RESEARCH, DATA AND ENDORSEMENTS
THAT HAVE HELPED SHAPE OUR VISION FOR YOUTH MINISTRY

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WHY A SPIRITUAL GROWTH PROCESS FOR YOUR CHILD?

1. To have a personal saved relationship with Jesus Christ.
   
   
   • A person has a 6% chance of receiving Christ as an adult.
          -- a recent study by Barna Research
   
   
   
   • The overwhelming majority of those who receive Christ do so before age 18.
          -- "Focus on the Family", James Dobson
   
   
   
2. To enrich their knowledge about their faith.




"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."
     -- Hosea 4:6

3. To produce an "integrated faith":



• "Vertical" Faith – a life-transforming relationship with a loving God.
• "Horizontal" Faith – a consistent devotion to serving others.
• "Underdeveloped" Faith – a lack of vertical and horizontal aspects of faith.
• "Integrated" Faith – a life-transforming relationship with a loving God and a consistent devotion to serving others.

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WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY INFLUENCES OF A CHILD'S FAITH?

The Search Institute recently surveyed nearly 1.5 million youth to learn what most influenced their faith. These were the top four "Faith-Life" factors.

1. Talking about faith with your mother.



2. Talking about faith with you father.



3. Having family devotions or prayer.



4. Doing family projects to help other people.

"Fewer than one-third of youth report that any of the above activities happen often – either in their past or present – and adults are even less likely to remember these experiences in their childhood and adolescence. It's hardly surprising, then, that parents – most of whom did not experience nurturing of their faith in their own growing-up years – need help nurturing their children's faith."
     -- Search Institute

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COMMENTS ABOUT "FAITH JOURNEY"

From parents:

• "This opened communication and helped them to communicate with others about feelings and faith."
• "It gave us time to learn something together as a family.  It also brought up subjects that we discussed outside of class."
• "This has allowed me to get involved, interact more with my children and other children based on God's Word.  I have also used these classes/sessions to learn and expand my knowledge about God and His Son Jesus Christ.  Because of this interaction, it has fueled my hunger and thirst for God's Word and allowed me to share more Biblical principles and standards with my children."
• "...Also, it has allowed us to demonstrate that we take this seriously through our attendance."

From youth:

• "I could understand more because every time I have a question, I ask them."
• "My parents have come to almost every Confirmation Class.  They participate in the activities and learn something new.  It gives me great joy to know my parents care about my education in Christ.
• "With my parents being involved, I have realized that through their past experiences, I could grow and learn from them.  We have talked about different things that they may have been through that I have been experiencing also.  It has been beneficial to me to just sit and talk with them.

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QUOTABLE QUOTES

"Young and inexperienced people must be instructed...  This was well understood by our good fathers...teaching the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments.  We, too, should teach these things to the young...  You should also take pains to urge governing authorities and parents to rule wisely and educate their children.  They must be shown that they are obliged to do so...  Make very plain to them the evils they introduce when they refuse their aid in the training of children..."
     -- Preface to the Small Catechism, Martin Luther)

"These commandments...Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up..."
     -- Deuteronomy 6:4-9

"In the past several decades, there has been the mindset that adolescence is a "parent-free zone."  Even in the Church, the Youth Group is often seen as a place for the youth to be with Youth Counselors and away from their parents.  Not only does this not line up with Deut. 6, it does not work."
     -- Kevin Brandon, Youth Minister, Grace Lutheran Church

"This is a time when they need their parents more than ever.  As far as independence goes, they have all day in school to be independent, as well as lots of other free time.  The church should be a place where youth reconnect with their parents...  ...If parents aren't there to be spiritual mentors to their kids, who's left?  MTV is."
     -- Rev. David Carnahan, LCMS, Bend, Oregon

"The most effective way to protect young people from unhealthy or dangerous behaviors is for parents to be involved in their lives."
     -- Mayo Clinic study of 90,000 adolescents

"[The Mayo Clinic study] gives a very clear message that you as a parent have to stay involved. You can't buy into the myth that you are no longer relevant in your children's lives."
     -- Robert W. Blum, M.D.