Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Follow-Up to Last Week's Question

Last week, we asked the question, "So what happens to your faith when the church doors stay closed?" Recently, we asked our youth to share what they themselves did to develop and nurture their faith over the extended holiday break. Their answers are . . .

Encouraging.

As I reflect on their responses, what stands out for me the most is that God is clearly on the minds of our teenagers. While only a handful of youth seemed to have a close-to-definitive approach to nurturing their faith, a strong majority of them pointed to their efforts at prayer, seeing God in others, and reading the Bible. The clearly good news is that God is reaching out to these youth and they are making efforts to respond. Which throws the ball back in our court and asks of us . . .

How well are we encouraging them?

As we all know, youthful impulses, like their hormones, are fluid, volatile, and ever-changing. Often, the key to sustaining faithful development is tied to having a strong community of support that encourages, guides, and models faithful behavior. Our teens need our encouragement to find and stay on "the way everlasting" - are they getting it?

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