How Do We Anchor Faith in Young People?

I've been thinking for some time about how effective we are as ministers, teachers and parents at helping young people integrate their faith.

 

For years I brought teens on religious experience on top of religious experience hoping that the sheer exposure to God's grace would be enough to reach, penetrate and anchor our Great Faith Story inside their hearts.

 

I still believe that.

 

But trusting too much in God’s power to effect change can lead to complacency. We are called to bring others to Jesus. But we don’t just leave them there so we can go back for more. Carrying more and more people to Jesus is a misinterpretation of the Gospel.

 

When we continue to walk with kids after they encounter Christ, we can help them sort out what that encounter means for them. Events, curriculum and even good books cannot do this.

 

But relationships can. Relationships are what anchor faith deep under the often tumultuous waters of a kid’s heart.

 

Comments

[RAnn]

Hi, and welcome to St. Blogs. I'd like to invite you to join Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival. We are a group of bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other. This week's host post is at http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2010/01/sunday-snippets-catholic-carnival_16.html