[LCMSNews] Record number take 'Youth Poll'

["LCMS e-News" <LCMSENEWS@lcms.org>]

>

>10.7.2010
>       LCMS News

>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod

October 7, 2010 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 90

>Record number take LYF's 'Youth Poll'

>By Linda C. Hoops

About 80 percent of the youth who took part in the Lutheran Youth
Fellowship Youth Poll at this summer's National LCMS Youth Gathering
have either an "excellent or good relationship with their parents,"
according to the poll results.  Nearly 78 percent live with both 
natural
parents, 18 percentage points higher than the national average.

These are two of the bright spots of the poll that has been taken at 
all
11 of the National LCMS Youth Gatherings since 1980.  It is sponsored 
by
Lutheran Youth Fellowship, the Synod's national youth organization.

For the first time, this year's poll was entirely online.  With 2,568
youth and 331 adults responding to the questions, the participation 
rate
was the highest it's been during the past 30 years and exceeded the 10
percent ratio (which is considered a solid sampling size) of all
Gathering attendees (24,000).

For the 2010 poll, 35.4 percent of the youth were males and 64.6 
percent
females. By age, 14 percent were 14 years old, 24.8 percent were 15, 
25
percent 16, 19.7 percent 17, 13.2 percent 18, and 3.2 percent were 19.

"When one looks at the data collected in the poll, there are some 
things
that are encouraging, some things that are kind of funny or quirky and
some things that put our teenagers right in the middle of the way our
society and culture are trending," said Dr. Terry Dittmer, director of
LCMS Youth Ministry.

"Our youth, like most of the world these days, don't seem overly
connected to the concept of absolute truth.  We have a responsibility 
to
boldly confess and teach what we believe and at the same time be
welcoming and supportive of our youth as they find their way toward
adulthood."

Dittmer noted that the data not only reflects the thoughts of 
Gathering
participants but probably also those of most active youth in an LCMS
congregation.  "It is important to remember that not all the data is
going to be 'good news' and that it is reported here because this is
what participants told about themselves."

On where they go to school, 77.5 percent attend public high school 
which
compares to 61 percent in 2007.  Almost 10 percent attend a Lutheran
high school and another 5.4 percent attend a private or parochial high
school.  There also was a slight increase in those who are being
home-schooled: 2.4 percent compared with 1.5 percent in 2007.

Concerning church participation, almost three-quarters (74.3 percent) 
of
the young people identify themselves as active or very active in their
congregation.

Yet, in response to the statement, "I rely on God to help me make
decisions," only 21.8 percent said always, while 70.4 percent said
sometimes.  The highest "always" response to this question came from
14-year-olds (28.9 percent) and may relate to their recent 
confirmation
experience, according to Dittmer.

On engaging in personal Bible study or devotion, "very little/almost
none" was the response of 42 percent, a figure largely unchanged 
during
the past 30 years of the poll.   About 5 percent said they did more 
than
two hours per week and 43.6 percent said 15-60 minutes per week.

In asking about their connection to God, 56.3 percent said they may 
have
some questions but felt good about God and 35 percent said they feel
very close to Him.

>Social issues

On questions of social issues, including sexuality, drugs and alcohol,
abortion, the death penalty and global warming, Dittmer said LCMS 
youth
seem to be trending in the direction of the general population in
responding to the questions:

*       53 percent took the moral position that premarital sex is 
always
wrong, down from 58.4 percent in 2007 and from 63.3 percent in 2004; 
but
up from 47.5 percent in 1992 and 43.6 percent in 1986.

*       67.3 percent claimed to never have engaged in sexual
intercourse.  Dittmer noted that there is the trend present among LCMS
youth that as they age, they engage in more sex, starting with 3.1
percent of 14-year-olds and ending with 17.1 percent of 19-year-olds.

*       59.7 percent said homosexuality is always wrong, down from 
65.8
percent in 2007 and 70 percent in 2004.  Among males, 69.7 percent 
said
homosexuality is always wrong, compared with 54.2 percent of females, 
a
15-point difference. Just over 31 percent said homosexual behavior is
"their business and nobody has the right to tell them it's a sin."  
LCMS
youth "seem to definitely be trending with society as a whole towards
acceptance" on homosexuality, Dittmer noted.

*       Only 53.2 percent said marriage is for one man and one woman,
compared to 57 percent in 2007 and 70.5 percent in 2004.  Gay marriage
was approved by 18.5 percent and another 11.5 percent favored civil
unions.

"One thing cited as to why the support for gays and lesbians has
increased in the general population is simply that most young adults
these days say they have a 'gay friend' and they don't want to be
judgmental," Dittmer commented.

Concerning addictive-substance usage, 88.9 percent indicated they 
don't
smoke and 90.4 percent said that they never use drugs. The youth who
said they never drink alcohol rose from 44.6 percent in 2007 to 65.8
percent, although 19.8 percent said they have been drunk at least once
in the past 12 months.

"This number is down from the 24.6 percent [who said they had been 
drunk
at least once] in 2007," Dittmer noted.  "Still one out of five youth 
is
something to be concerned about."

With life concerns, 72.9 percent of youth say abortion is always 
wrong,
and 38 percent say they favor the death penalty.

Only 30.5 percent of youth think global warming is an issue to be 
taken
seriously, down from 42.8 percent in 2007 when the question was first
asked.  "It's not a real problem" went from 12.5 percent in 2007 to 
22.6
percent in 2010, with 89 percent saying their families recycle at 
least
"sometimes."

>Matters of worship

*       31.2 percent of Gathering youth came from congregations that
only offer traditional worship, 3.8 percent came from churches 
offering
only "contemporary" worship, 50.9 percent from churches offering both
traditional and contemporary services and 8.4 percent offering blended
services.

*       15.8 percent of all youth said they prefer a variety in 
worship;
28.9 percent prefer contemporary; 33.1 percent prefer a mixture of old
and new "not necessarily from a hymnal"; and 22.2 percent indicated 
they
prefer traditional, liturgical worship.  Male youth (28.4 percent)
expressed the strongest support for traditional, liturgical worship.

*       61.5 percent said their churches use Lutheran Service Book,
which compares with 48.7 percent in 2007.

*       33 percent said they can recite the words to the Common 
Doxology
(compared with 39.9 percent in 2007, 42.6 percent in 2004 and 48.7
percent in 1998); 28.4 percent said they can't recite the doxology and
38.6 percent checked "What's the Common Doxology?"

*       70.7 percent of youth have been on a Servant Event or mission
trip.

*       6.4 percent of youth are planning to go into a church career,
while 26.7 percent said they would consider a church career but had 
made
no career choice. Another 27.2 percent said they had never really
thought about it.

"In terms of recruitment, there would seem to be a large pool of
Gathering youth who could be interested in becoming the next 
generation
of pastors, teachers, DCEs, deaconesses and others," said Dittmer.

Concerning ecumenical matters, 19.5 indicated they think all religions
are pretty much alike and 54.1 percent think all Christians should be
able to worship together.

Only 45.2 percent of poll participants said that they agree with the
LCMS position on women's ordination, with 22.8 percent calling for 
more
study, and 12.2 percent supporting women's ordination.

The final question on the survey asked participants to identify their
top three concerns from a list of 26 issues.  While the top concern 
for
youth was "college" at 30.8 percent, the second top concern was "my 
own
faith" at 29.1 percent, followed by the future (28.5 percent), friends
(23.5 percent) and abortion (17.4 percent).

"My own faith" was number one in 2007 at 28 percent and in 2004 at 30
percent.

"Any number of studies about youth spirituality seems to show the
fragility of teenage faith, at times, strong and bold and, at other
times, threatened and timid," Dittmer said. "Teenagers at the National
Youth Gathering find it easy to express their love for God and Jesus
Christ in the company of believers.  But these figures almost seem to
suggest that, as connected as they are at the Gathering, when they get
back home to their friends, families, schools and jobs, that same 
faith
connection could easily fall apart.  For youth workers, lay and
professional, this concern needs to be taken seriously.  Adults need 
to
model the faith and care for and support the young people in their
charge.  There is so much besieging their faith, they need our bold
confession."

The statistical data for all questions, including figures for the 
total
youth population, youth by gender, youth by age, total adult and adult
by gender is available online at the LCMS Youth Ministry website at
http://www.lcms.org/?1806.

Linda C. Hoops is a freelance writer and a member of Lutheran Church 
of
the Resurrection, Sunset Hills, Mo.

>****************************************

If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact
Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org
<mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org>  or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter
Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org>  or (314)
996-1230.

>****************************************

This Edition of "LCMS News" e-News is provided
by:

Board for Communication Services, Division of News and Information

Contact Editor

<http://www.lcms.org/enews/contact_editor.asp?title=LCMS%20News&editorid
=6>

This LCMS e-News message comes from a "Send Only" mailbox that
does not recognize replies. To reply to this message, please click on
"Contact Editor" above.

>_____

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this Newsletter and many others,
please visit LCMS e-News <http://www.lcms.org/enews> .
Share this Newsletter <http://www.lcms.org/enews/forward.asp?m=9123
with a Friend.
MessageId=9123 UserId=10073

>_____

© 2002 - 2008 The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod 
<http://www.lcms.org/
.
No reproduction without consent. All rights reserved.