CT hat mit dem Soziologen Christian Smith darüber gesprochen, wie die Kirche die junge Generation erreichen kann. Smith, Autor des Buches Souls in Transition, schreibt über die Bedeutung der Eltern:
The most important factor is parents. For better or worse, parents are tremendously important in shaping their children’s faith trajectories. That’s the story that came out in Soul Searching. It’s also the story that comes out here.
Another factor is youth having established devotional lives—that is, praying, reading Scripture—during the teenage years. Those who do so as teenagers are much more likely than those who don’t to continue doing so into emerging adulthood. In some cases, having other adults in a congregation who you have relationships with, and who are supportive and provide modeling, also matters.
Some readers are going to be disappointed that going on mission trips doesn’t appear to amount to a hill of beans, at least for emerging adults as a whole. For some it’s important, but not for most. But again, we emphasize above everything else the role of parents, not just in telling kids about faith but also in modeling it.
Hier das Interview: www.christianitytoday.com.
Das Buch:
- Christian Smith: Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, Oxford Universitiy Press, 2009, 368 S., ca. 18 Euro
kann hier bestellt werden:
„The most important factor is parents. For better or worse, parents are tremendously important in shaping their children’s faith trajectories…“
Oh, it is; it is indeed…