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Here is a quote that I recently read by Nancy Pearcey. It is sobering but also gives me one main reason why I am thankful for our current sermon series ("Questions Our Youth Are Asking")

Fuller Theological Seminary recently conducted a study on teenagers who become leavers in college. The researchers uncovered the single most significant factor in whether young people stand firm in their Christian convictions or leave them behind. And it's not what most of us might expect.

Join a campus ministry group? A Bible study? Important though those things are, the most decisive factor is whether students had a safe place to work through their doubts and questions before leaving home.

The researchers concluded, "The more college students felt that they had the opportunity to express their doubt while they were in high school, the higher [their] levels of faith maturity and spiritual maturity."

The study indicates that students actually grow more confident in their Christian commitment when the adults in their life—parents, pastors, teachers—guide them in grappling with the challenges posed by prevailing secular worldviews. In short, the only way teens become truly "prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks" (1 Pet. 3:15) is by wrestling honestly and personally with the questions.

As the researchers put it, "Students who had the opportunity to struggle with tough questions and pain during high school seemed to have a healthier transition into college life."

Sadly, most churches and Christian schools do not encourage "tough questions." In Dyck's interviews with leavers, most reported that "they were regularly shut down when they expressed doubts." They were ridiculed, scolded, or made to feel there was something immoral about even asking.

Instead of addressing teens' questions, most church youth groups focus on fun and food. The goal seems to be to create emotional attachment using loud music, silly skits, slapstick games, and pizza. But the force of sheer emotional experience will not equip teens to address the ideas they will encounter when they leave home and face the world on their own.

Source: http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2010/december/nancy-pearcey-how-to-respond-to-doubt.html?paging=off