What does the landscape of our youth look like?
We live in a world that has a very hostile effect on our young people. Worldwide, there is the highest prevalence of teen mental illness in the history of mankind. For the first time ever, 16-year-old girls are more depressed than any other generation.
The availability and accessibility of hardcore online pornography (often violent, degrading, and addictive) is unprecedented. Eleven-year-olds can access any kind of content by pulling a phone out of their pockets. “Modern porn is unlike anything else in history.” (Freya India). You can even see porn through a hidden browser in the Bible App. (Chris McKenna, founder of Protect Young Eyes).
Through social media, our youth are also constantly exposed to a worldview that is fundamentally against the Bible and against Jesus as God’s only Son, who died and rose again so that all who believe in Him will have eternal life.
What if our youth have to stand-up against world powers?
We must understand the “landscape” that our youth and children are growing up in, and we must prepare them to stand their ground against this unprecedented onslaught.
Just like Daniel, Esther, and David, we need to prepare our children to stand for the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ even against world rulers. These Biblical figures were all around 13 years old when they had to stand for Truth and did so successfully.
We have to ask ourselves if our children and youth will be able to do the same should their time come.
Future-ready Youth Preparation course
ATS has developed a five-module short course to prepare matric/grade 12 learners (you can also present it for your youth) spiritually for the challenges that they are and will be facing. This course helps Christian youth to understand what we believe and why we believe it. It helps them to understand global trends and how to bring it within a Biblical perspective. With this preparation course we want to make our youth resilient and independent Christians – at exactly the time when the youth of the world are often described as the “snowflake” generation.
Note: You need Internet connectivity for this course.
Module 1: Smart Thinking (1 week)
Smart Thinking is about intellectual humility.
Intellectual humility is to understand that your own thoughts might be flawed and full of biases, but then to have the intellectual skills to personally put your own thoughts to the test and keep those that pass the test and reject those that do not. There is nothing intelligent about thinking you are right while you are in fact wrong.
Part of being human is to get it wrong sometimes. This module will help you think more smartly about yourself and the world around you.
How to:
This is an online module with an anonymous questionnaire that each student needs to complete on their phone or any other device connected to the Internet. This questionnaire will help students to practically discover their thinking strategies and to challenge those that are detrimental. As the lessons progress step by step, the teacher and group can read and discuss each lesson’s content.
Included is a video that will help students to gain insight into 10 thinking disorders. They can then evaluate, from their own real-life examples, which thinking disorder they have committed, and make changes in a safe and personal space.
Herewith screenshots of the last two lessons of this module.
At the end of the module the student gets an email with a downloadable pdf of the 10-thinking disorders for future reference.
Module 2: Christian faith and life (6 weeks)
Dogmatics is all about doctrinal matters as found in the Bible. There are many topics to discuss, but in this module a selection of foundational topics was chosen.
At the end of this module, the learner will be able to:
- Understand what is meant by the inspiration of the Bible. This is about the authority of the Bible.
- Know the different aspects that assist us in understanding and interpreting the Bible.
- Understand what it means to know God – it is much more than “head” knowledge.
- Know the different elements of the progressive revelation of God and its implications.
- Explain why the revelation of God represents a shift in emphasis from the outer and visible, to the inner and spiritual.
- Develop a clearer understanding of the biblical message about sin and understand the way to overcome sin.
- Explain the significance of Jesus Christ’s role in eschatology (the study of the “last things” or the end times) and our understanding of the end times.
- Describe the difference between “national Israel” and the spiritual “Israel of God” and explain why this distinction is important for interpreting biblical prophecies.
- Summarise the use of Israel as an idiom in explaining God’s kingdom and eschatology.
- Discuss the role of the ‘evangelical framework’ in interpreting apocalyptic material in the Book of Revelation.
How to:
The teacher will get a printed manual and a link to six online video classes that discuss the content. In the teacher’s manual are self-reflection questions that can be used for group discussions and to test learners’ understanding after a video has been watched.
Example of a video class:
Module 3: Christian ethics (8 weeks)
At the end of this module, the learner will be able to:
- Understand how Biblical truth differs from concepts like political correctness or postmodernism.
- Understand why God is the primary source of knowledge and understanding.
- Acknowledge that truth is not just a set of ideas but is personified in Jesus.
- Explore how the Holy Spirit helps us know this truth and draw closer to Jesus.
- Explain how societal attitudes towards cohabitation oppose traditional Christian values.
- Highlighting the importance of aligning lifestyle choices with spiritual and Biblical principles to foster healthier relationships and community structures.
- Recognise that God created humanity as man and woman.
- Recognise that God has a purpose for marriage.
- Explain how the husband substantiates this purpose as the head of the marriage.
- Understand how Christ qualifies the headship of the husband.
- Explain how the wife substantiates the purpose of marriage through submissiveness to her husband.
- Understand how Christ qualifies the submissiveness of the wife.
- Recognise that there is meaning and boundaries in the wife’s submissiveness to her husband.
- Acknowledge that marriages are not without problems and that these challenges are common to many marriages.
- Understand that most problems in marriage can be resolved if addressed in the light of the Biblical message and through a person’s relationship with God.
How to:
The teacher will get a printed manual and a link to eight online video classes that discuss the content. In the teacher’s manual are self-reflection questions that can be used for group discussions and to test learners’ understanding after a video has been watched.
Module 4: Christian youth, and living in the end-times (6 weeks)
Our youth are the people who will live in the end-times. If we are older, we might think we have the luxury of philosophising about the end-times, but our youth will have to face the reality.
The Bible, especially the words of our Lord Jesus, gives us clear indication of what to expect of, but also guidance of how to live, in the end times. Module 2 (Christian faith and life) gave learners a strong Biblical background about the end-times. In this module learners will gain a practical understanding of global trends, test them against the biblical principles, and look at biblical strategies for our response to them.
Module 5: Entrepreneurial Awakening (3-day workshop)
This online module (consisting of 8 online videos) is fundamentally within a Christian world view and for groups. It makes use of real-life examples to highlight learning insights. We believe that this “less common” approach to entrepreneurship opens up fresh insights. Researchers have found that faith in Christ can unintentionally spark entrepreneurial spirit. It’s like an unplanned result or benefit flowing from a personal relationship with Christ, that we need to recognise and make good use of.
Entrepreneurial actions are also in direct opposition to the meganism of a “world state”. Faith-inspired entrepreneurship empowers individuals and communities, acting as a grassroots “resistance” to totalitarian or overly controlling global mechanisms.
This module will help the learner to:
- develop a practical understanding of what an entrepreneur is
- stimulate you to start thinking and acting entrepreneurial
- teaching you how to identify new opportunities
- demonstrate how to convert opportunities into action plans
- highlight learning insights through real-life examples
- challenge you to believe in your ability to make a difference
- introduce you to “big thinking” (birds-eye view of situations)
- develop skills to organise information into big thinking.
How to:
The teacher gets a link and registers her group for the online module. He/she will also get a link to download a facilitator’s guide. This guide will guide the teacher step by step through the module and it also provides group discussion questions. Group activities are followed by a video to explain the results of the activities.
The module is developed for three days. For example, you can book two consecutive Saturdays and a Sunday for this module.
- Total time for day 1: 147 minutes (2 hour 27 minutes) for day one including breaks
- Total time for day 2 is approximately 4 hours (232 minutes) including 50 minutes of breaks.
- Total time for day 3 is approximately 4 hours 20 minutes (including breaks of 45 minutes)
Fees for the Future-ready Youth Prep course (2026)
R3,300 for the entire course for one Sunday school class.
If you do not collect your material from ATS, the handling and dispatch fee for delivery is R200.
