Youth Can Change the World

I’ve been reading Eleanor Roosevelt’s essays.  She believed that youth were the key to truly radical change in our world.  Young people hold the potential to change the world through a spirit of sacrifice and service. Reframing the social standards for judging what qualifies as a successful life, from a life wealth and power to a life of service to community, is an important beginning point for inspiring youth involvement in the community. Young people have the opportunity to bring a religious spirit of cooperation into relationships with others and to civic responsibilities. In order to accomplish this, Roosevelt believed that youth must find a way to bring a lived-every-day Christ-like existence into their communities. The religious dogma and ineffectiveness of the church cannot bring about social justice and change in the way that as youth, energized in this way, can. Through this spirit of cooperation, youth are able to build bridges between themselves and other youth, between youth and the wider community, between communities within the nation, and even beyond their own nations. How are we as the church preparing our youth to be radical change agents in a troubled and hurting world?