Freeing Youth from Suburban Oppression by J.R. Rozko

This is an article that frankly I wish I had written...it tells my story, my student's story, and in many ways my life's crusade...how strange to think that suburban teenagers might be oppressed when most see them as the most privileged...but I long to free and to have my students be free from the things, all the things, that want to keep us from what Christ has for us in terms of grace and freedom and the realest of life...would love some feedback on this one from anyone who has been or still is a suburban teenager...

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.

Though there are a number of ways we could approach this discussion, asking, “How do these oppressive powers prohibit suburban youth from practicing the way of Jesus?” seems an apt place to start: It is Jesus who embodied God’s dream for humanity—a dream that includes suburban teens.

From consumerism to stewardship

By consumerism I mean the cultural force that encourages us to create an identity for ourselves based on our consumption of goods and services. As an example, we might note the way in which teens in the suburbs adopt certain name brands, styles, stores and products in search of identity. In 2003, teenagers in the United States spent $112.5 billion. There were roughly 20.5 million teenagers in the U.S. in 2003, which means that on average, teens were spending more than $100 per week. Most of this money was spent on clothes.1 Flowing straight out of a capitalistic approach to society comes the notion that our chief end is to be consumers—those who possess, with increasing capacity, the ability to consume more and better goods and services. This is part and parcel of climbing the proverbial economic and social ladder. Fed from all angles the lie that what is of prime importance is their pursuit of “being whoever they want to be,” teens are all but stripped of their ability to discern, and thereby resist and subvert, the oppressive force of consumerism.

More problematic than this is the church’s tendency to uncritically adopt the consumeristic tendencies of suburban culture “for the sake of the Gospel.” Yet as Marshal McLuhan, unappreciated in his own time as a 1960s communications theorist, aptly noted, “The medium is the message.” What this means for the church is that to adopt a consumeristic model of ministry is to lose the thrust of the Gospel message itself.

Whereas the “American Dream” necessitates that teenagers derive their identity from what they consume, God’s dream for them is that they learn to be stewards of all they have—indeed, of all of creation. Jesus was anything but a passive consumer. Armed with a razor-sharp understanding of God’s desire for humanity and creation, Jesus sought to rectify wrongs, reconcile relationships and restore that which had been lost. Suburban teenagers, like Jesus, ought to be free from the oppressive force of consumerism in order that they may come to understand who they are in and through their participation in God’s way of being, exemplified by Jesus. The upshot of all this is not only that the consumerism so latent within suburban culture oppresses teenagers, but that when the church fails to point out the contrast of the Kingdom of God to this force, it handicaps itself in its ability to come alongside teenagers as we seek to help them practice the ways of Jesus.

From materialism to simplicity

Consumerism is directly related to materialism: consumerism encourages suburban teenagers to derive their identity from what they can consume, while materialism emphasizes this oppression by deceiving our students into believing that their own value is equal to the value of their possessions. Perhaps because of suburban ideologies, the bulk of families, however involved in church activities, tend to ignore the material dimension of spiritual formation. Teenagers do not develop materialistic tendencies out of thin air. Rather, these tendencies are learned from family, friends and their culture. God saw this coming for the nation of Israel—that they would go in and possess the land, become wealthy, forget the Lord and in the end destroy themselves.

The suburbs are among the most economically polarized places to live. There is often a powerful pressure for families to move into nicer homes, with more space, further away from any sort of risk to themselves or their things. In suburban contexts, if both parents live in the same home, they are usually both working full-time jobs, sometimes just to make ends meet (though sometimes those ends exist because they are already trying to live beyond their means), but often to climb ahead economically. While many parents have the seemingly noble intention of “sacrificing for the good of their children,” they seldom stop to ask what they actually should be sacrificing and what is actually “good” for their kids. Chap Clark, in his book Hurt, speaks of the way that this notion of “sacrifice” is actually more like abandonment:

“We have evolved to the point where we believe driving is support, being active is love, and providing any and every opportunity is selfless nurture … Even with the best of intentions, the way we raise, train, and even parent our children today exhibits attitudes and behaviors that are simply subtle forms of parental abandonment.”2

It is the insatiable force of materialism that drives this trend, damaging both to families and to the spiritual formation of suburban youth.

During one of the years that I served as a youth pastor in an affluent suburban mega-church, we held a New Year’s Eve all-nighter. One of the draws of the evening—or so I thought—was our contest to give away a car that someone from the church community had donated (in case you can’t tell already, I’d do things differently today). You can imagine my surprise then when the young man who won (newly 16, I might add) asked me if he HAD to take it as he was sure that his parents intended on buying him something a bit newer and nicer. We never did that again.

Jesus lived unencumbered by worldly possessions, yet he was able to both give freely and receive joyfully. Because so many evangelical suburban churches proclaim a gospel that primarily has to do with going to heaven when you die (as opposed to seeking to give people a taste of heaven on earth as we are taught by Jesus to ask for in the Lord’s Prayer), the painful grip of materialism on our people, especially our teenagers, goes largely ignored. Like the oppressive force of consumerism, materialism within suburban culture—especially when unaddressed by churches and youth ministries—robs our teens of the freedom they might know in practicing the simpler way of Jesus.

From individualism to relatedness

Individualism is interrelated with both the oppressive forces of consumerism and materialism, undergirding them both. Individualism is so ingrained in our culture that we rarely take note of its existence, let alone judge it as a potentially oppressive reality. Our educational system seems predicated on a “survival of the fittest” philosophy in which individual effort and ability are what we reward. Athletics and other extracurricular activities, though usually team oriented, are often little more than covert opportunities for students to do whatever they can to stand out. Marketing, likewise, is often individualistically structured. As Burger King teaches, “Have it your way.” Or as AT&T advertises, “Your world. Delivered.” In all these ways and more, there is a power at work in suburban cultures that encourages the oppressive force of individualism.

I can imagine that the Israelites in the Promised Land grew to rather enjoy their self-sufficiency. There was plenty of land for everyone, more resources than they knew what to do with, and no real need to depend on one another, let alone anyone outside of their own nation. Quite the same, suburban teenagers enjoy the great benefits afforded by a culture that seeks to meet their individual needs. The question is whether or not this is in keeping with God’s dream for His people. When we survey the whole of scripture, we see that God’s desire for humanity—including suburban teenagers—is that they find joy not in their individuality alone, but in their relatedness with and to others. To miss this is to be sorrowfully oppressed.

One final time we might ask, “How might the oppressive force of individualism be hindering our teenagers from practicing the way of Jesus?” Through and through, Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching were relational and not individualistic. Jesus gathered a band of disciples to teach and share in ministry. His healings and exorcisms, though obviously of personal benefit, were aimed at restoring people to community. Jesus’ teaching centered on how we are to relate to one another (in the Sermon on the Mount alone we have Jesus’ wisdom with regard to murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, enemies, giving, etc.—all relational matters). More than this, Jesus’ central message of love loses all significance when understood individualistically, for love is unthinkable outside of relationship. To say it another way, God’s personal involvement with us is always a beginning and never an end. God’s ultimate end is a communal way of understanding life and salvation that I hope we might be able to offer suburban teenagers who are oppressed by individualism on all sides.

Moving toward God’s dream for suburban teens

What are the practical implications of all this for those who care about suburban teenagers? With regard to the oppressive force of consumerism we might start by simply raising this issue with students. Ask them what they think about it and help them explore the tension between consumeristic tendencies and the life of Jesus. By challenging and partnering with your students in concrete anti-consumeristic practices and actions, you could help them not just understand this issue, but also evaluate it for themselves. We might help our students examine the ways in which suburban culture perpetuates consumeristic trends. Or, more positively, we could help our students dream about how they might be better stewards of all that God has given them.

Because of its complex relationship with family dynamics, the oppressive force of materialism can be harder to combat. Nevertheless, you might consider inviting a group of students to think differently about possessions. You could explore ways to share more, to give things away to those in need who can offer nothing in return, or to trade expensive things for more modest ones. Perhaps these students, attempting to practice this dimension of Jesus’ life, might serve as a catalyst for change within your group as a whole.

How do we practically combat the oppressive force of individualism? The answer must be more nuanced than getting students to engage in “fellowship,” and more involved than giving students the opportunity to serve others. It requires a fundamental shift in how we understand what it means to be bearers of the image of God. Students need to feel the weight of their responsibility to and for others. This is not mere grief over suffering, but a more holistic sense of needing others to understand ourselves. We are only who we are in relation to others. These are complex matters, but we can begin making progress by simply asking the right questions and leading students into the right situations.

Finally, as leaders, if we are not modeling a life of freedom from the oppressive forces of consumerism, materialism and individualism, any and all other efforts are quite meaningless. Jesus’ message had credibility because he preached it with his life. More than attractive and entertaining ministries and programs, the great need of students in suburban America is to be invited into the lives of men and women who are practicing the way of Jesus. The homes we live in, the cars we drive, the ways we spend money (our own as well as the church budget), the way we make decisions, our concern for others, the clothes we wear, the way we speak—all these dimensions of our lives are under the constant scrutiny of the students we serve. If we are not modeling the sort of life we envision for our students, there is little chance we will ever help them experience it for themselves.

The oppressive force of the powers addressed here bear significance not only for the suburban teenagers we are focusing on, but for all those they are meant to impact—their families, their friends, their classmates, teammates, co-workers and all those they come in contact with. They are particular forms of oppression that have universal implications.

While I know these issues are bigger than could be meaningfully addressed in a brief article, I also know that many who read this will be in churches and ministries who perpetuate these forces, making change seem quite impossible. Yet we are urged to place our faith in the One who embodied God’s dream for us, who lived as a steward over all creation, who lived simply and who lived a life of relatedness. For it is this Jesus who is jealous for His bride, the Church, and He continues to move and act that she might be presented to Him without blemish.





J.R. Rozko holds a master’s degree in intercultural studies from Fuller Theological Seminary focusing on a missiology of Western culture. J.R. has worked with youth and young adults for more than 10 years.



Reprinted with permission from Fuller’s Center for Youth and Family Ministry. This article originally appeared in the March 2007 CYFM E-Journal, which can be accessed along with other free youth ministry resources at www.cyfm.net.



1 http://www.magazine.org/content/files/teenprofile04.pdf, pages 12-17.

2 Chap Clark, Hurt (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 46-47.