Are you sick of life??? Are you EMO??? If you’ve stumbled here via google and have no idea what ‘evangelism’ is… go and check out THIS SITE to find out what Jesus has done to fix this sucky world…
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Recently, Rowena and I have been thinking a bit about evangelism to teenagers that belong to the EMO subculture. One of my conclusions for any subculture is that Christians who are from that subculture go back into it to reach their friends. Surfers. Skaters. Emos. Goths. (Here’s a long list). Whoever. Why? The reasons are obvious enough: they understand the culture and will therefore be able to relate to peers in that culture better than someone external to the culture.
Today in year 9 scripture I had a great time talking to some self-confessed Emo’s and had the opportunity to ask them about the characteristics of their subculture. It was a fantastic time. They spoke of the roots in emo punk music but also the culture that goes with that. At one point one of them spoke about how the wearing of tight black jeans might lead to emo guys not being able to have children. Astutely, one of the others said that emo’s don’t really want to bring children into such a messed up world! We had a great time talking and their questions seemed genuine.
This arvo I did a bit of web-surfing to read more about EMO. I found this great site where (presumably) teenagers write the definitions for different words. It’s called Urban Dictionary. The entry on EMO (mild language warning) is hilarious! (There’s also 400+ photos such as the Emo-Nemo one). Each entry has a definition and a made up emo-quote. Here’s a few:
>>>Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter. “My life sucks, I want to cry.”
>>>Emu spelled incorrectly. “That emo sure is fast!”
>>>If scenes were soda, Emo could be Diet Goth. “Emo: I’m so sad. I’m going to cut myself… Goth: I’m nothing. I’m going to cut everyone.”
(These are some of the shorter ones – go to the site to read the longer ones.)
The EMO subculture is traced back (by one of the emo’s in class today, wikipedia and here) to the EMOtional Punk-rock of the 1980s. Today in a blog post, Chris Mayes described Albert Camus as: “the patron saint of depressed youths”. So we can probably trace the EMO culture back to him and other big-question-asking thinkers throughout the 20th Century (and earlier).
I believe in the gospel: that it’s God’s power for the salvation of everyone who believes. I believe that God has his people in our city and will save them as they hear the gospel. I believe that peer to peer evangelism is an effective way to reach different subcultures.
BUT…
I wonder if the emo tree is ripe for the picking?
On the Central Coast (and on Coasts around the world) there is an organisation called Christian Surfers. Their aim is to build a bridge between surfers and the church. I wonder if it is time for CHRISTIAN EMOS??? Maybe we could aim evangelistic endeavours at them, their subculture and the questions they’re asking.
EMO’s know they suck
EMO’s know the world sucks and is messed up
EMO’s don’t mind being different
EMO’s persevere through bullying
EMO’s are not afraid to show emotions (dir!)
EMO’s question the world
EMO’s seem open to exploring spiritual questions
I haven’t yet ventured onto MySpace to find out more about them – but if you’re interested I’m sure you could find lots of emotional MySpace pages!
Has anyone else thought about this stuff much???
If not for emos – for other subcultural groups???
Is EMO EVANGELISM worth a shot???
What do you think???
I would love to hear your thoughts…
My brother pretty much blogs once a month. Here is his latest post. It’s about buying 4 U2 albums on iTunes with a voucher that Row and I gave to him for his birthday. Go check his blog out… you could maybe even comment and say that you think he should post more often!
