If our youth are to have faith, the process involved must be an active, dynamic one. It must play a central role in shaping the responses a young person will make regarding various issues confronting them during their teen years and on into their adult lives. One of the key shifts during the past decade or so is the high value that teens place on relationships. If their faith is to mean anything at all to them, it must have a relational perspective. Every commitment, every goal, every value, every relationship becomes an expression of their faith.
Faith shapes every aspect of their lives.
Not many if we believe the research findings that have surfaced regarding the religiosity of teens. That kind of faith simply elicits memories of childhood - a time when at best their faith was an affiliation of what their parents or the church set forth. That kind of faith does not relate to the world of which they are now a part. Such a faith lacks relevance or meaning for them. Fewer and fewer young people find the church to be relevant or an important aspect of their lives.