Youthworker In Exile Syndrome

“What happened to him (her)?!?” That question was verbalized a few times last week when I was catching up with a fellow youth ministry long-timer. . . a guy who was part of our Philly-area youth ministry crew back in the last millenium. We were rifling through a list of youth ministry events we were putting on back in the day, and recounting the small army of characters who combined their efforts with ours to put those events on. Our conversation morphed into talking about the bigger world of youth ministry training, along with the people and events who walked with us as a part of that world.

That question we were asking led us down two markedly different roads. At times it was asked because we had no idea where that old youth ministry peer was and what they might be doing now. We consulted social media a few times to see if we could track down those long-lost peers. But it was a different way the question was asked and answered that sparked some grief and frustration. We weren’t looking for a missing youthworker person. Rather, we were wondering about the when and how that led to a slide away from what was once a shared youth ministry telos that had us all working to see kids come to a faith in Christ that would be integrated into all of life, both then and into adulthood. The peers we talked about in this latter category are many who are still leading with some measure of prominence in our youth ministry world. We lamented over not only their slide away from orthodox biblical theology, but their ability to take easily influenced followers – youthworkers longing to learn and be led – with them.

This was all brought to mind again this morning as I read the transcript of an interview with Cal Newport that ran in The Chronicle of Higher Education earlier this month: “Is AI Making Us Stupid? Cal Newport is Worried.” Newport is a Georgetown University Prof and part of The Center for Digital Ethics who has thought and written extensively on the effects of digital technologies on humanity, including a favorite book of mine, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. The article itself is well worth your time. But it was a question asked of Newport at the end of the interview that connected the dots for me as both a warning and observation regarding our youth ministry world. It seems like the scary thing happening to so many university professors is happening in our youth ministry world to youth ministry leaders as well.

At the end of the interview, Newport throws out the term “Professor in Exile Syndrome.” Listen to what Newport says about it. . . and then listen again: “Audience capture can become a real problem, especially if online attention is now your livelihood. You really need those YouTube views to be high. You are going to drift in interesting directions. Also, a lot of professors in exile are very smart people. It’s completely believable to them that they’re right about this thing, and everyone else is wrong.”

Some thoughts. . .

I don’t know if you realize it or not, but social media and all of our digital tools have created an environment where “audience capture” is a really strong temptation and force in our youth ministry world. We live in a world where it’s not a quietly-and-faithfully-go-about-your-business ethos that we embrace. Rather, we are drawn to make a name for ourselves by building influence that results in an army of faithful followers. Audience capture is a trap that seduces so many youth workers these days. In an effort to satisfy that growing desire for a following, we throw the chum of what our targeted potential following wants into the water, all in an effort to attract potential followers and then turn (capture?) them into actual followers. That chum is typically content that lines up with audience demands, leanings, and desires. In our ministry world, we may alter our theological views. . . which is what me and my friend (along with others) have seen and lamented as those who at one time professed an orthodox biblical theology, have moved into the kind of progressive theology that plays so well in today’s world. Simply stated, followers who lack the kind of wisdom and discernment that come from being biblically rooted are looking for and following leaders who answer to the will of the people rather than to the revealed will of God. Leaders enter into the prison of a feedback loop with their following, giving them a diet of what they want in order to maintain their popularity.

Judging from my own experience and that of others who have worked to encourage those youth worker friends in exile to take a serious look at what they are doing to themselves and to others, change is rare. As Newport says of professors we could say of these youth workers: they are “very smart people. It’s completely believable to them that they’re right about this thing, and everyone else is wrong.” I wouldn’t say that there’s no hope for change. But I do think the greatest hope in this world of youthworkers in exile is for the potential followers. This is where I am reminded to fill my well with the Word of God. You see, if my well is dry, the kids I’m leading will die of thirst. And if kids or youth workers who are part of the following of a youth worker in exile are drinking the kool-aid they’re offering to the audience, they’ll die as well.

As leaders and followers, let’s take seriously these words of warning and direction from I John 3:7: “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.” Or these words from Acts 20:30: “And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away disciples after them.” Or, take some time to read I Peter 2. And to those of us who are leaders, whether of other youth workers and/or students, each of us needs to heed the sobering words of Jesus spoken in Matthew 18:6; “But whoever causes on of these little cones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his nece and to be drowned int he depth of the sea.” Truth be told, that one always makes me shudder as it sparks a pause for self-examination.

Folks, exercise wisdom and discernment in all things. . . especially in your choice of who you are going to follow.