Churches are growing, denominations are on the rise. A new denomination is emerging every single day with different beliefs and interpretation of the word of God. While some are similar in certain aspects, some denominations are absolutely different in their own ways. Shillong city for instance has a minimum of two to three churches in one locality. However, what is overwhelming in the growth of such denominations is the involvement of the ‘Youth’ in outreach programmes. Denominations are slowly starting to realise that their boundaries are no more set to just the four walls of their church compounds. The involvement of the youth in reaching out to the poor and needy, creating awareness on sensitive issues, organizing capacity enhancement programmes, involving the dropouts in church activities, addressing youth-related problems are the need of the hour which we can term as the right efforts of the churches who choose to evolved itself with the need of the society and its people.
a. Counselling Center:
Modern lifestyle creates a lot of social problems in society. Broken relationships and all kind of addictions can be seen everywhere. Family values and interpersonal relationships are lost. Broken families and divorces create a generation with a criminal mindset. Christian counselling centers play a vital part in bringing back these lost men and women into a purpose-driven life. Setting up of counselling centers within the church premises and involving full-time professional counsellors is a remarkable move made by churches in the present times. While pastoral counselling is essential, most cases require professional guidance especially when they come under the purview of severe mental health issues. While premarital counselling, marriage counselling, family therapy, divorce recovery, and others may consist of the activities of such counselling centers in mainland India, the approach may be required to differ here in Shillong. Our youth needs attention and when attention is lacking from the community and the family, the church can fill this gap and shoulder this responsibility.
According to the most recent State of Mental Health in America report, thoughts of suicide are highest among youths, especially those who are LGBTQ+. A survey conducted in September by Mental Health America found that 51% of 11-17-year-olds said they had thoughts of suicide or self-harm for more than half of the previous two-week period – with some experiencing such thoughts nearly every day. The report also found that youths in this age group were more likely than any other age group to exhibit moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. With the world being grouped under one umbrella – ‘the global village’, the state of affairs is not very different here in our region (Carr, 2020). The common problems that our young ones faces are relationship problems (family, with love ones and their partners), substance abuse, excessive attention-seeking behaviours, negative teen behaviours, addiction and others. The reach of counselling professionals are limited and with the church taking pro-active steps to cater to such youth within the church and outside the church premises, a number of our youth will be taken care of, to a major extend.
b. Education Cell:
Unemployment still surfaces as one of the biggest problems in our State and while stakeholders are putting efforts to help reduce this issue, the church can contribute by setting up education cell which may consist of career guidance right from Class VIII onwards. Career guidance may be availed by church members and their children, in particular those coming from underprivileged families and who drop out of schools. These are the category of the students who really need help and perhaps may not have any knowledge whom to approach. It may be mentioned that Meghalaya’s unemployment rate hit a 23-month high of 10.0% in April 2020, and this is according to a survey conducted by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). And as such, the onus of shouldering this issue lies in each and every one of us.
A large number of school students’ drop-out after high-school for different reasons. Some don’t find it pacifying to their life goals and others are not able to balance their economic condition and studies. Although, it has been observed that school dropout rate at primary level has reduced, however, if we go by the statistics as per UNESCO report, 47 million youth drop-out by 10th grade. Enrolment in the higher grades also declines significantly. Notable, this problem is not only prevalent in rural areas, but also in the urban. Students from well to do families drop out from schools and take up other ways to grow their life, and even if it is not a very big educational problem, it still affects the lives of several thousand of students who could otherwise do well in their careers. The problem can’t be cited as students’ academic troubles; instead, there is a need to ponder over the issue and to find out the relevant solutions to the problem. Perhaps churches can even sponsor mini-research studies and surveys with regard to similar issues pertaining to youth (Pandey, 2020).
c. Vocational Training:
A church in Togo, Africa is of the understanding that ‘Vocational Training should focus on equipping disciples with tent-making skills to advance the gospel to the unreached’. It further states ‘We have disciples who want to take the gospel back to their home villages but don’t have the resources they need. This project focuses on equipping disciples with tent-making skills to advance the gospel. In working to plant churches among unreached people groups, we need to send co-vocational church planters and teams into other locations. This vocational training school will focus on discipleship, skills, marketing and money management’.
The Indian Pentecostal Church of India, West Bengal State is of the logic that “Educating young men and women to make them productive in the society with different vocational training will change their lives”. They have initiated sewing training centers and different technical training centers in the Church and branches in different States of the country. Such initiatives can also include information desk on different loans, schemes and subsidies designed to assist the youth to start their own businesses. The information desk can provide information across disciplines, branches and employment opportunities for those passing Class VI and above.
In the absence of proper guidance and counselling, students become frustrated and take recourse to any alternative that comes their way without thinking of the consequences. It is because of such scenarios that vocational guidance has become a matter of grave importance not only for the youths themselves but for the administrative and planners as well, including churches. Vocational Guidance refers to the services that assist individuals of any age and at any point of time throughout their lives, to make educational training and occupation choice and to manage their career. It includes a wide range of activities like activities within schools to help students clarify career goals, understand the world of work and develop career management skills.
d. Open shelter:
What we witness in our roads day in and day out are homeless people, those who have been a slave to substance abuse, women, men and children in need of care and protection like street and working children, rag pickers, orphaned, deserted and particularly those without a home and family ties, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Such individuals live in conditions of extreme deprivation compounded by lack of shelter and access to basic services like sanitation, safe drinking water, education, health care, recreational facilities, etc.
Their activities slowly narrow down to begging, rag picking, and may also be involved in petty thefts, drug peddling and others. People’s Church in America while opening its second homeless shelter shares “We’re just going to be a place where people who are cold and hungry and scared can come”. “We’re asserting this is what churches do. They open their indoors to homeless people. They’ve done it for thousands of years,” said the Rev. Bob Kelly, Pastor of People’s Church. The sleeping arrangements will be men upstairs on the church’s main floor and women downstairs with house parents on hand at all times. The project will start with shelter for 10 people, he added.
Churches can do and fortunately, in our State, we are blessed with so many of them to perhaps reach out more than what they have been doing – making a church beyond one’s premises.
(The writer can be reached at maxwell.lyngdoh@gmail.com)
