Teenagers need to use words!

Amanda Drury is one of our special guests at the Middle School Ministry Campference this year. She'll be bringing a main session talk (on doubts!), and a couple seminars. One of her seminars is going to be based on her research into the importance of getting teenagers to talk about what they believe (this is also the topic she addressed in her presentation at The Summit last year). Here's a little tease of that, straight from Mandy...

SpeechlessThere’s an old Franciscan saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” We Christians tend to like this saying because it keeps us actively engaged in the world. We get to physically, tangibly show people our love of God. We are not those hypocrites who simply talk the faith without walking the faith. We also like this saying because it let’s us off the hook. It leaves us with the impression, “If I just act like a person of faith, than I don’t having to actually talk about my faith.”“Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” Well, friends, I hate to say it, but it’s necessary. Various studies across the United States show that both teenagers, and adults for that matter, are less and less articulate about their faith. They are active participants at their youth groups, but when they are asked to speak of their faith, they are speechless. This is a problem. When someone has a hard time talking about something, that person often has a hard time believing that thing is true. If we can't talk about our faith, we will have a hard time taking our faith seriously. When we talk about our faith, we become more faithful people.

We're in the home stretch for the Campference. It's just a little over a month away! Time to get registered!