graeme thompson

How to help your kids stay Christian in college: "A recent study by Fuller Seminary found that when teens graduate from high school, they often “graduate from God” as well. But the researchers also discovered one factor that proved most effective in helping young people retain their Christian convictions. What would you expect it to be? More prayer? More Bible study? As important as those things are, surprisingly, the most significant factor was whether they had a safe place to wrestle with doubts and questions before leaving home. The study 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.” In other words, the only way teens become truly “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks” (1 Peter 3:15) is by wrestling personally with the questions. This runs contrary to the typical approach in most Christian homes and churches. Many people operate as though the definition of faith were, Don’t ask questions, just believe. They quote Jesus himself, who taught his followers to have the faith of a child (Mark 10:15). But I once heard Francis Schaeffer respond by saying, “Don’t you realize how many questions children ask?” The Fuller study shows that students actually grow more confident in their Christian commitment when the adults in their life—parents, pastors, teachers—guide them in exploring questions and grappling with the challenges posed by prevailing secular worldviews. By the time these teens leave home, they have learned how to practice Paul’s maxim: “Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thess. 5:21)." (From Saving Leonardo)