Risky Business

You know that teenagers love risk, but maybe you’ve unknowingly bought into the common notion that teenagers’ risk-taking propensity is a deficiency, an immaturity. But spend a minute reflecting on one of my favourite framing questions for how we approach any aspect of teenage development: are teenagers a problem to be solved, or a wonder to behold?  

Heightened risk-taking is clearly con­nected to adolescent brain development. Daniel Siegel, a brilliant doctor who special­izes in understanding brain function, wrote in Brainstorm: the power and purpose of the teenage brain: ‘Instead of viewing the adoles­cent stage of brain development as merely a process of maturation, of leaving behind out­moded or non-useful ways of thinking and transitioning to adult maturity, it is actually more accurate and more useful to see it as a vital and necessary part of our individual and collective selves. Adolescence is not a stage to simply get over, it is a stage of life to cultivate as well.’  

Without being intentionally provocative, I’ll go this far: a life without risk is not worth living, but more than that, it’s unbiblical. And the same applies for youth work. Seriously. It’s hard to think of a great Bible story that doesn’t have overt or implied risk. Moses confronting Pharaoh, little David running at Goliath, Peter jumping out of the boat, the early Church defying Rome—I could fill this column with biblical examples. Maybe it’s even fair to say that creation itself was a risk on God’s part, with his foreknowledge of how fickle and self-serving we would be.    

Of course, there’s stupid risk and worthy risk. Stupid risk in youth work looks like playing a game where you expect teens to get hurt, or not counting to make sure you have everyone before departing from somewhere (this once resulted in me leaving a seventh grade girl at McDonald’s, just before closing time, in one    of the roughest neighborhoods of Chicago). Stupid risk boils down to arrogance: we assume we’re above or impervious to catastrophe. We might spiritualise stupid risk, and think the ends justify the means or that ‘God will take care of it’ - but, really, it’s just pride. As Siegel wrote in Brainstorm, ‘The question is whether we can support the exploration of new things while we also minimise the chance of permanent harm.’      

Good risk is the stuff of transformation and revolution. When we step out in faith and risk that God will show up, we’re like    the kid who offered his five loaves and two fishes. This kind of humble, faith-fueled risk is the primary difference between an exclu­sive youth group that doubles as a country club, and a missional community of teenage Christ-followers heaven-bent on joining up with the active work of God in the world.  

Is there risk involved in offering a place of meaningful belonging to kids, without the condition that they become like us? Abso­lutely. Is there risk involved in taking stu­dents on a cross-cultural mission trip? You bet. Is there risk involved in creating a safe place for teenagers to express real doubts (even when they express them in less-than-polished terms)? Yup. Is there risk involved in not trying to ‘fix’ every teenager, and trust­ing the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit? Most definitely.  

But humble, faith-fuelled risk is youth ministry wisdom. The wise youth worker avoids silly risk, but runs with a heart full of hope towards good risk. Where do you need to be more like a teenager and take a risk today? Where does your ministry need an infusion of risk?