March plans

Yesterday I received a piece of spam from Christianity Today with the subject title, “Will Your Teen’s Faith Survive College?”  My first thought was, “I don’t have any teens anymore.” Our younger daughter ended her teenhood last September. My next thought was, “Some teens’ faith doesn’t survive working at McDonald’s the summer before college.” The email was, of course, promotion for the Christian College Guide, a very fine resource, I’m sure.

But I’ve thought a lot about my teens’ faith after high school, because I’ve had a lot of teens through the years. I started working in youth ministry in college (volunteering with Young Life) and most of the last three decades I’ve been in full or part time youth ministry. Everyone in youth ministry wonders whether the work they’re doing makes a difference.  I know some kids that I’ve worked with through the years have stuck with it, and some have chucked it. And some have chucked it and then come back and vice-versa.

So Mindy and I have decided to use this five Sunday month to spend time with former youth group students who still go to church (at least on the Sunday we visit). We hope to ask a bit about what was important to them in their church life as youths and what is important now in their spiritual lives.

Frankly, we just wanted to catch up with some really cool people we’ve known through the years. But you’re welcome to come along.

-- Dean