I. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers typically rebel against their parents and other adults in their lives and thus reject the faith of those adults.
NSYR: The lives and faith of most teenagers closely reflect the lives, faith, culture, and institutional settings of the adult world they inhabit. They are only superficially distinct from or rebellious to the adult world. By the time they reach their twenties, most teenagers will be almost identical to their parents in terms of faith and religious practice.
II. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers reared in Christian homes and the church have a pretty fair understanding of their religious beliefs.
NSYR: The vast majority of teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about faith and practices, and its meaning or place in their lives. They find it almost impossible to put basic beliefs into words.
III. Conventional Wisdom: Church teenagers are aware that their faith and religious practices have been shaped by their homes and churches.
NSYR: Teenagers are profoundly individualistic and they believe they have developed their faith and practices almost entirely on heir own. They do not say that their religious upbringing influences them because they do not really believe anything influences them.
IV. Conventional Wisdom: Church families recognize the value of church life for children and therefore make it a high priority in terms of family schedules.
NSYR: The church operates in a social-structurally weak position, competing for time, energy and attention, and often losing against other more dominant demands and commitments, particularly against school, television, and other media. Parents think community organization is more crucial to the success of their teen than church.
V. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers in the church are no different than teenagers out in the community.
NSYR: Despite weaknesses and lack of importance, religious practice does indeed make a clear significant difference across all standard measurable outcomes in adolescents’ lives. It clearly makes an observable difference in the quality of teen’s lives, at-risk behaviors, and positive practices. Statistically teens in church are different, unfortunately parents are more concerned about their teens being in community events as seen by the previous finding.
VI. Conventional Wisdom: Teenagers are getting good teaching at home.
NSYR: American teens are eminently teachable and desperately need teaching. When it comes to a number of things (school, sports, health), there is direct instruction; but when it comes to things of the faith, parents have failed to teach clearly.
Primary Source: Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton.
SBC Stats and Implications: Transforming Student Ministry: Research Calling for Change by Richard Ross
