A Great Need

STS Counseling Series Part I

Over the next three weeks Bill Jessup, who is on staff with STS Counseling, will walk with you through the issues this generation is facing. He shows that through Scripture and wise counsel students can learn how to deal biblically with these issues. This week in part 1, Bill outlines just how perilous the situation is for the next generation.

Jeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water”

In a recent interview, Laura, a seventeen-year-old whose passion for sports and English are evident by the dedication she places on them said, “My greatest frustration is my frustration with fear.” An intriguing thought based on compelling circumstances. School shootings were non-existent twenty-five years ago, social media bullying was not around fifteen years ago, and eighteen months ago we never considered the words unprecedented times in the wake of a global pandemic.

Laura’s words are relatedly true for so many students from middle school through college. There is no doubt that at each level students’ symptomatic fears are expressed differently, yet they are being expressed. Social isolation in a world of social media has itself become a social hyperbole leading to a “black hole” of social expression and development. Suicide attempts have skyrocketed. A quick Google search will prompt more articles than can be digested. The trauma collected from COVID-19 (the death of a loved one(s), educational dysfunction, family hardships due to unemployment, physical and mental abuse by parents, siblings, or guardians) has added to the already weighty worlds students face.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and the generated hardships it brought, students were already facing challenges in the areas of identity, addictions, and family relationships. By way of identity, “who” has been added to the “how” and “why.” The areas of addiction have also increased. There remain the abuses of alcohol, drugs (legal and illegal), and pornography, while we have added the new opioid of “likes” on social media sites. Not to be outdone is the ever-changing and consistently growing family unit. There are times when children and teens become “collateral damage” in the wake of parental choices.

An additional word on identity: “Goodbye Chucky Cheese”

As a student pastor in the late 1980’s early 1990’s, the general use of identity within the context of teaching students in church was, “our identity in Christ.” We answered the how with “we are created in the image of God”. We taught Genesis 3 and Psalm 139 with conviction battling Darwin’s Origin of the Species. We answered the why specifically in the early 2000’s with, “If God created us, He did so with purpose.” It is the reason the top selling non-fiction book in the last 20 years is Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. However, in recent years there has been a surge to pressure children about their sexuality. (Although this is different than pressuring young adolescents into the act of sex; both are destructive). This causes pre-teens and teens to ask the question, “who am I?” The inference of gender is no longer biological but also a social construct. The facts of an anatomical identity are replaced by feelings in an individual at that particular moment. Adding to the confusion is a culture that encourages these irrational views as rational. Thus, instead of helping children navigate the difficult years of becoming young men and young women we are clinically destroying their childhoods by pressuring them to ask of themselves questions they are not capable of handling. This increased pressure of “who” will ultimately destroy any significant chance for a kid to simply be a kid.

 As we know there are plenty of opportunities to minister in the area of counseling, so why biblical counseling and what are some focal points about STS Counseling Services and The STS Counseling Network? Stay tuned for next week’s post.

You can find more about STS Counseling HERE. Each are experienced counselors helping fight for this next generation.