I have long had a theory about commencement addresses that says it is not so much what the speech is about but rather who the speaker is that is important. Famous commencement speakers make for a good story, regardless of what they say. And after all, most addresses are the same, right: live your dream, follow your passions, live life to the fullest, etc.

And on the surface these all seem like good messages–dreams, passions, and a full life are all good tings–but in a recent Op-Ed piece in the NYT, columnist David Brooks suggests otherwise.

Not only is his perspective on what drives new graduates today a good one, but it might prove helpful for churches thinking about the age-old problem of “connecting with young people.”

The piece is entitled “It’s Not About You,” and in it Brooks breaks down common commencement address fodder: “Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself” calling it “the litany of expressive individualism.”

Successful young people today, he claims, are driven not by the pursuit of the self, but by seeing a problem or an issue in their world and giving of themselves to address it. It is through this “doing” that they “find” themselves. In short, they are more outward looking than inward, and their vision leads to action–and vice versa.

As a relatively young person myself, and someone who has worked with college kids and youth for several years, I truly believe young people today are motivated by connecting in a meaningful way to causes and issues that are outside themselves. Scan your Facebook news feed and you’ll see this is becoming more and more true for society in general.

The ubiquity of the Internet and the various forms of social networking it allows means that the outside world has never been closer. Young people know a world where they can read tweets from revolutionaries in the Middle East or the President of the United States. They can post their thoughts on Facebook for the world to see (for better or worse) and have people respond in almost real time. And more than just being aware of current issues, this connectedness allows young people today to feel empowered to do something about them.

Young people are more outward looking because the view outside has never been wider. And they need a church that is more outward looking as well.

One of the great things about church is that it is a place where you are invited to just come and “be.” Doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from–you are invited and welcome here. Go ahead and jump in the potluck.

But the church is also a place for folks to learn how to be in the world.

Young people need the church to be a place to plug-in ethically, spiritually, and theologically; a place to learn what these terms even mean and why it matters. And perhaps more than previous generations, they expect to learn this by doing. Mission, service, what the gospel looks like in the world. This is the front door.

Of course, the church should always be in the business of reminding people who they are and whose they are. It just might be that the best way  to look inside ourselves is to turn our gaze outside; toward creation; toward our neighbor, toward our God. And that’s true at any age.