The Church & Youth Identity Formation
At the core of any human is their self-identity. The process of identity formation happens primarily during one’s youth. The culture of our world today is damaging for youth identity formation. Social Media and the entertainment industry promote unhealthy lifestyles and cause youth to form their identities around unhealthy things. Our hope with this study is to give churches a look into what they can do to help students form their identities around God instead of the world. First research was done in the area of identity formation, exploring different theories on how identity is formed in the human mind. Next, we studied adolescent culture in the past and present day. After identifying key influences on identity formation, we looked at how the church can answer the questions running around the minds of young students struggling to find their identity. Our main conclusions are that the Church needs to be a place where students can find their purpose in Christ, unconditional love, and relationships with older believers who can mentor them.
CM 499, Capstone
Terry O’Casey
P103
11 – 11:30 AM