Freeing Youth from Suburban Oppression

From suburbia to seminary and back again I grew up in the suburbs. The college I attended was comprised predominantly of white, middle- to upper-class students and faculty. As a youth ministry major, I participated in internships in local, suburban church communities. When I graduated, I served for a number of years as a youth pastor in an affluent suburban church, ministering to affluent suburban teenagers and young adults. In seminary, I continued to think about and study the church in suburban America. I have become incredibly worried. What worries me is the subtle, perhaps even invisible, oppression of teens in the suburbs. When we think of oppression we tend to think of the poor and needy, those without a voice whose cry goes largely unheard—and we are right to do so. Please don’t miss that. In nothing I say do I mean to imply that this form of oppression is not one of the greatest challenges (read opportunities) facing the global church today. It is, and there is much work to be done. At the same time, however, this fact does not excuse us from ignoring other forms of oppression, equally as sad and perhaps harder to address. In suburban America the powers of consumerism, materialism and individualism have become so all-pervasive that we scarcely recognize them anymore. When combined, these forces have resulted in enormous pressure on teens to strive for success in all that they do in order to achieve the “American Dream.” But any force that compels us to pursue a dream that isn’t God’s is an oppressive one.
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