Hearing and Obeying God: Mentoring Youth in Practicing the Presence of God

Abstract

The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) examined the religious lives of teenagers in the United States and awakened practical theologians to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) as the prominent belief of teens and their parents. MTD treats God as a 'cosmic butler' or 'divine therapist,' removed from the daily activity of human life. Scripture and tradition testify to young people encountering God's real presence, hearing God's voice, and obeying God as normative Christianity. If Christian teens in the US do not believe God actively participates in human history, how will they hear and answer God's calling as a lived reality, and what impact does it have on their sense of vocation as disciples? Using Richard R. Osmer's four tasks of practical theology, the thesis examines the practice of the presence of God, as a spiritual discipline, to address MTD and reimagine vocational discernment for young people in the Methodist tradition. Since Brother Lawrence and his teachings influenced the theology and ministry practices of John Wesley, the normative task utilizes Wesley's sermons and spiritual formation structures from early Methodism to argue for, what ought to be happening in the spiritual formation of young people to hear and obey God. The descriptive-empirical task draws on empirical data from the Summit Youth Academy (SYA), a high school youth theology initiative designed to mitigate MTD and help young people hear and obey God's calling by practising spiritual disciplines in a Wesleyan community. The research builds upon the current body of youth ministry literature by analysing the responses of young people in five categories of personal experience: (1) the presence of God; (2) hearing God; (3) awareness of God; (4) social holiness and spiritual practices; and (5) agency and obedience. Prior to the SYA, the teenagers reported feelings and emotions; however, they did not identify worship, prayer, studying scripture, or the Eucharist, as the primary way they experience the presence of God, distinguish God's voice from other voices, and move from hearing God to obeying God. Like the NSYR, the findings indicated a lack of awareness of the activity of God in their daily lives and the necessary tools to pursue life in God's presence. The findings indicate correlations between increased awareness of the presence of God and participation in spiritual disciplines aimed at practising the presence of God. For the interpretative task, the thesis draws on neuroscience, developmental theory, and sociology to evaluate why spiritual disciplines, feelings, and relationships dominated their experiences of God's presence, voice, and obedience. The thesis concludes with the pragmatic task by proposing a comprehensive approach to spiritual formation by attending to orthodoxy (right doctrine), orthopraxis (right practice), and orthokardia (right hearts) to give young people the tools to fulfil their Christian vocation. Right teaching, right practices, and right hearts provide young people the skills needed to pursue life in the presence of God whereby, they hear and obey the voice of God in their daily lives.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Philip Meadows (Supervisor)