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Author: Ed Trimmer, etrimmer(at)pfeiffer.edu
Head of School of Religion, Pfeiffer University
Date submitted: February 15, 2005
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Youth ministry is concerned about faith transmission to teenagers. Carol Lytch has been exploring what makes a difference for teens in choosing church. Her recent book about this issue is, Choosing Church, Westminster John Knox, 2004. She found ten areas where parents and families can have a positive effect on teen religious loyalty and participation. As many of you probably know brand loyalty around a religious tradition has been dissipating for the past forty years. Children no longer stay in the religious tradition they were brought up in and many of us who are committed to certain religious traditions (such as the United Methodist Church) have worried about the long-term viability of our specific tradition. Lytch has tried to address this issue by doing research on what variable factors help teens not just chose Christ but chose church as well. Below are the ten significant factors that Lytch found that parents can have in helping teens chose Church.
- Parent Church attendance (Consistently research has shown that when both parents are regular attendees of church their offspring are more likely to attend as well. This has always been the most significant variable in teen church attendance.)
- Warm Family Climate
- Parent/teen social network (Parents and teens have some of the same social network and are not always traveling in different social circles.)
- Christian symbols, rituals, and practices in the home
- Family participation in the same congregation
- A nonchaotic parenting style
- Intact marriage of parents (Not necessarily having parents who aren't divorced but being part of a family that has two parents or step parents present.)
- Adequate family income (above $50,000 BUT if the family income becomes too high, which usually means significant focus on work and not family, there is diminishing returns with this variable in faith transmission.)
- Proximity to extended family and parent's hometown (Lack of ties to a home church and extended family sometimes had a negative effect on the religious upbringing of their children.)
- Parents of same religious background (In this research "same religious background" referred to whether parents coming from both Catholic or both Protestants backgrounds not the same Protestant church.)
The first six items listed above were particularly significant in determining the degree to which teens themselves expect to be active in a church after they leave home. However, it must be remembered that parents still influence their children during the teen years by what they as parents do. When parents hold youth in their church a little longer, through all the years of high school, teens tend to predict they will be active in the church even after they leave home. And that is Good News and something parents need to remember.