Hope for Despairing NEETs

What’s a NEET?

Someone who’s Not in Employment, Education, or Training.

And, as you might expect, they don’t feel they have much to live for.

In the Prince’s Trust survey of 16-25 year-olds in the UK, 9% of all youngsters agreed with the statement, “I have nothing to live for.” If the figures hold true for the rest of the UK, that works out at 750,000 suicidal young people.

For NEETs, the percentage of those agreeing with the statement rose to 21%. One in three long-term unemployed young people have contemplated taking their own lives. One in four have self-harmed.

Charities like the Prince’s Trust, set up by Prince Charles in 1976 to help disadvantaged young people, do a fine job in helping NEETs. The UK government also has various initiatives in place to reduce long-term unemployment and equip young people for the workplace. I’m sure there are similar charities and government policies addressing similar problems in the US. But what can the Church and the individual Christian do?

Surely, the first thing is to lend an ear. The most shocking statistic of all in this research was that 72% of long-term unemployed young people did not have someone to confide in. It’s agony to think of that basic need of human friendship going unmet. No, we may not be able to give dollars or jobs, but we can give something even more valuable – time and a listening ear.

And once we’ve invested in these previous lives, we then have Gospel gold to give them:

• Truth in a world full of lies
• Peace in a world full of war
• Love in a world full of hate
• Life in a world full of death
• Forgiveness in a world full of vengeance
• Power in a world full of weakness
• Certainty in a world full of confusion
• Purpose in a world full of pointlessness
• Beauty in a world full of ugliness
• Hope in a world full of despair

What a difference the Good News of all that Jesus Christ is and does would make to these needy lives. We can give them something to live for. More, we can give them everything to live for. Ultimately, we can give them something to die for.