@Orchidaceae 12 December 2020

Junior High Faith Is Personal

Psychologist David Elkind observed that religion changes for the early adolescent from being institutional to personal. It becomes more of a personal relationship with God. For a child religion is tied very closely to the church or to religious activities (institutional). But for the young adolescent who has acquired new ways of thinking religion is tied much more closely to a belief system, which is more personal and private. Teenagers, who value their privacy-now that they have discovered that they can live in secret in their heads-and who are afraid that their secrets might be found out, discover that a personal God is a most trustworthy confidant. He won't squeal. The upshot of this is that some young adolescents become turned off by institutional religion. They may want to stop attending church or participating in religious activities they enjoyed as a child. This causes alarm for parents and church leaders who fear that the youth is in danger of losing her faith. While such fears may be justified, there is a strong chance that the Junior higher is turning her back on the church simply as a way of expressing her need for autonomy. In a way she is saying" Im not a kid anymore. I don't believe in that stuff anymore. its part of the process of breaking free from parental and religious authority and the baggage that goes along with it. Junior highers who lose their enthusiasm for church rarely feel that way because they have examined their faith and foùnd it wanting. They aren't rejecting God so much as they are rejecting an old way of thinking about God. Young adolescents simply want to be able to make their own decisions about spiritual things, so they may temporarily hang up entirely the faith they inherited from their parents. This does not mean that they don't have a personal belief in God; they just don't see a need for the institutional part of it or the outward expression of it. In fact, research has confirmed that 95 percent of early adolescents believe in God, and that 75 percent pray every day.' There is no need to panic. Elkind recommends patience: "In general, most young people return to the faith of their parents once they become young adults and particularly when they become parents." Scripture puts it another way: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:5). I like to compare the transition that junior highers are making in their faith with the circus acrobat on the flying trapeze. Just as the trapeze artist lets go of one trapeze and sails through the air, temporarily without any support, and then grabs safely onto another trapeze-much like the one he left behind, so junior higher lets go of his childhood faith in order to grab onto a newer, more mature, version of it. It will look a lot like the one left behind, but this one will be more personal, more secure. Meanwhile, like the spectators at the circus, we gasp and hold our breath, hoping and praying that the trapeze artist-the junior higher-doesn't fall. And just as the trapeze artist "flies through the air with the greatest of ease, knowing that a safety net is in place, so our kids need to know that we are there for them. We can be that safety net for young adolescents who have temporarily let go of their faith by loving them and taking their need for a sabbatical from institutional religion seriously. That doesn't mean that we encourage them to stay home from church however. I generally tell parents that its okay to force your kids to attend church. Staying home from church is not a good habit start in early adolescence. But you can force junior highers to like church or to participate in every activity. One of the purposes of a good junior high ministry is provide for kids a place where they can be themselves and explore their faith in new ways. Sometimes it helps to take kids away from the church-to a home or a park or some strange location-and there discuss spiritual things with them. This approach is less institutional and much more personal. Young adolescents will respond positively to an atmosphere of acceptance and friendship with opportunities to discover Christ in a fresh, new way. @Orchidaceae