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Assignments
for this course take the form of written summaries,
research, and analysis. They are designed to help us
work through the course objectives, while keeping a
focus on our spiritural growth through conceptual
learning.
For each assignment, please develop a document and
submit it to me in either Microsoft Word, RTF (rich
text format), or HTML format (your word processing
software should permit you to do a "save as"
and choose either of those formats).
For each assignment, please be sure to that your
responses indicate that you have read and carefully
considered the resource material, as assigned.
Assignment
2
Assignment: Environmental Scan
This week’s assignment will require some thought. It
is the first of a two-part assignment that will
continue next week.
Based on this week’s comments (in the Lecture
section), as it relates to youth culture, there are
some things that are “constant” (that must be
preserved in any age) and some things that are
“contemporary” (that change frequently and are not
important enough to preserve).
For this assignment, investigate youth culture (the
course Resources section is a good place to start) and
identify the following:
1.) What are the most important areas of concern for
contemporary youth? (ie., music, fashion, language,
technology)
2.) What are the most important areas that
“mature” society would identify for young people (ie.,
crime, drugs, promiscuity, literacy)
3.) What are the factors underlying or underpinning
the areas of concern you identify in #1 and #2.
4.) What are the major resources of information about
the areas of concern you identify in #1 and #2.
You will need to think like a sociologist for this
exercise. You will want to first place yourself in the
position of a young person and seek an answer to #1.
Next, you will want to take a more mature perspective
as you answer #2.
Along the way, you will be noting and tracking factors
and information sources for #3 and #4.
The key to making this assignment work is to tap into
the information resources and communication styles of
young people to capture #1; then it will be necessary
to find the same items from a more mature perspective
for #2.
The ability to do this sort of balancing act—between
the demands of young culture and the requirements of a
mature perspective—is exactly the skill set required
of a youth pastor.
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