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As all the studies started coming out in the last decade on how at least two-thirds of young adults are turning away from Christianity, a lot of attention started turning toward high schoolers. That attention is rightly placed, given that high school-age kids need strong spiritual preparation for the college world they’re approaching.

Some attention has also been given to middle school-age kids. This is critical, as studies have also shown that much of a child’s spiritual formation is set by age 13 and these kids need a far more robust spiritual training than they’ve traditionally received.

Meanwhile, most elementary-age children are still coloring pictures of Noah’s ark. Over and over again.

OK, that’s an exaggeration. But not a big one. There seems to be a huge gulf between the level of spiritual training elementary-age kids are typically getting on Sunday mornings and the level they need for today’s world. It seems that either no one thinks they’re capable of more, or no one thinks more is necessary.

I firmly believe kids this age are capable of much more, and that much more is hugely necessary.

If I had the ear of every person in charge of a church’s elementary Sunday school, these are the five changes I would suggest most urgently need to be made.

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Hi everyone! I finally finished my book and am now back for regular blogging. It won’t be out until February, but I’ll keep you posted as it gets closer to release. Thanks so much for sticking with me while my blog was quiet.

A couple of years ago, the Fixed Point Foundation launched a nationwide campaign to interview college students who are members of Secular Student Alliances or Freethought Societies. These groups are basically the atheist equivalents to Christian clubs. They meet regularly, encourage one another, and even proselytize.

The Foundation found that most of these students had not chosen their worldview from neutral positions, but in reaction to Christianity. They had grown up attending church and had heard all the “traditional” church messages.

But something completely shifted their view of reality.

The researchers wanted to find out what factors had so much influence in that shift. Here’s what they discovered:

“When our participants were asked to cite key influences in their conversion to atheism—people, books, seminars, etc.—we expected to hear frequent references to the names of the ‘New Atheists’ [well-known atheist authors like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens]. We did not. Not once. Instead, we heard vague references to videos they had watched on YouTube or website forums.”

YouTube.

Website forums.

These were the things that ultimately had more influence on these students’ faith than the years they spent in their Christian homes and at church.

That should sound pretty ludicrous. But, having encountered a lot of atheist content online (in YouTube videos, forums, blogs, and more), I can absolutely see why.

Here are four reasons why the internet may influence your kids’ faith more than you…and what you can do about it.Continue reading

(I want to apologize to those who received this post via email when it had the typo “sneak peak” in the headline. This is what a lack of sleep while finishing a book does to a person. Please forgive my inadvertent reference to a mountaintop in the original title!)

Things have been quiet the last few weeks on the blog because I’ve been working every spare second on finishing my book, which is due to the publisher on April 1. I’m in the home stretch, but still have a good chunk to write. It’s 256 pages and 40 chapters (about 6 pages each), so it’s been quite the project!

I’m hoping to get a couple of posts up this month, but in case that doesn’t happen, please bear with me. Once the book gets turned in, I’ll be back to my regular weekly posting activity.

In case you’re new to my blog or you missed the original announcement, the book is called Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith. It’s being published by Harvest House and will come out in February 2016 (a lot happens between the time you turn in the content and when it’s actually published).

Today I want to give you a sneak peek at what you can look forward to! Here’s what I’ve packed into 256 pages, written specifically for parents:

 

Part 1: Conversations About God

1. What evidence is there for God’s existence?

2. How could a good God allow evil and suffering?

3. Why would God command the death of so many people in the Bible?

4. How can a loving God send people to hell?

5. How can God judge people who have never even heard about Jesus?

6. Why would God need people to worship Him?

7. Why is God so hidden?

8. Is faith in God the opposite of reason?Continue reading

Last week, someone left the following comment on my blog post, How Secular Family Values Stack Up: A Response:

“This is your interpretation of Christianity, but not the only one. Any number of versions of God–or Christ–may exist, and not all will not punish people based on their religion. The best objective, then, is to raise your children to be thoughtful, responsible and loving.”

Allow me to be blunt for a moment. This is horribly bad logic. And that has nothing to do with the fact we’re talking about Christianity. I’m strictly talking about the thought process, which basically goes like this: If there are varying beliefs on what is true, and some of those beliefs have unpleasant implications, then we shouldn’t teach our kids any of them because reality might not be as bad as some people believe.

How about this instead:

• If you’re an atheist, teach your kids atheism because, and only because, you believe it’s the true picture of reality. Not because people believe a variety of things about God. There’s just no logical connection.

• If you’re Christian, teach your kids Christianity because, and only because, you believe it’s the true picture of reality. Not because you were raised a Christian, not because it makes your kids behave better, and not because it’s comfortable.

I want to be absolutely clear that this is not an issue of Christian reason vs. atheist reason. Anyone can be guilty of using bad logic for their beliefs. Just this week, I saw a Christian tell an atheist that she should raise her kids as Christians because it will bring their family closer together.

No, no, and no.

One of the greatest gifts we can give our kids is the gift of how to think well. Because I’ve seen so much bad logic online lately, and have heard so much bad logic from my own kids, I decided to take some very specific action with them a couple of weeks ago. The results have been amazing. Here’s what we did.Continue reading

Today I’m honored to share this guest post from Mark McGee. Mark is a former atheist who was led away from his Christian upbringing by the philosophies he learned in yoga and martial arts. He now shares his story to help warn Christian parents about the possible spiritual dangers of these disciplines.

“Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly. Feel your breath. Feel the energy growing through each shakra.”

I sat on the floor of a small room in the local YMCA with my legs crossed in an unusual fashion, eyes closed, breathing “into my belly.” It’s Saturday morning and I’m loving it. Tomorrow is Sunday and I’ll have to go to church, but I won’t think about that right now. I’ll just breathe in and breathe out.

I was 12 years old and yoga offered me something I had never experienced before: a feeling of personal power and a purpose beyond myself. My mother enrolled me in the program believing it would be good for my health. Like many Christian parents, she didn’t know the hidden spiritual dangers that lie beneath the surface.

More than 20 million people in the United States are part of a yoga program today. The majority are young women. They spend billions of dollars on classes, clothing, books and equipment. Why do they do it? Most say they want to improve their flexibility and get relief from the stresses of life. Sounds like a good thing, right?

 

What You Need to Know About the Danger

What most people in western cultures don’t understand about yoga is that it’s a vital component of one of the world’s oldest religions: Hinduism. While many people think of yoga as a physical system with a spiritual component, it’s really a spiritual system with a physical component.Continue reading

There’s a new church movement you may not have heard about, but it’s growing by leaps and bounds. It’s called the Sunday Assembly. It started less than two years ago in England and now has more than 60 congregations around the world. Twenty-five more congregations are expected to launch by early 2015. The Sunday Assembly is growing especially quickly in the United States, where congregations have formed in 17 cities.

At a Sunday Assembly, church members come together to sing songs, hear a speaker and reflect on their lives. Outside of church, they have small groups, book clubs, a choir, peer-to-peer support and a variety of opportunities to volunteer. Their motto is “Live better, help often and wonder more.”

So what’s unique about this rapidly growing church?

Most of the congregants don’t believe in God. It’s a church for atheists.

 

What is an Atheist Church?

The Sunday Assembly was started by two comedians named Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones who liked the idea of a church without God. Pippa is an ex-Christian who found she missed church elements like “community, volunteering, and music,” but didn’t miss God. Sanderson had noticed the joy at Christmas created by caroling and wondered if it was possible to harness those warm feelings and just celebrate the fact we’re alive.Continue reading