So if school has become all about the adults in that teachers want to look good so they push their kids to do better instead of it being about the kids success in life, then it’s not only permissible, but “moral” (in their world view) to lie or cheat to keep your friend from failing.

I guess my follow-up question would then be, what do we has a church have to do in order to get to a place where we can teach the contrary of the opinion you saw expressed?

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
-Psalm 119:103

Training of the Twelve - Alexander Bruce

One thought — Is it something the church is doing wrong that turns this age group away or is it something that other organizations are doing well that attracts them? I can’t help but think about all of the life-changing decisions that take place at that same time of life — everything from relationships, to careers, to establishing a place of your own, to having children — all of that happens between 18-35. So, the answer can’t be that this age group is distracted and “too busy” — it’s gotta be more than that. It seems its actually a question of what voices that age group allows to influence their decisions. If they are absent from the church, than presumably they are absent from the influence of the church as well. No wonder our society is where it is.

OK– so going back to the questions — what happens in life prior to age 18 that would encourage young adults to believe they should skip church for a while. Jody commented recently on the notion that people attend church as children, leave after they have “joined” the church as adults and return to raise their kids to the same point. But, that doesn’t fully answer the question, because this issue is true across a variety of denominations and not all include the same thinking in terms of how to move teens through a process toward commitment to the church/Christ. Therefore, the answer must be broader. It must be that somehow that age group finds the church irrelevent in some way to the decisions/issues of their life, otherwise, you would think they’d be there.

So, the closest I’m getting to an answer is that church should not be directed for one particular age group — but, like education, should be fitted to every specific age group. But I have NO IDEA what this looks like. I am pretty certain it does not mean conforming our appearance as the emerging church has attempted… it has to go deeper than that.

Sorry if I’m reviewing the basics or restating the obvious, I’m just mentally working through the subject.

Gotta run — my mac n cheese sauce is separating!

Speaking of the atmosphere in church versus a sports bar, some of the emotions and such expressed in the sports bar reminded me of goings on in my more charismatic upbringing, but those churches don’t have any higher percentage of men than others, so it’s not a surface thing…

I don’t have the answer here, I’m just throwing out more thoughts… (and yes, I’ve read Reviving Ophelia)

So, that’s are my first thoughts — great question! Also, have you read the book Reviving Ophelia? It addresses mostly pre-tween to tween girls and the issues they face as they phase from childhood into adolescence and how they define themselves in terms of gender identity — feminity etc. It’s all case study stories, so it’s a fun and quick read. I found it very applicaple when I was working with a group of young middle school girls. It would be a good read for ministry at St. Francis keeping in mind the group of young girls that are growing up among us.

If you’ll settle for mentoring as a form of discipleship, there are some good books out there–I’ll have to hunt up those references later, after I’ve given my employer a fair share of my attention.