Following retirement from his post as England manager Sir Gareth Southgate was asked what he would do next. He said that he wanted to spend time thinking about that, and shortly afterwards he was asked to give the Dimbleby lecture in 2025. As I listened to him delivering that lecture, I felt it was a most important contribution to our thinking about young people, especially young men, in our society. Having had his fair share of knock backs, often very publicly, in his football career, Sir Gareth has a heart for young men who are struggling to find identity, meaning and value in our society. I believe he has touched on a most important issue, one that needs talking about a lot more. From his highly respected former leadership position he is well placed to highlight the problems, and he is working on looking at ways to find solutions.
The lecture focused on themes of youth and resilience. There are now millions of young people with no father or father figure in their home. There are many less coaches and youth leaders than there used to be.
” Growing up with no father is difficult for boys. Boys who grow up with no father figure don’t know who to be or how to be” Sir Gareth said. He suggests that fatherless young men find it harder to control their emotions and need mentors, people who believe in them. ” Life is difficult and young men need to be given the tools to survive setbacks, so that they are strong enough to grow through these experiences.” Too often now young men are succumbing to the toxic influences of those on social.media who would fuel their anger and lead them into the wrong ways.
Some of you reading this will remember special youth leaders, Boys and Girls Brigade leaders, Scout and Guide Leaders who helped you in adolescence. Many of these organisations have dwindled and failures in safeguarding have led to people being very nervous of taking up such a position. How can churches safely take on supporting young people and contributing to helping them? I pose a question it isn’t easy to answer.
We have at least 2 good examples of older, more experienced men mentoring younger men in the stories of the early church.
In Acts chapter 15 Paul asks Barnabas to accompany him on visits to believers in the churches where they had previously preached. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them but Paul refused to do so, citing John Mark’s previous unreliability. Barnabas disagreed with Paul, – he wanted to give the younger man another chance to get it right, so he and Paul parted company and Barnabas and John Mark sailed to Cyprus to continue the work, while Paul and Silas went to Syria and Cilicia.
Later on, Paul writes to Timothy, another young man, addressing him as ” Timothy, my loyal child in the faith:”. He gives him lots of advice about how to minister in the congregation at Ephesus, urging him to stay strong in his faith, ” you then my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it”. 2 Timothy 3
As Christians today we have a challenge as to how we can mentor and support young people, as highlighted by Sir Gareth, and shown within the early church by Paul and Barnabas.
Prayer – Dear Lord. We thank you for Sir Gareth Southgate, a man of integrity, who has a desire to help young men to overcome difficulties in life. May we in the church take this issue seriously and look for ways to help.