How Might Leaders Mentor Emerging Adults with a Specific Focus on Identity Formation
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Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary
Abstract
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This research discusses how youth workers and leaders can be more effective at mentoring emerging adults (EAs) in identity formation, Twelve alumni students of the Victory Program were interviewed to determine the situational praxis. Each student shared their experience during their time at Victory Gap Year and how that helped or failed to help them transition into adulthood.
Theories from the social sciences were consulted to establish why these emerging adults might have been struggling in some situations to enter adulthood. The seminal work and models of Erikson; Marcia; Goleman; Arnett and Côté were used to understand the psychosocial challenges of emerging adults.
Next biblical studies were utilised to discover how, according to scripture, young people were educated in ancient Hebrew culture. Wisdom literature and more specifically the book of Proverbs were consulted. It seems Proverbs may have formed part of the curriculum used to train young people, probably mostly during the first temple period. Furthermore, the narrative of Daniel and friends were considered as a case study to understand how these young men remained firm in their identities despite being forced into a foreign culture. Lastly, although not much is written about Jesus Christ during the emerging adult phase of life, an examination of Luke 2:40 and Luke 2:52 presented some key findings that would help shape a model to aid emerging adults in identity formation.
Recommendations are made to use a holistic framework that includes spiritual, biological, and psychosocial aspects of identity formation when mentoring emerging adults. Further research is needed to investigate how the church might apply this holistic approach. This research is not gender specific and Western culture orientated, and thus further research will need to be conducted to apply this model to specific genders and cultures.
Keywords
Christian leadership, Group identity