.

Tip from Fred:  Let’s take the initiative to talk about sexuality at church

I’m sharing this important issue because I don’t want to see another summer plague ill prepared youth ministries who think that students should “know better” or just “make good decisions” as if they were living in a safe world.  The time is here for ministries to take the initiative to raise the subject of sexuality with the understanding that to keep silent won’t make this issue go away.  One way you can look at it is what I like to share with parents; I call it the “1st to plant a flag theory”.  The first person to plant the flag on the subject has the respect and reference credit to continually speak into that subject.  Many times just raising the issue (not giving a full dissertation) opens the door and lets students know that you’ve become a safe place and a resource to them.  I’d like to encourage you to check out a recent blog on the issues of sexuality from the Youth Specialties web site.  It even comes with a cool video that you can download as a discussion starter.  Just go to http://www.youthspecialties.com/blog/tag/sexuality/ and check it out.  Speaking of blogs, I’d encourage you to start a blog on the issue and share the site among your youth group and invite other youth groups in your community to participate. 

For my freebie this month, I’d like to invite you to check out this free sample of a great booked titled, “Raising Adults”.  It’s a great way to help parents during sticky transitions like dealing with sexuality.  Enjoy.

Sharing the gospel from ‘Street to Street’

Fred D. Lynch III
GodStyle Productions

Fred Lynch is the founder of GodStyle Productions. A ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, go to www.godstyle.com or check out his latest project The Script (the gospel of John translated into rap) at: www.gettheepic.com.