Adam McLane

Youth Ministry Advocate

Youth Ministry as an Advocate for Teenagers

“The administration needs to deport these families and children,” said Labrador, who appeared on the show [Meet the Press] after [DHS Security Secretary] Johnson. “I know it sounds harsh and difficult, but it’s better for the children. Send these children back in a humanitarian way. We can do it safely and efficiently.”

Rep. Raul Labrador, Idaho (R) July 6th, 2014 – Source

Right. We’re going to round up minors and deport them?

The US government predicts that 90,000 unaccompanied migrant children will cross the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2014, more than 10 times the number who crossed in 2011. Thousands more children have crossed with a parent, also an increase from previous years.

Human Rights Watch, June 25th, 2014 – Source

While the media wants to use this wave of border crossings as a political football about border security, no one seems to be asking the question, “Why are 90,000 kids risking their lives to cross the border?” (Fleeing violence? Hoping for protection as Dreamers? Better labor conditions?)

These Aren’t Numbers. These Aren’t Problems. These Are People.

I think it’s easy to get caught in the rhetoric and forget we’re talking about actual people. We all have opinions on contemporary issues like immigration. One thing I love about our country is that we’re all allowed to have an opinion, voice it, and be heard. Yet we also acknowledge that some folks, myself included, have an opinion informed not just by ideology but by relationship with people in our lives. After watching a documentary last weekend on immigration I posted on Facebook, “It’s impossible to love your neighbor and want them deported.” 

For me, immigration policy isn’t just something I can debate as a thing, like say organic food policy. Immigration effects people in my life like neighbors, classmates of my kids, people at my church, etc. I want to see a pathway to citizenship created for the people in my life who really want and need it. (At the same time, I don’t pretend it’s a simple cut & dry issue either.)

All of that was why I was so bummed out to see protestors lined up in Murietta, CA.

I watched this and wondered, “What are those kids thinking?” Some are teenagers who might have some sense that they are merely pawns in a political thing. But younger children… do they really think people hate them?

See, it’s easy to watch a news story and react. But let’s not forget that 90,000 minors crossing the border in 2014 isn’t a problem to be solved, these are real people coming here for real reasons. 

I can’t help but look at this and scream: This is a youth ministry issue! Where are my friends in this? 

Youth Ministry as an Advocate for Teenagers

As a youth worker… all of this this leads to the broader question about the nature of our work:

Do we exist as advocates for the students who attend our youth group or can youth workers see themselves in a broader sense, advocating for the teenagers in their community regardless of whether they attend youth group or not?

Youth workers tend to be very insular. We think about the best strategies for engaging teenagers on a Sunday morning. We look for small group tips and tricks. We refine our upfront teaching. We read books and blogs about our job all the time. But maybe, just maybe… our biggest problem isn’t skill development it’s that the students in our lives don’t see as caring about the things they care about? Maybe they look at our ministry and think, “That’s Good News for Adam. But that’s not Good News for me.” 

I see the protests in the CBS piece above and I also see the Christians, not covered in the news, who are on the opposite end of that. People who are bringing this out of rhetoric and into a reminder of the humanity of the situation.

Sometimes we don’t need more bible studies, camps, small groups, and worship music. Sometimes… teenagers need to see youth workers sticking their neck out to advocate for the teenagers in their community with desperate needs for compassion, grace, and a roof over their head. 

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Adam McLane

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2 responses to “Youth Ministry as an Advocate for Teenagers”

  1. Gene Avatar
    Gene

    This is NOT an immigration crisis. This is a humanitarian crisis. That Rep. Raul Labrador, Idaho, thinks we can send these kids back in a “humanitarian way” tells me that he doesn’t understand what is going on. I don’t think you can from Idaho, or D.C., over even the border. One has to learn about events on the ground from where these children are fleeing, for fleeing *from* something, not immigrating *for* something is what they are doing.

    Though in many ways it has just this summer exploded upon us, the reality is that the UN has been tracking this growing crisis for several years now. Requests for refugee asylum have increased over 700% in Belize, Panama, and Costa Rica. That should be a red flag that this is more about safety than economics.

    Indeed, the UN commissioned a review of the situation producing such an exponential increase and concluded that children were being “forcibly displaced,” and to such a degree that warranted international protection, meaning that if the U.S. refused these children, it could be in breach of U.N. conventions.

    So, Rep. Labrador might want to simply send the children back, but no matter what means we used, the result would NOT be “humanitarian” in any way, shape or form.

    Reply
    1. Adam McLane Avatar
      Adam McLane

      I agree, Gene. We need to get to the real reason people are coming here… there’s a false assumption that it’s just about money, when the data is showing that it might be more about escaping violence.

      Reply

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