Chap Clark - Young Life College: Vital Mission to Emerging Adults
Dr. Chap Clark brought to life his research from Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers and his
experience in the field to help Young Life College staff and leaders get inside the world of today's
college student so we can more effectively minister to the next generation. The developmental stage
known as adolescence continues to lengthen due to the continued fragmentation of society and the
lack of caring adults who can help adolescents transition from childhood to adulthood. Adolescence
has lengthened to the point that todays' freshman is actually in mid-adolescence, and students in their
early 20's are in late adolescence. In terms of todays' culture, a 23 year-old is the developmental
equivalent of a 17 year-old in 1980.
Implications for Young Life: College students are still adolescents, meaning that Young Life College is a
natural and necessary continuation of Young Life’s mission to introduce adolescents to Jesus Christ and help
them grow in their faith.
In order to be a relationally-driven ministry that meets college students where they are, we must be
mindful of this developmental reality. These students are trying to answer three questions on their
journey to adulthood:
The question: "Who am I?" (Identity) In mid-adolescence they do not have a core/integrated identity.
They have situationally based identities that are segmented because they are looking for safety and
struggling to belong. They generally believe that their peers are the only “safe zone” they have so
they will tend to hide or re-write their story in an attempt to create an “acceptable new self”. How
they respond in their small group will be entirely different than the way they live in their dorm, but
they are not disturbed by this discontinuity. Who they are in each of these contexts is a “segment” of
their identity.
Our response: The college director's job is to create safe spaces, loving relationships and mentoring
opportunities to help them emerge into adulthood with an integrated identity.
The question: "Do my choices matter?" (Autonomy)
As youth search for autonomy they are actually discovering that their choices matter. But the deeper
question is not what choices they make but where the locus of their decision is coming from? Are they
powerful enough to make their own decisions? Unless you believe you are a powerful agent with
voice, you can't enter into the autonomy of being an adult.
Our response: There may be very inconsistent behavior from the YL College student but Chap Clark
warned about approaching these issues with the Gospel of the “shoulds”. Shame is a huge part of the
experience of the mid-adolescent, (as seen by national college statistics on eating disorders, cutting,
depression etc.) so our goal is bringing Christ to the different selves that a young adult will present. In
effect the presence of the Holy Spirit is seeking to integrate the selves into the whole person that God
is calling them to be. In our actions as well as our words we have the opportunity to express the
incarnation of Jesus.
The question: "Where do I fit?" (Belonging).
College students are leaving their experience of having “clusters” of friends in high school which are
formed for common protection and are focused on the “self.” Every one of the focus groups Chap Clark
consulted said that the young adult's greatest fear is “being alone”. They are in search of a
meaningful community to connect to, and Chap Clark suggests that the goal would be to create a
healthy “clique” which would be defined as an intentional network of relationships where individuals
will sacrifice for the good of the whole.
Our response: Small groups are a great context for building these meaningful communities where
students can belong. We also need to train our small group leaders on where these students are
developmentally and how we can come alongside them through small group/mentoring relationships.
A final word: College students crave celebration, community and meaning in their lives.
A key aspect of discipleship for them is seeing the importance of their story in the context of God's
story. They are ready to understand the message of the Kingdom's advance and of God's call of them
into His grand story. This is why social justice issues resonate with college students. It also means
these three relational elements should be brought into the programming provided for students in
Young Life College.
For more information, please visit
http://staff.younglife.org/YL+Staff+Resources/Leader+Tools/College/