Teenage pregnancy record-high
Daily Post, Issue 1698 - Tuesday 11 April 2006.
"...95 teenage pregnancies were reported in 2000, 100 in 2001,, 135 in 2002, 130 in 2003, 281 in 2004 and 250 in 2005....In the first 10 days of April 2006, 66 babies were born, of which twenty five percent of the mothers are teen aged between 16 and 19. These figures represent strictly mothers who are recorded at Vila Central Hospital."
Is there hope for these young mothers? While young people are trying to find acceptance and meaning to life, the church is still trying to sort out it's differences between denominations, backbiting, arguing about who's the best church, etc. There's a saying that goes something like so, "When the elephants fight, the grass and ants die."
Is it possible that the church is fighting the wrong enemy, while the real enemy of our families laughs. Can the church put aside their differences and unite to curp this rising teenage problem?
jack
posted by jdmatariki at 12:31 PM
10 Comments:
I reckon Church leaders/Youth leaders should include sex education (Christian's Perspective) in their regular youth programs...the reality is out there and unless we deal with it, it will always resurface.
Also, I think we need to present a gospel that is relevant to today's teens/youths...meaning, directly addressing the real issues that affect young people based on Biblical standards.
Someone said "If we want to see change in your country, target the young people"...I just came back from an evangelism conference and the main message (a message in season, I would think) I got was that we need to raise up young people in the things of God in order to reform society. One of the handouts that was circulated during that conference that caught my attention was one titled: "7 Reasons to Target the College Campus for Outreach"...Reason #1: "The University campuses are where the future leaders of the world are being educated"...and the list goes on.
My point is this: Unless the church awakes to see that youths play a VITAL role in reforming society, having the potential to penetrate and positively impact a nation, we will continue to go around in circles...
Tuesday, May 09, 2006 10:02:00 PM
Jim, I agree with you: one cannot change the past, but they sure can change the future.
But I'm not sure about the idea of more Sex Education - I think that's the problem. There is more sex education and related awareness now than before. But statistics have given a big slap on the face of those promoting an otherwise theory.
I think wrong church values too are to be blamed. We all need to identify and critically address those church values that relate to sex, boy-girl relationship, etc.
I also think that we have over-spiritualized church life and culture, and youth culture for that matter, that young people have often felt that the church is not relevant to them. How do they form healthy boy-girl relationships without the act being branded SIN, to give just one example.
Thursday, May 11, 2006 3:52:00 PM
i agree with you Jim, it is about time the church,youth and community leaders take up their roles and address the issue head on...
the statistics are startling indeed, unless we do something about it it will definitely worsen.
i think the first and foremost venue for this education begins at home. after all, the first teachers of a child are his/her parents...
like jim mentioned about presenting gospel in relevance to the today's youth is vital to their response to this issue...
i mean when a child gets to his early teens his parents should be open to him about education.it is the only way that they can learn and make better choices... there is no more room for entertaining our youths with bible stories.... lets give them the real bible standards concerning this issue...
its all about working together to curb this crisis in our society..
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:44:00 PM
Jack mentions Sex Education and overspiritualizing church life..and I think these are very important topics to discuss, with regards to youths.
True, there is more sex education within the country like never before EXCEPT within the church! In all my life as a Christian, I am YET to see/hear Pastors/preachers address the topic of "sex" head-on..there has been talks and just a few sermons/talks on "sex" within the church, but just SURFACE talk. I would like to recommend, if someone feels the need to take this to the "practical" level, to take time to listen to what youths have to say about this - making it more interactive and LESS of "Info Bashing"...do questionaires, interviews, debates etc - whatever to give right to youths to voice their opinions/views/concerns/questions - so as to dig deeper into the minds of youths concerning the topic of Sex THEN can we stand and direct them to the Bible.
I believe with ALL my heart that if a few understand and make this committment to keep themselves pure until marriage AND are not afraid to stand up for it, then for sure, it'll have a "domino-effect" on other youths too. What have we to lose? Our Reputation? Jesus, made Himself of no reputation - Phil 2:9 --> Live a life of No Reputation!
Yes, we have overspiritualized church life...sticking our heads too high in the clouds that we have overlooked these real everyday issues...to be continued :-)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 10:49:00 PM
Danny A2J-24/7 said.......
I agree with all that is written from above. I admire the phase that jack said; the Elephant fight, the grass and ants die.......Right... Church leaders/Youth leaders should include sex education in church.. I agreed,and reckon that WE the HEIRS of the kingdom,should stop the elephant from
fighting and start running sex education in our churchs. It is enough describing the situation, trying hard to explain it in perfect words. Let us be doers of our words not just hearers and sayers of the nice word.....
Let us PUT a stop to the devourer and beginning the work now. The hour is here where you are.... BEGIN... If You leave without passing onthe message, you will regret, the very person satnding next to you in few months time is the victim of the subject..........
God bless
Thursday, May 18, 2006 1:10:00 PM
can i just make one quick comment....i highly recommend for youth/church leaders to include sex education in their programs. there is biblical teaching on it and for the case of vanuatu, our culture has make it too difficult for leaders do talk on this issue openly.
it is a CRUCIAL topic for youth/church leaders of this era to start educating their young people. if we have to narrow the HIGH RECORD of teenage pregnance there's only one thing the leaders have to do, forget their difference and focus on their youths which will be tomorrows leaders, break the cultural barriers that limiting them to talk on this issue. i do believe it'll do some great change on the VCH teenage pregnancy chart.
Thursday, May 18, 2006 7:59:00 PM
I couldn't have agreed more with Danny...
Someone once said, "After all that's been said and done, MORE is said than done!"
So...it's time to start getting our hands dirty and really going out to explore the possibilities of how we can better address this...
one thing I know as a Medical student that health care professionals are more than willing to be of any help, especially in this area...
vinaka!
Friday, May 26, 2006 11:13:00 PM
Thanks jim and danny,
I'm trying hard to flex my faith muscles on this one, but I can't seem to figure out exactly which bar to grap (or maybe that's me...the only thing I know for sure is how much I don't know).
Thank you doctor for the offer. As I said in my second commend, the world has done a huge job in empowering them with the information: SO THEY CAN HAVE BETTER SEX? OK, you say EXCETP THE CHURCH. That's one bar before me - grap the sex education bar. But that's the bar the world have been flexing their VERY BIG MUSCLES on. And I think they did a poor job at it - things were going well then without sex education.
This is where I'm trying to find another bar to grap. Or maybe there are several bars, and sex education is one of those bars.
Enough here for bars, but I hope I put my point clear, and I hope somebody does throw in some more bars into my faith gym.
Ta
Monday, May 29, 2006 8:56:00 AM
While browsing the web, I came across this site: www.straighttalk.org.au
They're offering a video that has apparantly impacted countless youths in Australia on the topic of Sex and other related topics...it is even taken and shown/taught to parents and churches even.
Thought this might help >> browse through this site and read the youths responses after watching the tape!..
Cheers
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 9:21:00 PM
I got the DVD "The Pricetag of Sex". Thanks Jimmy for your comment. I've seen the movie several times, and I suggest that those young people who haven't seen it should do so - it might save you, physically and spiritually ;-)
I got the DVD from an SDA book shop at Nambatu, Port Vila. And I found out that it had been there since 2005. A couple from STRAIGHT TALK Australia were in Vanuatu in 2005, and went around some schools to talk to students on the same issue and to promote the DVD. And WE didn't know about it - sort of like a WELL KEPT SECRET!
The world is a small place - not if you're in Port Vila. That should be the topic of my new post: Networking and communication.
jack
Monday, August 14, 2006 9:05:00 AM
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