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Help Your Teenagers Stay Connected to God A close relationship with God is both the core of our Christian life and our highest end as human beings. As we learn about God and develop intamacy with him, our faith morphs from a “practice” to a lifestlye. Worship and Bible study not only help us experience God, they strengthen us for life’s daily challenges. When Group Magazine recently surveyed 20,000 Christian teenagers about their priorities, the top vote-getter was “praying and developing a relationship with God.” But many youth ministers were surprised by those  survey results. “Kids’ actions communicate something different,” noted one youth minister. “They’re so busy&ldots;that it seems the first things to get dropped are the items listed as priorities.” Another wrote, “My teens struggle with prayer, and many tell me a relationship with God is hard, confusing, and at times not relevant.” Taking time to “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10) is challenging in our always-on-the-go culture. Kids are surrounded by noise—and have a lot of noise in their hearts. Distractions, worries, fears, and hurts often make a relationship with God more difficult, but they also make it more important. Kids look to their parents as examples of how to stay connected to God. If you’ve kept this relationship private, let your teenagers in on ways you stay in touch with God. Also share ways it has sustained you through life’s ups and downs, and assure your kids that the same will be true for them, too. The United Methodist Perspective Every four years, thousands of United Methodist youth and youth workers attend the National Youth Gathering. This four-day event includes concerts, worship, workshops, discussions, exhibits, and more. In 2007, one of the gathering’s most visited places was the Prayer Room. Thousands of kids discovered ways to connect with God, such as prayer stations, silence, art, journaling, and walking a labyrinth. We’re all wired with a longing for connection with God. But often we let busyness and distractions interfere. Our family lives can become so over-scheduled that our focus shifts away from God. Youth ministry programs can become just as busy and distracting. At Youth 2007, we found that re-establishing a connection with God requires only a space, scheduled time, and a few prompts. How can your family set aside time and space to enter into prayer with God? Youth 2011 (www.youth2011.org), the next gathering, will be filled with amazing activities, too. But will be offered for youth and adults to be quiet, settle down, and connect with God through prayer.    (Hank Hilliard, Young People’s Ministries, hhilliard@GBOD.org)    PulsePulsePulsePulsePulsePulsePulse Search Institute researchers surveyed more than 7,000 kids in eight countries (including America) to gauge how teenagers around the world view their relationship with God. Some responses: 55% of teens surveyed say their “spirituality” has grown stronger over the last few years, and 43% of U.S. kids say they’re both spiritual and religious.   What nourishes teenagers’ spiritual lives? Nature—87% Listening to or playing music—82% The influence of parents—76% Spending time helping others—76% Being alone in a quiet place—74% The influence of friends—71%   What activities feed kids’ spiritual growth? Reading books—47% Praying—44% Helping others—44% Attending religious worship or prayer services—40%    Great Questions ...to Ask Your Kids  Use these discussion starters to connect with your teenagers about connecting with God: 1. How close do you usually feel to God, and why? How do you view him: as a friend? a Savior? a judge? other? 2. What does it mean to “be still” before God? What makes that challenging? 3. What happens in your life when you don’t keep in touch with God? What times and places are best for you to pray, and why? 4. How does reading the Bible make you feel about God? about yourself? What are your favorite verses? 5. How can we encourage others as we walk with God?    GOD AND YOUR FAMILY Pray that: 1. Your teenagers will keep their relationship with God as a top priority. 2. Your teenagers develop a strong prayer life and dig into God’s Word to grow closer to him. 3. The relationship your kids develop with God will help them persevere during difficulties and will encourage them to reach out to others. 4. Your own connection with God stays strong and that you set a positive example for your teenagers in this area.   VERSE OF THE MONTH “The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. The Lord protects all those who love him.” (Psalm 145:18-20) We aren’t the only participants in maintaining a relationship with God. Thankfully, he’s in charge of that, too. God gives us a desire to know him. He reaches out by answering our prayers, meeting our needs, and providing fellow Christians to build up our faith. Jesus, who has endured human struggles, intercedes to God on our behalf. And the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, guiding us to truth and true life.   INSIGHTS from SimplyYouthMinistry.com On SimplyYouthMinistry.com, Andy Blanks, Student Life’s resource development director, writes about lessons he learned by setting aside time for teenagers to connect with God When I led my youth group in a “spiritual disciplines” retreat awhile back, I was overwhelmed at the number of teenagers who, when given an opportunity, chose to spend meaningful time cultivating their relationship with Christ. Most teenagers took the time seriously, practicing a mix of some guided Scripture meditation and some in-depth study based on a study guide I had created for them. All in all, it was a great event, a time of spiritual recharging for kids and adults alike. Throughout the weekend, kids came up to me saying how much fun they had praying and listening.The main thing I learned is that the Holy Spirit is capable of moving in the lives of all Christians, even the most non-committed, spiritually distracted teenager. The key is that the Holy Spirit must be given room to move! That was the point of our weekend, to provide intentional room for an encounter. We made the time, and the Holy Spirit came through. I watched life-change happen before my eyes.I also learned that even though I talk the good talk about guiding teenagers deeper into their relationship with God, I had some significant-if-secret hesitations about how a weekend centered on “disciplines” would go over. Well, the kids proved me wrong at every turn. And this is one time I was glad to be proven wrong.   FilmWatch Movie: The A-Team (releases June 11)                 Genre: Action-Adventure Rating: Not yet rated Synopsis: In this remake of the 1980s hit TV show, a group of former soldiers are Arrested for a crime they didn’t commit. They escape from prison and become soldiers of fortune, fighting on the side of justice. Discussion Questions: Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do? How did you react to that? Have you ever wrongly accused someone else? How did it make you feel when you discovered the truth? Read aloud Genesis 39:6-23. How did Joseph react to being falsely imprisoned? What were the consequences of his actions? When and how should we fight against false accusations?   For the Happy and Shiny Only Is youth ministry here to help your kids be good?  Helping them avoid all that is bad? Is that what Christianity is about—being good? Behaving? Being moral? Avoiding all that is bad?  Now, I know most parents would respond “yes.” I understand that; we all fear for our children and hope that they will be good kids. I too want my kids to be safe and good, but is the job of the church’s youth ministry to keep kids from going bad? And if it is, do we risk making youth ministry only for those who find it possible, or even easy, to be good—only for those who have not known or faced deep disappointment and suffering in themselves? Is youth ministry then only for happy, shiny kids? For the kids that have everything going well for them, kids with resources, or for kids that feel  sorrow and pain existing in themselves and in the world?Youth that have seen the shadowy side and felt its cold touch on their broken souls see little significance in Christianity. Because it’s too positive, too concerned with goodness to see any yearning for God in the brokenness and shadows of their lives. I wonder if one reason even good kids know little about the Christian faith, may be because their perception is that there is little to know. Christianity, from the perspective of the shiny and happy, is about being good and avoiding bad. They don’t see Christianity as living in an altogether different reality, where God is found in shadows, in brokenness and yearning. This perspective reminds us that discipleship is not about avoiding the bad in search of goodness. Rather, discipleship is about following, and following Jesus where Jesus can be found. To follow God is not to avoid the bad, but to search for God in it. The model of young faith is not the kid who can avoid the bad, but the kid who stares down the darkness in themselves and in their world by seeking God in just such places. The model of young faith is not shiny, happy kids, but honest kids, that understand that God sometimes works in backwards ways, in ways where the first are last, and the suffering are embraced. They are not good kids that avoid all that is bad, but faithful kids that go into the world to seek God in the real, which is both beautiful and scary. Youth ministry is not about keeping kids good, but accompanying them in facing darkness, in facing what is broken inside them and in the world. We invite them to contemplate a very new way of seeing reality, a reality where God is found in suffering and to see suffering is a sign of God’s love and presence in our lives. Youth ministry doesn’t seek to keep kids from going bad, but asks them to dwell in what seems impossible, what is broken, what is hurting in them and to then see God and know what faith can do. We invite them, in the context of discipleship, to go bad—to focus on the disappointment, to focus on their brokenness as the location of God’s very presence and activity in their lives.