Janie’s Story

I had lunch with Janie. Janie was very active in my youth group several years ago and is now in her twenties. She is married, has a child and is currently involved in her church by helping out in the youth ministry! She told me that she and her husband are loving it! What a blessing is was to hear from a former youth group kid who is now impacting the lives of teens in the name of our Lord Jesus!

Things haven’t always been so great for Janie. Just 2 years after graduating from high school, Janie gave up on “church.” I asked her what she thought had caused her to give up on the church, she replied…

“All through high school I was always told that I better go to church! My parents always told me that going to church was important. But you know, not once did I ever see my parents praying together. Not once did my mom or dad ever pray with me or read the Bible with me. I was just told that I better go church. So I did. Then when I moved out, I went to church for a little while but realized no one was telling me to go anymore, so I stopped going.”

Many twenty-somethings are doing the same thing Janie did. They see church as important but not necessary because they didn’t see faith being modeled as a lifestyle while at home during their teen years. Faith, as they saw it, was lived out within the walls of the church building.

Janie is back in church because of her husband and her little one…

“We realized what we want for her. We want her to see us praying. We want her to grow up praying with us and seeing that it doesn’t only happen at church… it happens at home.”

Praying, reading scripture & dwelling in the Word, talking about faith. Are we doing these things at home, at the church building, or are we doing them at home AND at the church building?

Are we showing teens that faith is a lifestyle or are we showing teens that faith exists only within the walls of the church building?