Faith Makes a Difference in Building Assets
There is a consistent, positive relationship between young people’s religious involvement and their experience of the 40 Developmental Assets®. Search Institute has learned some things about the relationship between faith and Developmental Assets in the lives of young people.
- Young people who are connected to a faith community have, on average, 5 more assets than those young people who are not.
- The more assets young people have, the more likely they are to believe that religion and spirituality are important in their lives. (See Handout 8 for more detailed information.)
- The more assets young people have, the more likely they are to be active in a church.
- Congregations from all traditions and of all sizes have the potential to be strong asset builders. The framework of Developmental Assets can be the “common ground” where Christians across all denominational lines can gather as they minister for and with children, youth, and families.
- Having high asset levels does not guarantee that young people will be religious, though it dramatically increases the possibility.
- Building assets complements, and does not replace, the need to introduce children and youth to God through Jesus Christ. Asset building can be a way of demonstrating God’s love.
- Studies suggest a strong relationship between spirituality and adolescent well-being or thriving. Spirituality and religion have been associated with positive physical health and the reduction of risk behaviors.
Many Christians are using the asset framework to strengthen their ministries with children, youth, and families. It provides a fresh way to help parents, neighbors, church leaders, and community members consider their roles in the lives of young people. A focus on the importance of Developmental Assets gives congregations an opportunity to educate and motivate people of all ages to see themselves as being able to make a positive difference and as having a shared responsibility for children beyond their own families. There’s a connection between building assets in the community and the number of assets available to each family. What does this asset building look like in action? Included below are a few examples from congregations around the country. As you read through them, think of examples of asset building in your congregation and others, nearby.
- One church formed an intergenerational marching band to participate in their community’s annual summer parade. Youth encouraged adults to dust off old band instruments and this group of 15 musicians (ages 12-67) learned two hymns and one march routine, which they repeated every two blocks! Other adults and youth walked along and handed out information about their church.
- In one church, older adults and youth serve in pairs to prepare the sanctuary and altar for worship each Sunday.
- When children first begin Sunday school in one church, their parents gather for several weeks while their children are in class, getting to know one another and exchanging ideas about parenting and nurturing faith at home.
- The goal of one church is to involve each person over the age of five in at least one project each year that serves others. Most projects include adults and young people working side-by-side.
- A youth director polled young people in the congregation to find out what they’d like to talk about with an adult. This list of potential conversation topics was published in the newsletter.
- An asset-building pastor encourages young people to be involved in decision making and leadership in the church. Youth have copies of the church budget and understand how the Sunday offerings are spent. They use this information as they consider how to be contributors to as well as receivers of ministry.
- One church is committed to an intergenerational Vacation Bible School where adults and children sing, study Bible stories, play games, and do service projects together.
Being intentional about building assets can strengthen the efforts of individual congregations to nurture, care for, and engage young people. In like manner, a focus on asset building also has the potential to help congregations improve the effectiveness of their youth initiative activities, gather youth ministry leaders around a common purpose, and have a broader and more positive impact in their communities. Congregations who are committed to strengthening the Developmental Assets in the lives of young people will strengthen their prophetic voices—calling society to shared responsibility for the healthy development and well-being of all children and adolescents.
Theological Themes in Asset Building
Several theological themes suggest how Christians may approach asset building. (See Handout 9 for some connections between the asset framework and Scripture; See Grounding Asset Building in Lutheran Faith for deeper connections with Lutheran theology.)
Centered in Christ. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the center of life. Christ’s work and teachings ground our identity. Instead of approaching asset building as something we do out of our own strength, we build assets as persons who are empowered by the gospel to act as stewards of what God has given to us, including the children around us. We begin with the knowledge that God loves and forgives each one of us in Christ—including young people who are facing or have made unwise choices. We live in grace, approaching our relationships and daily tasks with joy and hope, not dread and despair. This includes our relationships and ministries with young people.
Sanctification. God’s grace frees us to live righteously—not in order to earn God’s favor, but in response to God’s love. Sanctification speaks to discipleship—growing and maturing in how we live out our faith each day. The Holy Spirit nourishes us with faith, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These gifts guide how Christians live individually and together. These gifts empower our ability to provide young people with what they need, including the 40 Developmental Assets.
Vocation. Christ summons all Christians to live in the world as salt and light, wherever we live our daily lives. By calling us into various roles or stations (parent, teacher, community leader, friend, employee, neighbor), God works His will through us in the world. Christians are called to speak the Word and to put faith into practice. The asset-building philosophy provides a means for living out our faith as we befriend, guide, and advocate for children and youth.
Families. Parents have the primary role in nurturing children’s faith. Parents also have a primary role in building assets. Our congregations offer families the resources of the gospel and a community for support and guidance. The Developmental Assets provide a valuable perspective on the task of parenting in today’s complex world—helping parents see what positive and important things they can do.
The Church in the World. The Christian church is embodied in the lives of individual Christians and in corporate expressions of the church locally, nationally, and internationally. The asset framework opens new opportunities to be in community with others, “preaching the gospel” through our actions of welcoming and ministering with young people. Our words and deeds can model for others how young people are gifts to be treasured.
Not Assets Alone. The 40 Developmental Assets do not encompass everything that young people need in life; neither is asset building the only thing that Christians ought to do in their ministries with young people. Congregations also must seek to nurture the growing faith of young people. We have the opportunity to nurture faith and assets, not simply one or the other. The two are certainly intertwined, and much of what nurtures faith also helps to build assets, and vice versa. The goal is to be intentional in doing both.
How Does Asset Building Help Congregations?
But how does asset building help Congregations? After all, aren’t congregations already doing good work that benefits children, youth, and families? Here are some benefits that other networks and communities have found from an asset-building approach.
- With its positive focus, asset building offers a sense of hope, possibility, and impact that is often difficult to generate when you focus only on needs and problems in the community and in the lives of young people.
- Asset building provides a research base that helps justify and celebrate the difference Love IND makes in the lives of children, youth, and families.
- Asset building offers a common framework and rationale that builds links across many different church and agency relationships, programs, strategies and activities. It reduces the sense that programs compete against each other, showing that each can play a role in building assets.
- Asset building unites planners and doers. There’s plenty of room for both in understanding a comprehensive framework and applying it to ministry while also offering concrete, specific ways people can be involved in the lives of children and youth.
- Building relationships is at the very core of healthy congregational ministry. By working with many different community groups (such as social service agencies, schools, etc.), asset building provides the common language and common goals that build bridges across different missions and perspectives. You don’t have to agree on all theological issues in order to work together to build assets.
- Most important, asset building offers a shared vision between congregational networks do and what individual congregations do in their ministries with children, youth, and families. The result is the creation of synergy between congregations as they reaffirm the ways that building assets extends their own ministries as individual congregations.
- Young people who experience more Developmental Assets in their church are more likely to stay involved and connected. This helps to address the challenge of declining attendance among teenagers that many congregations face.
- Asset building gives a tool for planning, evaluating, and strengthening ministries without having to introduce new programs or curricula. It helps congregations think about why they do what they do.
- Asset building broadens the base of individuals who are committed to and involved in the lives of children and youth. It reminds the church that everyone has a responsibility to minister to young people.
- Even congregations that are small and have limited budgets can be great asset-building communities. Asset building reminds church members that what they do matters, and gives them hope and encouragement that they really can—and do—make a difference in young people’s lives.
A Challenge to Congregations. Congregations have both a theological and ethical obligation to care for children and adolescents. It is time for congregations to ask: If young people are both the present and the future of the church (and the world), what are we doing to ensure that each young person develops as a strong, responsible, contributing, faithful person? The answer to this question becomes our starting point for ministry. Our ministry with young people has great potential to enrich church and society, both now and for generations to come. The Developmental Assets can be a framework, a strategy, and a rationale for supporting existing congregational initiatives focused on youth and children. The assets framework also can be a challenge for congregations to discover new ways that God is calling us to be in ministry on behalf of children and youth.
