I love Mitchell, Tommy, and Karis. They’re a special part of our congregation and they have a special place in my heart - I’m thankful that God has allowed us to minister to them and their families. What makes them special is that they all have a third copy of chromosome #21 in their DNA. Read the rest of this entry »
My kids love this, and even better, my wife (the mom of my kids) loves this. And yes, I am thankful for my Mom who loved me and taught me much about life! Happy Mother’s Day!
Anita Renfroe gets the credit.
Yesterday I attempted to introduce you to the work of sociologist Christian Smith. Today I want to give you his grand conclusion about the religious and spiritual lives of teens today. His conclusion is this: our teenagers are MTDs!
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I read an insightful article by Abraham Piper about what to do with a prodigal son or daughter. This is a must read if you have a wayward kid. It was good for a couple of reasons:
Perhaps the most comprehensive study of the religious and spiritual life of teenagers in America today was completed by Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith. He published his findings in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. He also released a summary of his findings in Soul Searching: A Movie about Teenagers and God. In two posts I hope to give a very brief summary of Smith’s findings and relate them to church and parenting.
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In my last post (Parenting Teenagers 11) I provided a statistical download, namely, that 70% of those between the ages of 18-22 drop out of church for at least one year. This begs the question: what can I do as a parent and/or as a church leader to help reduce the likelihood of my teen dropping out of church?
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Today I want to make a shift in my series on parenting teenagers. Specifically, I want to start looking at some important research on the spiritual lives of teenagers. I believe that this is extremely important because one of the things we need to do to create a nurturing relationship with our children is to understand them better. Today’s topic: beginning to understand teens who drop out of church after high school.
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I’ve been appreciating Brian’s posts on parenting teens. I’ve learned a lot from it. Recently, I read this article on getting behavior change in younger children and I thought it was both helpful and hurtful. First, let me explain the helpful parts.
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Previously I’ve attempted to make the point that both love and discipline are required if we are to help our teenagers become biblically wise adults. This means that we must develop a nurturing relationship, avoid that which provokes our children to anger, and discipline our children when appropriate. But what does appropriate disicpline look like?
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My last post attempted to give some practical steps for creating a nurturing relationship with your teen. This post attempts to give some practical steps to avoid. Ephesians 6:4 gives a stern warning to not provoke our children to anger, but how do we avoid this?
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