Barna Group report on impact of Children & Teen's Spiritual Formation

The Barna Group recently released a new study exploring, "What is the connection between childhood faith and adult religious commitment?"

They surveyed adults asking to describe the frequency of their involvement in Sunday school or religious training during their developmental years. Their responses were then compared with their current levels of faith activity and faith durability.

The research examined four elements of adult religious commitment: attending church, having an active faith (defined as reading the Bible, praying, and attending church in the last week), being unchurched, and switching from childhood faith.

According to the survey results:

• More than eight out of every 10 adults remembers consistently attending Sunday school or some other religious training before the age of 12.
  


• Adults recall their church involvement as teenagers as less frequent than their participation as children.
  


• Among the most active as children were Catholics (86%), upscale adults (78%), Midwesterners (76%), notional Christians (75%), college graduates (75%), women (73%), political conservatives (73%), and those ages 65-plus (73%). The least likely population segments to have attended Sunday school or other religious programming as children were atheists and agnostics (35%), people associated with faiths other than Christianity (52%), Asians (53%), unchurched adults (56%), 18- to 25-year-olds (59%), never-married adults (60%), Hispanics (61%), and residents of the West (63%).
  


• The types of Americans most likely to recall religious participation as teenagers were evangelicals (61%), those ages 65-plus (60%), born again Christians (58%), Catholics (58%), women (56%), political conservatives (56%), residents of the Midwest (56%), married adults (55%), and Protestants (54%). On the other hand, atheists and agnostics (19%), members of other faith groups (30%), unchurched adults (31%), never-married individuals (33%), economically downscale adults (40%), and men (44%) were the least likely to have frequently attended Sunday school or other religious programs during their teen years.

Based on Barna’s findings, Dr Ed. Stetzer provided the following analysis on those who were engaged in traditional Christian Education as children and teens:

“When it comes to church engagement, those who attended Sunday school or other religious programs as children or as teens were much more likely than those without such experiences to attend church and to have an active faith as adults. For instance, among those who frequently attended such programs as a child, 50% said they attended a worship service in the last week, which is slightly higher than the national average and well ahead of those who rarely or never attended children's programs. Among those who frequently attended religious programs as teenagers, 58% said they had attended a worship service in the last week. In comparison, less frequent participation as a teenager correlated with less frequent adult participation. “

Probably most of this data doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone involved in Spiritual formation. However, now there is some statistical data to support the correlation between childhood and adult engagement through Children’s and Youth (teen) ministry, as well as parental instruction and discipleship.

Click here to read the entire report by the Barna Group.

Friday Funnies - 2 Epic marriage proposals

The following clips are of two marriage proposals. The first involved a lot of time, resources, rehearsals, and creative planning. The second is short and spontaneous.

The first one requires some explanation - Steve and Tracey were going to see a movie. tracey was unaware that Steve had rented the entire theater and filled it with 160 of their friends and family. They arrived late to the movie and went into the theater after the lights had gone down and the movie trailers were already playing.

In the months leading up to this moment, Steve made an entire movie trailer with actors portraying both he and Tracey during different times in their relationship. The scenes ion the airplane are supposed to be them 20 years in the future. The resemblances of the actors are amazing.

After sitting down in the theater while the "real" trailers played, the one that Steve made was inserted last. Steve said, "Tracey thought it was just another trailer for a movie soon to be released. Tracey was just perplexed as to how many different things had similarities to our relationship, she kept nudging me throughout the trailer. Tracey had no idea this was a marriage proposal until the last three seconds of the trailer."



Secondly, during a tennis match several years ago involving Steffi Graf, a fan yelled out asking Steffi to marry him. Her spontaneous response is priceless.



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I was a Teenage Adolescent - Why we're growing up so slowly today

Adolescence is the phase between puberty and adulthood. Experts say biology dictates when adolescence begins and culture dictates when it ends. Experts also say the window of adolescence is expanding to where it begins at around 10.5 to 11 years old and arrives in adulthood in the mid to upper 20's.

Dr. Chap Clark describes this transition in more tangible terms - "when an adolescent pays for their own cell phone bill, they've fully evolved into a contributing adult..." (my paraphrase). It's both symbolic and practical.

The term Adolescence was defined about 100 years ago in a landmark book by the same name by Granville Stanley Hall. In those days, the adolescent window was just 18 months. Today it is 15+ years. How have our expectations impacted the cultural norm of adolescent growth and behavior?

The following article provides some insight. Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today, by Po Bronson was published in Newsweek magazine online, November 5, 2009. All content and copyright belong to the author and publisher.

Here's an interesting portion from the article.

And we wonder why it’s taking so long for them to mature. The old explanation used to be they needed time for the wave of raging hormones to dissipate (more on this tomorrow). The newer explanation is that their brains simply aren’t developed yet: their prefrontal cortex hasn’t converted from gray matter to white matter, their amygdalas have a surfeit of oxytocin receptors, and their reward centers have a paucity of dopamine receptors. Few can say for sure yet how these anatomical features actually interact and create modern teenagers, but the gist of it is quite simple – until their brains are finished, they’re not ready for real life.

“Most parents will tell you that this idea of the immature teen brain is one of the few notions that truly provides them comfort,” says Allen. “They feel like it gets them off the hook – that it’s biological, not a fault of parenting.” But Allen speculates that our parenting style may indeed be causing their brains to be this way. Brains of teens a hundred years ago might have been far more mature. Without painful real-life experiences, modern teens’ brains never learn to tell the difference between what they should fear and what they shouldn’t. Without real consequences and real rewards, teens never learn to distinguish between good risks they should take and bad risks they shouldn’t. “We park kids on the sidelines, thinking their brains will develop if we just wait, let time pass, as if all they need is more prep courses, lessons, and enrichment courses. They need real stress and challenges.”

Click here to read the entire article.


HT to CPYU

Dance Revolution - a lesson from Oprah and the Black Eyed Peas

Most everyone has seen or heard about the Oprah flash mob dance video. The video features the Black Eyed Peas singing "I Gotta Feeling..." in front of a live crowd on Chicago's "Miracle Mile". It was part of Orah's launch to her 24th TV season in September 2009. If you haven't seen the video yet, check it out below before reading on.

Disclaimer: let me say up front that by using this clip in this post, I am not endorsing Oprah's show, nor am I condemning her or her views. Simply put, I don't watch her show or follow her career. This video is used here as an illustration.



One solitary dancer who initially seems to be alone in her joyful abandoned enthusiasm, is joined by a handful of others, and it multiplies like a rip tide throughout the crowd until 20,000 people are dancing the same choreography in unison. It's an impressive site, isn't it?

Even if you don't like Oprah or the BEP's, you can't help but wonder, How did they stage this event?

This didn't just "happen" minutes before the show. It took months and months of preparation. Here's the amazing thing, the choreography training started off with only 20 people. Then those 20 people trained 800 more people, and those 800 people trained even more until there were 20,000 dancers. Amazing!

This video demonstrates the influence of the small through the power of multiplication. All the great movements of recorded history, whether religious or non-religious, started with just a few people sharing a common vision, passion, and the courage to act. In most cases, they didn't set out to change the world, just their sphere of influence.

I used to work for an inner-city development mission in Detroit that was honored with a "Point of Light Award" by then President George H. W. Bush. We had a saying in that organization, "How do you change a city...? One block at a time..." The work of this organization changed the city's worst drug infested neighborhood by starting a revolution that spread person to person, house to house, block by block, until the drug lords and gangs were driven out. By doing so, it became a beautiful revolution that reclaimed a desirable neighborhood.

Greg Boyd wrote, "What Jesus was about was starting a revolution. He called this revolution 'the Kingdom of God'... manifesting the beauty of God's character and thus revolting against everything that is inconsistent with this beauty." Boyd calls this a beautiful revolution.

"So you see, the Kingdom has nothing to do with religion... It's rather about following the example of Jesus, manifesting the beauty of God's reign while revolting against all that is ugly."

This Cross becomes the paradigm for the revolution of sacrificial living, even suffering for others. That kind of life involves even revolting against society and traditions - everything that keeps us apathetic and narcissistic.

Erwin McManus wrote, "Anyone who can picture Jesus as the great Advocate of tradition is doing some serious doctoring of biblical history. Jesus was anything but the poster child for status quo. With a band of brothers and a small community of others, Jesus instigated an uprising that He expected to reach the very ends of the earth. You must never forget that it was only to a handful of individuals that Jesus entrusted an outcome that would make disciples of all the nations of the earth. The uprising was to transcend culture, ethnicity, race, religion, status - every and any divide established by men."

Every great revolution needs a revolutionary. Where does the revolution need to take place in your world? In your youth group? Your church? School? Neighborhood? City? It just takes one to start.

The following flash mob video illustrates this even more beautifully than Oprah's staged event, because this one is real and spontaneous. Watch it through till the end. It starts with only one...



Facebook and RSS readers, this is a post from my blog containing two videos. Click here to view the clips.

HT to Kevin

Monday Morning Mind Dump - some reflections on encouragement and the Marko situation

The Master, God, has given me a well-taught tongue, so I know how to encourage tired people. He wakes me up in the mornings, wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, God, opened my ears, and I didn't go back to sleep, didn't pull the covers back over my head. Isa 50:4-5 (Msg)

It would be an understatement to say these are difficult times. Despite some recent positive news with the economy (building materials sales are way up, which is a key performance indicator), it will take time for things to trickle down and for other industries to bounce back.

My wife was recently laid off after 10 years with her company. We're learning about unemployment benefits, COBRA, and budget belt-tightening on the fly. Two years ago, I was also unemployed due to a large corporate merger. I received a very generous severance and eventually found employment in my current ministry position. I love what I do, but this has been a difficult year due to financial pressures and a reevaluation process for a potential reorganization. In my weakest moments, I've grown a little weary of the overall uncertainty. These are signs of the times.

Just last week, I received a phone call from the leader of a popular summer conference that our church youth have participated in for many years. He informed me that the 2010 conference is in doubt and likely to be canceled. The numbers to sustain it financially just aren't there anymore. It's such a beloved tradition that bore much fruit. I can't believe it's going away.

I could write a very long list of stories involving friends, family, and traditions that are victims to the current economic realities. Lately I confess it's a struggle to find the strength and words to respond.

What does one say when encountering loss and grief over life tragedies? People are weary and anxious about life's hardships and realities. How do you speak to "encourage tired people"?

When Jesus sent out the twelve, he said they shouldn't worry about "what to say or how to say it" (Mt 10:19). Does this mean that God fills our minds with thoughts we've never had before, or does he draw from a deep ocean of accumulated truth and life experiences that he wants us to share? Such answers are beyond my pay scale, but I'm convinced of this: we'll never have anything worthwhile to say until we start taking in God's words.

God speaks to us in solitude. He whispers his all-knowing secrets in our ears. There we begin to see only what he can see and discern his voice. Jesus also said when sending out the twelve, "What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs" (Mt 10:27).

John Wesley wrote, "I sit down alone - only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his books and what I thus learn, I speak."

George MacDonald said, "Hide yourself in God and when you rise before men, speak out of that secret place."

It's a matter of desire - to meet with God every day. It's also a matter of obedience - obedience is the first step towards learning more. Lastly, it's a matter of prayer - inviting the Spirit to indwell the Word within you and then asking God for the opportunities to give that word away.

A vivid illustration of a God-inspired, God-directed word comes from a story recently posted by Mark Oestreicher. As many youth leaders know by now, Marko is no longer with Youth Specialities (YS) - an organization that his name was synonymous with for many years. The details behind the decision are probably known by only a select few - and it's better that way. But a poorly written press release announcing Marko's release has generated a lot of criticism throughout the blogosphere towards Zondervan. It's definitely a case of someone not "getting" their intended audience. The comments from various bloggers blasting Zondervan are both harsh and amusing. In my opinion, Zondervan just brought it upon themselves by handling it the way they did. One thing l've learned in leadership, you set the stage for the new leader by how you part ways with the old leader.

Since his departure, Marko's comments on Facebook and his blog have been gracious and above the fray. In a recent blog post, Marko describes his transitional journey over the past year in a very vulnerable and honest manner. He also shares a story about how someone whom he never met, offered words of encouragement that had a profound impact on him. The words came in the form of an email from a youth worker. You can tell that her words were born out of her desire to meet with God, her obedience to share, and prayerful opportunity. Click here to read Marko's post.

I am grateful to Godly men and women who have spoken into my life recently with sincere words that didn't ring hollow (Pastors Doug, Mike, and Sonny - you're awesome!). I've searched for something to say directly to Marko as a word of encouragement. I certainly echo the many affirming sentiments that other youth leaders have posted in support of him. He has inspired so many and continually reminded us all why we don't quit this thing called youth ministry. I just feel ashamed by my own weariness that seemingly prevents me from finding the right words to say, but I'll try...

Marko - I'm truly sorry for your job loss. We all share a sense of loss without you in the YS platform. God used you as the voice for so many because you knew your audience and understood the culture of what we do. I believe the prayers for your future are going to be answered in the most amazing way, allowing your gifts and personality to shine and touch others beyond your imagination. I pray for your transitional days ahead, that they may be filled with contemplative reflection and affirmation, strengthening of bonds with family and friends, and rest and joy in the journey as you leave this calling and cleave to a new. Oh, and one more thing - I'm glad you're blogging again.

Friday Funnies - The side hug and other Youth Group rules

Yesterday Jonathan Acuff posted a funny but all so true list of youth group rules on his awesome blog, Stuff Christians Like. Here's the post:

“What am I supposed to do, swivel?”

An exasperated friend asked me that recently. He was telling me about a rule he had received as a Christian youth camp counselor. In the contract for the camp, he had been told, “You can only side hug the campers. No front hugs.”

And that’s an OK rule. That makes sense, I get that. It’s designed to protect both the campers and the counselors. But my friend had a problem. Occasionally a camper would break down in tears, say something like, “My uncle just died and it is killing me” and then throw their arms out for a front hug.

Which is when my friend proclaimed, “What am I supposed to do swivel? In that moment, as they lean in for a hug, should I just turn, lightning fast and offer them a side hug? ‘Go ahead, let it out fella, go ahead and cry on my hip.’”

The weird thing is my youth group basically had the opposite rule. At the end of each time we hung out, we couldn’t leave the room until we had all hugged the mandatory number of necks. The youth minister would say, “5 mandatory hugs tonight” and then the most awkward 7th grade hugs would commence. (They weren’t awkward for me, I was rocking MC Hammer type pants and a vanilla ice stripe in my eyebrow, my hugs were dope. Yo.)

But hearing his story about the forced side hug made me realize something: there are no internationally agreed upon rules for the governance of youth groups.

So today, I thought I would set out to right that wrong. To create a list of rules for all youth groups based on the ideas we’ve all discussed in the last 18 months. I give you …

The Stuff Christians Like Youth Group Rules …


1. The youth group bus or van will not be purchased from a dealership named, “Vans that like to catch on fire & buses that break down in the middle of the night on the side of the road on the way to New Hampshire ski retreats.”

2. Only one “dude with an acoustic guitar” will be allowed per youth group.

3. If you go on a retreat and you’re boyfriend/girlfriend doesn’t go, they should expect to get dumped when you return home. Cause that’s happening.

4. All youth group ministers should expect at least one kid to ask for a precise definition of “what it means to be a virgin.”

5. Only tankinis and swim shirts shall be worn on youth group beach trips.

6. All youth group retreats should be held at locations that could double for horror movie backdrops because it adds to the intensity of the weekend.

7. Youth group volunteers who are helping out primarily to relive their own high school glory days vicariously through the teens will be removed quickly and quietly.

8. At no point should there be a circle of back massages during a youth group event. (Saw that happen a number of times.)

9. At no point should a youth minister try to keep a bad dating relationship together simply because he knows that as soon as the church girl dumps the non church boyfriend he’ll drop out of youth group.

10. Every month there should be at least one gross food related game played. Preferably involving baby food. Preferably not involving me.

11. The big tub of orange drink should not be stirred with a youth worker’s sweaty arm.

12. You should pull and eventually apologize for epic pranks, claiming that you want to do “all things with excellence” when you are caught.

13. The one parent who complains about something you did will not be empowered to steer the entire course of the youth group. The 50 other parents who didn’t complain will also be considered.

14. If someone hasn’t complained or taken issue with or questioned something your youth group has done in the last six months you will retreat to your youth room and ask yourselves, “What are we doing wrong?”

15. The guy with the jeep will always let the pastor’s kid ride shotgun. In 1993 that would have meant me and the jeep guy were pretty tight.

16. If the youth minister changes his/her tone of voice, vocabulary and outfit, when they get around youth, saying things like, “Yo, my tweets are blowing up, we ballin’ on a budget,” that youth minister will be hit with water balloons filled with honey.

Those are my rules for youth group, but I’m sure I missed some.

What rules did your youth group have?

What rules for youth group would you add?

Meltdown for a Cause

Being in student ministry leadership, you're always keeping your eyes and ears open for new and creative ideas that work. Below is a unique fundraising idea that actually worked during these difficult economic times.

The following comes from Christian Standard magazine online.

Despite the generosity of her members, SouthBrook Christian Church (Miamisburg, Ohio) faced a budget deficit in late 2008. At the same time, requests for financial help from church members began to increase. Worst of all, the reduced income meant the church would have to delay its commitment to complete construction of a desperately needed AIDS clinic in Manzini, Swaziland.

“I felt a real sense of urgency to finish the clinic,” says Jerry Ittel, extension ministries leader. “The people in Manzini had overcome so much to move it forward—I just had to figure out some way to make it happen.”

A SouthBrook member suggested taking advantage of the huge demand for precious metals by collecting donations of unwanted gold and silver jewelry and selling it to a metal refinery. The goal was $100,000, and the call to action was simple: “Your class ring could save a life.”

“The idea was perfect,” Ittel says. “It was a compelling vision, we had a volunteer willing to lead the effort, and everyone could participate. Even people who were struggling financially could find something to donate.”

By the end of “Meltdown” week, the church had received $160,000 worth of metal, $100 from an 11-year-old boy without jewelry who wanted to help anyway, and a prized plastic ring from a little girl.

“This worked beyond our wildest dreams,” Ittel says. “If you put your faith in God and you’re open to some out-of-the-box ideas, miracles can still happen.”
The church offers its planning and promotional materials free of charge for any congregation interested in planning its own Meltdown experience. Visit http://www.southbrook.org/.

Just for fun, Steve Taylor's old song Meltdown at Madame Tussaud's is embedded below.



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