Chapter 3: Living the Teen Life

 Table from page 33 on this slide

The Likelihood of Using the Internet for Their Total Religious Experience Within how many years? Likelihood of doing so 5 years 10 years Definitely………………. 2% 9% Probably……………….. 14% 37% Probably not…………… 36% 34% Definitely not……………. 48% 20%

Chapter 4: Getting Inside the Teenage Mind The Likelihood of Attending College

Table from 4.2 page 41 on this slide

 Table from page 44 on this slide

Chapter 5: Religious Choices, Beliefs, and Practices “ For more than a decade, regardless or their beliefs and church attendance, more than four out of five teens have been describing their faith affiliation as Christian. The last few years, however, have brought about a minor decline in such self-descriptions. While 88% called themselves Christian in 1997, the figure dropped to 84% in 1998 and just 82% in 1999.”

Committed to Christianity (base: self-described Christians) Absolutely committed to it 29% 27% 26% Moderately committed to it 47% 53% 57% Not too committed to it 18% 16% 14% Not at all committed to it 7% 5% 3% Sample size:

 Table 5.3 from page 52

 Table 5.5 from page 55

 Table from page 58, 5.6

Chapter 6: The Road Ahead  Displacing the Myths The Myth: the teen years are evangelistically productive. The Reality: if they’re not saved by 13, they probably never will be. “Teens must experience the truth of the gospel through the lives of others, and the current cycle of teenagers must experience it through authentic relationships with credible believers.

Hit and run evangelistic strategies are of little value in an age of interaction. Until we re-engineer our outreach efforts- more along the lines of Socratic evangelism practices- the chances of experiencing greater evangelistic impact are slim.” The Myth: the church is where teen spiritual progress is made. The Reality: spiritual development in teenagers depends mostly on their family.

“…perhaps the most significant product a youth ministry could provide would be helping parents to have a healthy marriage and not get divorced.” The Myth: today’s youth group attenders are tomorrow’s church leaders. The Reality: today’s youth group attenders are tomorrow’s unchurched. “In fact, data show that the kids who are least inclined to attend a church in the future are those who are leaders among their peers.”

The Myth: teenagers are more interested in relationships than spiritual insight. The Reality: providing relationships without spiritual substance results in turnover. “Among the surprises emerging from the research is that teenagers do not come to church because it has hot music…They come because their friends are there and they believe the church has the potential to deliver useful insights.”