Faith Tribes as Powerful Communities of Adolescents in Highly Differentiated Societies

Abstract

This article describes how communal aspects of faith find their way back into the lives of adolescents. The communal aspects of faith within individualized societies need more attention. It seems that with the current emphasis on individual faith, the intrinsic power of communal aspects of faith has been lost. This study shows that informal communities of adolescents—faith tribes—can restore the individual–communal balance in faith development. Youth ministry should encourage adolescents and tribal leaders to be aware of the faith possibilities of tribes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We thank Rein Brouwer for commenting on this article.

Notes

The selection of three of the five small groups took place through professional youth workers at two youth organizations of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN). The first and the third were selected from the researcher's network.

The first two groups were related to the HGJB (Hervormd-Gereformeerde Jeugd Bond, an organization in the orthodox reformed part of the PCN); the fourth and fifth groups were related to JOP (Jeugdorganisatie Protestantse Kerk, a mainstream Protestant youth organization in the PCN) and the third group was an informal group not related to a youth organization.

A total of 39 adolescents were directly involved in the research as members of one of the five small groups. An additional 109 adolescents (friends of the small group members and other visitors to youth activities) were involved in this research through their contributions during the larger meetings in which the small groups participated.

Atlas.ti (6.0) software was used for qualitative data analysis.

The Research Department of Youth Church and Culture of the PThU (OJKC).

The italic citations are “‘in vivo” codes from the data, translated from Dutch into English.

Xnoizz Flevofestival in Bussloo, the Netherlands, August 18–21, 2011.

The five stages can be described with different indications and themes: (1) “Life sucks”—alienated, (2) “My life sucks”—separate, (3) “I’m great (and you’re not)”—personal, (4) “We’re great (and they’re not)”—partnership, (5) “Life is great”—team.

Gen. 2:18 (CEV).

Gen. 17:7 (CEV).

In 1 Cor. 1:1, Paul first addresses his letter to the whole community and then to individuals.

Heb. 12:1 (CEV).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Harmen van Wijnen

Harmen van Wijnen is a researcher working on his Ph.D. project at the Protestant Theological University in the Netherlands. Marcel Barnard holds the Chair of Practical Theology at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam and the Chair of Liturgical Studies at VU University Amsterdam. He is also Professor Extraordinary of Practical Theology at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). E-mail: [email protected]