“Cool”, “Dank”, “That is boss”, “You got murked.” Sound familiar? These are just a few of the “hip” phrases that are common jargon for the current generation of high school students. After this past weekend, however, some of them have developed a more robust vocabulary.
For three days nearly 100 high school students from Grace Pelham and Powdersville dialogued, discussed and even debated what it means to be created in the image of God, to be created male and female. Today’s teens are not only being asked to “be open” to alternative ideas such as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender, but they are also being told that gender is self-defined, that no outside force, culture or deity can determine who you are or who you should be.
In an attempt to bring clarity and direction in a world of chaos, we spent our weekend studying what it means to live out biblical manhood and womanhood as a high school student. Here are a few takeaways:
1 – Gender is a worship issue. Gen 1:26-27 says that “in god’s image we were created male and female.” As Christians, if we are going to adequately reflect the image of God, we must live out our gender the way God intended. Fulfilling our gender as male and female is a way we worship God, just as much as singing songs, journaling, reading the Scriptures and living in community.
2 – Gender is broken. (Genesis 3) All of creation is affected by sin and the fall of man. It is no longer natural for men and women to reflect the image of God through their gender.
- Man’s core struggle is passivity which gets played out in areas such as school, friends, family and how we relate to the opposite sex.
- Women’s core gender struggle is independence, and it can be evidenced in the lives of high school girls’ interaction with friends, families and the opposite sex.
3- Gender can be redeemed. (Rev. 21:1-5) Due to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, “all things, (including gender) are being made new.”
Men are called to pursue, provide and protect.
- Pursue = lead, take initiative
- Provide = take care of your responsibilities
- Protect = defend the weak and needy, hold your peers accountable.
Women are called to affirm, respond and nurture.
- Affirm = to come alongside and fill in what is lacking
- Respond = to react for the benefit of others
- Nurture = to provide life for those around you
4. We are agents of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). As Christians, we are part of God’s game plan to reconcile the world to Himself. He has given each of us, including teens, a role to play. We believe that one of those roles is to be the men and women that God intended for us to be and to show the world how great our God is. On the heels of this retreat we are praying that God will give our high school students a vision and a trajectory to go out and lead their peers, families and culture in the area of gender. We desire for them to realize that the way they embody masculinity and femininity today has immediate impact and eternal consequences. Now that is dank!
For further study in biblical gender for singles and young adults, you may want to read Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart by John Ensor. (see sidebar - What We're Reading)
Jeremy Keever - Student Ministry