Youth being ignored or sidelined is identity denied

dc.contributor.authorNel, Malan
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-02T09:36:49Z
dc.date.available2025-07-02T09:36:49Z
dc.date.issued2025-03
dc.descriptionDATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.
dc.description.abstractIt has happened so many times in history: the youth being ignored or sidelined. Such behaviour was and is often motivated by culture. In most cultures, the youth, children, and adolescents are important and loved; however, in society and churches, they are on the sideline, until culture determines their real belonging. The theological departure point of inclusivity has just not been taken yet. In this article will be argued that however natural cultural behaviour might be, to ignore or sideline children and adolescents is to deny our Christian identity as the church of God. In God’s mind, children are included even before they are born. They may be man-and-woman-made, but in fact, they are God-made (Psalm 127 verse 3). They may not even have been part of a man-and-woman-made plan. Coming into being, whether planned or unplanned, does not catch God off-guard. Being is a gift of God, not only to a parent or parents but to the faith community. A theological understanding of our identity as the people of God compels us not and never to ignore or sideline the youth at any stage of life.
dc.description.departmentPractical Theology
dc.description.librarianhj2025
dc.description.sdgSDG-03: Good health and well-being
dc.description.sponsorshipReligions Journal.
dc.description.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions
dc.identifier.citationNel, Malan. 2025. Youth Being Ignored or Sidelined Is Identity Denied. Religions 16: 303. https:// doi.org/10.3390/rel16030303.
dc.identifier.issn2077-1444 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3390/rel16030303
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/103108
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherMDPI
dc.rights© 2025 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
dc.subjectYouth ministry
dc.subjectInclusivity
dc.subjectIdentity
dc.subjectTransforming leadership
dc.subjectServant leadership
dc.subjectEmotional intelligence
dc.subjectCultural intelligence
dc.subjectDifferentiation
dc.subjectCultural behaviour
dc.titleYouth being ignored or sidelined is identity denied
dc.typeArticle

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