Appealing to Teens
Evangelicals are worried that teens are leaving their ranks so they have ramped up the number of teen-oriented Christian events like youth extravaganzas. But according to Christian Smith, a sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame, evangelical teens are more likely to stay involved with their church than teens of just about any other religion. What do you think about these teen events? How do other religious communities keep teens involved?
October 8th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I don’t profess to know how to keep teens involved in a religious community, but we did raise our son to have moral values that we are proud of. We did this by being honest with him at all times, apologizing when we made mistakes, accepting him for who he is and behaving in ways that we would want him to behave (setting the example , kids learn what they live). Don’t know if this helps and if it can be extrapolated to a religious community but that’s what I know.
October 12th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
i dont believe religions help much for teens or most any others, unless one is high enuf evolved to not be sucked into being controlled. i do feel that thats what religions do, controll. i totally agree with pattip. kids learn by example…
“If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.”
October 29th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
First, in response to RVNFTHR8’s comments and poem. I have heard that poem before and agree with it. I get the feeling that you have very negative emotions about religions in general and feel they are controling. It makes me sad.
When I was in high school and early in college years I was involved in evangelical type rallies and events. Looking back on that now, I have ambivolent feelings. My personal experience was that those in charge of these events whipped up the youth’s emotions almost to a point of frenzy, and were able to persuade them to “stand up for Jesus”. I am all for following Christ’s example, but I did feel as though the situations were a bit on the emotionally manipulative side. I don’t think this was being done intentionally. On the other hand, we were a tight group of kids and we stayed “valiant” while we were involved. When we grew up and went our separate ways, some remained “true to the faith” and others chose other paths.
Here are some of the ways my current church tries to keep kids involved. From the time they are little they are asked to write ( or have their parents write when they are too young) little talks about faith related topics and get up in front of their Sunday School classes or our general Sunday meetings with all of our members, and share their talk with others. When the youth are about 11 years old they meet at the home of one of the church members in the area and have fun activities weekly to give the kids a chance to be with other kids of their faith. From ages 12 - 18 years they not only go to Sunday School meetings with their age group, but meet weekly in the evenings with leaders and members their age, to give both spiritual lessons and plan fun activities. These kids are also included in many service projects throughout the year to help people in the community. They have summer camps that they attend. Families meet each Monday evening to have what we call Family Home Evening where gospel topics are taught and discussed. Parents and children take turns preparing the lessons. We also try to pray together as families morning and night and study scriptures together regularly. That is not to say that this ensures children will remain active in church forever, but it helps keep them involved and grounded while they are growing up, and it definitely takes a village to raise a child. Sometimes kids will go to a local church leader or teacher when they do not feel comfortable going to a parent.
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
I often worry about my Evangelical family members. Their certainty excludes so much and at least among my family members, there is comfortable and righteous bigotry toward so many. One niece wrote to us asking for money for a mission to save the pagan Catholics. guess she forgot that we are Catholic. Another niece visited and was very frightened when we went to mass - it was so very different. I blame myself on that one, but it does make me worry a bit about their ability to get along in the world.
However, the seriousness with which young adult Evangelicals take their faith is to be admired. They read and discuss and see the world as their responsibility in many ways.
Recently read about a pentecostal bishop - Carlton Pearson - who was declared a heretic because he does not believe in hell. Interesting story !