Pastor – Coach – Reader – Cook
Does going to college cause Christians to walk away from their faith? To many people this seems like a question whose answer is a foregone conclusion. It is widely believed that university education is detrimental to religion. Christian parents fear what will happen to the faith of their children when they go away to college.…
Continue reading ➞ Souls in Transition – How does College affect Spiritual Life?
3:12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.…
Continue reading ➞ Summer in Thessalonica – Holiness, Relevance and Legalism
I cannot remember not going to church as a child. My parents took me to church ever since I was born. I was involved in Sunday school, Wednesday night programs and anything else they took me to. When we switched churches, I was about ten, my parents kept me heavily involved. I never complained, I…
Continue reading ➞ Souls in Transition – Hooray for Parents!
3:1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God's service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled…
Last fall CSF had a "Human-Trafficking Awareness Day" during which we sold t-shirts, handed out information about modern-day slavery, and at night had a guest speaker who has worked with a group in Cambodia to save women from slavery. From this CSF ended up partnering with the Step Dance Team for a benefit show, all…
Souls in Transition is a study of emerging adults, ages 18-23, and serves as a sequel of sorts to Soul Searching which studied the same group of young people when they were 13-17 years old (and which I have not read). This has allowed the researchers to see how specific people have changed over time…
2:17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you— certainly I, Paul, did, again and again— but Satan blocked our way.…
Saying things like "most emerging adults are leaving religion" or "many emerging adults are spiritual" are dangerous generalizations in their vagueness. The truth is that all emerging adults, all people, are unique. Therefore, while Smith and Snell in the sixth chapter of Souls in Transition illustrate six major religious types of emerging adults, they do…
Continue reading ➞ Souls in Transition – Six Types of Emerging Adults
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches…
Continue reading ➞ Summer in Thessalonica 4 – Transformation
Moral Therapeutic Deism (MTD) was found to be the best description of the religion of American teenagers in Christian Smith's previous study, Soul Searching. MTD consists of five key beliefs: (1) a God exists who created the world and watches over human life; (2) God wants people to be nice, good and fair to each…
Continue reading ➞ Souls in Transition – Moral Therapeutic Deism
