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Discover Ways to Renew the ‘Spark’ of Kids’ Faith “Apathy is a sort of living oblivion,” wrote 19th-century editor Horace Greeley. A common refrain from many parents is that their teenagers are lackluster, or hard to “fire up”—especially when it comes to God and the church. Ironically, the apathy epidemic today just may have its roots in over-activity. “With so much going on for school and traveling teams, [kids] have no time for church, youth groups, and even family time,” says one youth minister in Group Magazine’s “State of Youth Ministry” report. “Kids are getting pulled in so many directions.” Other respondents said their biggest struggles are kids whose lives are compartmentalized and who don’t make Christ a priority for daily living. Youth ministers said they’re dying for teenagers who are engaged and passionate about their faith, ready and willing to commit their lives to Jesus. On the positive side, they said they’ve noticed a hunger among today’s teenagers for “deeper” things, as well as a move from “flash” to substance. So how can you fan the flames of your kids’ faith and convince them to invest in it 100 percent? First, lift up your teenagers in prayer often. The Holy Spirit is the one with the power to change hearts and lives. Next, make faith applicable to everyday life. Don’t limit talk of God to Sundays. Tie in Scripture to issues that kids face at home, at school, and in their activities and jobs. Make Christ a priority in your own life, and show kids by example what a committed Christian walk looks like. If necessary, cut back your busy schedule to focus more on God. Finally, harness kids’ hunger to go deeper by asking them tough questions and issuing spiritual challenges. Teenagers seeking a cause won’t find a better one than Christ. The United Methodist Perspective John Wesley didn’t set out to create a new denomination. Instead, he sought revival in the Anglican Church. But because of his extreme methods and message, he was pushed out into the fields to preach. This movement eventually grew into the United Methodist Church. Describing his success, Wesley said, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” Not only did people watch Wesley burn, but many joined in his pleas for justice, service, and action-filled faith. If we want kids to “burn,” they need role models who are on fire. This can’t be completely farmed out to churches and other organizations, though. As Christian Smith notes in Soul Searching, parents haven’t lost their influence in shaping the lives of their teenagers. Parents must take ownership of guiding their kids’ faith journey. Shine and catch on fire with enthusiasm for God. Although your kids may not act like it, they want parents who live their faith out loud and without shame. Let them see you burn, and perhaps they’ll stand close enough to catch fire, too. (Hank Hilliard, Young People’s Ministries, hhilliard@GBOD.org)   PulsePulsePulsePulsePulsePulsePulse Check out these interesting statistics about how brightly people’s fires are burning for God: Sixty percent of Christian teenagers lose interest in church activities and organized religion, despite their previous participation. (Barna Group) Researcher George Barna uses the term “casual Christians” to describe the two-of-out-three adults who are spiritually middle-of-the-road or even ambivalent about their faith. On the positive side, in a survey of almost 30,000 Christian teenagers from last summer, the majority of kids were passionate about their faith. Seventy-seven percent of Christian teenagers disagreed with this statement: “I’ve met a lot of people who seem more interesting to me than Jesus does.” (Group Magazine)   GOD AND YOUR FAMILY Pray that: 1. Your teenagers will be touched by God’s love and become passionate about him—and passionate about living for him. 2. God will clean your windows so you can be seen from inside and out as not apathetic. 3. Your teenagers will feel like their faith in God has been set on fire.  4. God will use you as an example to show that following Christ is the most worthwhile pursuit a young person can undertake.   VERSE OF THE MONTH “Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of [the believers]. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:3-4) On Pentecost, known as the church’s birthday, the early Christians were literally set aflame for God. Thanks to the Holy Spirit’s power and presence, more than 3,000 people were added to the church that day. The same Holy Spirit can work miracles in hearts and lives even now.   Going Deeper Want to help your teenagers “blaze with passion” for God? Read this insightful essay by youth minister Mike Kupferer, posted on SimplyYouthMinistry.com. After cleaning up debris in my yard for three days, I had two large piles of brush to burn. The first pile ignited after I added an outside source (dry paper), and the fire never went out. I had to keep watch over the flames to keep them controlled, but I never had to relight it. No matter what I threw on top of the fire, it just kept burning. I couldn’t extinguish it. Finally, it grew smaller and smaller once I ran out of items to burn. Even once I thought it was dying, all I had to do was add something flammable and it would immediately catch on fire. The second pile was a little more frustrating. I added dry paper and sticks to get it going. It would catch on fire for a minute, and then the flame would go out. I kept adding more and more pieces of paper, sticks, and anything else I thought would catch on fire. Each time it burned for only a little bit. I had to constantly watch it if I wanted it to keep burning, because if I walked away for long, it would go out. Then I remembered this principle: I know God is the One who ultimately molds and shapes young people, but the reality is that we have a responsibility to encourage and challenge them, too. And because of that, you cannot handle two fires the same way. Some kids need a constant flow of outside resources to help their fires for God to burn. Without outside help, they will quickly become apathetic toward God. Then there are the kids who consume whatever is given to them and burn more intensely for God. When you challenge and stretch them, they aren’t overwhelmed—they excel. One thing is true about both types of kids, though. Without something in their lives to help them burn, they’ll lose their passion for God. Care enough to not give up. Fuel the fire, and never ever stop.   FilmWatch Movie: Clash of the Titans (releases April 2) Genre: Action, Fantasy Rating: Not yet rated Synopsis: Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) loses his family to Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Discussion Questions: How powerful is Satan, compared to God? How would it affect your faith if God were vulnerable and could be defeated? Read aloud Mark 10:27. What does this verses say about God’s power? Is God in control of everything that happens in our lives—even the bad stuff? Explain.   The Lure of Glowing Screens Whether it’s a Hi Def, 60” behemoth hanging on the wall, video games, computers, movie theaters, or a 3” screen on a cell phone that fits in a pocket, kids are entranced by the glow from the tech in their lives. If there’s a sacred cow of media, it’s “television content.” Kids watch 4 hours and 29 minutes of television programming each and every day! But don’t think kids are glued to their couches for this amount of time. Nope, they can now watch television programming online, on their cell phones, on handheld video game systems  Kids spend 1 hour and 13 minutes playing video games consoles and hand held each and every day.), and even mp3 players.   Another big player in the screen world is, of course, computers. Computer screens demand 1 hour and 29 minutes of kids’ attention each day. The three most popular computer-based activities include visiting social networking sites, playing computer games, and watching online videos on sites like YouTube.  One of the biggest buzzes in youth culture in the past few weeks has been the explosion in popularity of a website called ChatRoulette. This is a site that allows users to employ their computer-mounted webcam to chat with any other person using the site at the same time. If you don’t like who you’re looking at, you just hit “next,” and in true roulette fashion, another site user is randomly assigned to your computer screen. During the writing of this article, I visited the site for about 7 minutes to see what the buzz was all about. In that time, I clicked through mainly guys – no surprise there – about 60 in total, 4 of whom were very naughty. In the same 7 minutes, I only saw 2 women&ldots;but one of them was doing a topless strip tease.    The Cell phone screen may be the most important one because of the access it grants&ldots;and its portability. Not only can it connect kids to the rest of the world via text messaging, web browsing, and online social networks, but it also conveniently private. Youth spend over 3 hours each day using them, including talking, texting, viewing television content, listening to music, and/or playing games! We’ve talked before about how some teens are using these mobile devices in dangerous ways. There have been plenty of headlines about sexting, and others have warned that cell phones will be the number one provider of Internet pornography by 2011. The leading influence on kids’ lives has been debated for quite a while; some think it’s media, while others believe it’s parents. In fact, the answer is “it depends.”  In households where parents spend quality time with their kids on a daily basis, “parents” are the leading influence on kids’ lives. But in homes where parents delegate quality time with their kids to screens, “media” gladly steps into the void and becomes a surrogate parent. Given the media that is mass marketed to our children, we simply cannot be apathetic any longer. We must know what those screens are pumping into our kids’ minds and hearts.