Paul Whitaker
2nd January 2006, 10:18 PM (22:18)
The New York Times December 30, 2005 Teenagers Mix Churches for Faith
That Fits By NEELA BANERJEE
COLORADO SPRINGS - At 11 a.m. on a recent Sunday, Emily Hoogenboom, 14,
was at church, her second that morning.
First, she had dutifully sat through a staid worship at Forest Ridge
Community Church, which she attends with her family. Now she was with
her 17-year-old friend and 4,000 other worshippers at an evangelical
megachurch listening to six singers, backed by a band and a swaying
choir of 250 people.
Like Emily, a number of Christians are regularly attending different
churches in the course of a week or a month, picking and choosing among
programs and services, to satisfy social and spiritual needs. They are
comfortable participating in multiple churches.
The practice is particularly pronounced among young people, sociologists
of religion say. Everyone in a family may attend one church for a
service on Sunday, but the children then go their own way to youth
groups, for example.
In a survey of 13- to 17-year-olds conducted from 2002 through 2003, the
National Study of Youth and Religion found that 16 percent of
respondents participated in more than one religious congregation. Four
percent attend youth groups outside their congregations.
Some critics, particularly conservative evangelicals and the ministers
of various denominations, decry such practices as a consumerist approach
to faith.
But sociologists say it is a growing practice, a reflection of how
Americans today are less attached to a historical, family denomination.
Parents also want their children to have an "authentic" relationship to
faith, and "if you don't choose it, it's not authentic for you," said
Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of North
Carolina and director of the survey on youth and religion.
Emily and her parents, who are evangelical Christians, say her decision
to attend the megachurch, New Life, reveals the strength of her faith
and the profoundly individual spiritual course each believer follows.
"I saw that my parents' relationship to Christ and my relationship to
Jesus Christ were different, and my kids aren't going to relate to Jesus
Christ the same way we do," said Emily's mother, Tracy Hoogenboom, 49.
"And that's to be expected because Jesus Christ is your own personal
lord and savior."
It remains unclear how many Christians attend several churches
regularly. Most young people who go outside their family church are
Protestants, from mainline denominations and evangelical churches alike.
Some are from mixed-religion marriages, Mr. Smith said, but many go
simply because a second church appeals to them.
"We see it all the time, everywhere," said Jose Zayas, director of
teenage evangelism for Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian
group based in Colorado Springs. "They gravitate to where they feel a
connection. They're more pragmatic than their parents' generation. They
look at what works for them. I think it's healthy."
At New Life, led by Ted Haggard, president of the National Association
of Evangelicals, the youth group sessions feel like rock concerts:
T-shirts are on sale outside and bands are onstage, grinding their way
through screaming songs of praise for Christ while teenagers dance
before them. Friends often lead other teenagers to new churches,
sociologists and adolescents themselves said.
Though Emily's family had attended New Life when she was in grade
school, she visited the church again in junior high at the invitation of
a friend, largely because, Emily said, she was unhappy with the popular
but catty girl she had become. She stayed because the youth pastor's
sermons made sense to her.
"That was just the biggest thing for me: that you don't have to be
perfect, that God loves you not for what you do and for this body that
we have only for a short time, but for your heart and soul and who you
are inside," Emily said of what she had heard.
"Every time I went to church," she continued, "I felt God loved me, that
I don't have to worry about sin because he forgives me. So I looked
forward to going back. I don't really understand all of it. But I have
the passion to learn more."
Many children in evangelical families also see the example their parents
have set, leaving the denominations they grew up in to embrace
evangelical Christianity as young adults.
"I left the church of my upbringing to find Christ on my own," said Chad
Wight, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, attends Pulpit Rock Church
here with her family but also goes to a youth group at Woodmen Valley
Chapel, both nondenominational evangelical churches.
Mr. Wight said his family looked for a church that would nourish his
children.
"Their spiritual health is really important right now," Mr. Wight said,
"and if they continue their walk with the Lord, that's crucial."
Parents largely accept their children's choices, as long as the other
churches espouse a similar theology, said Nancy L. Eiesland, associate
professor of sociology of religion at the Candler School of Theology at
Emory University. "Many of them are happy their kids will go to anything
in their teenage years," Ms. Eiesland said.
As a hub of evangelical Christianity, Colorado Springs offers many
churches that preach similar doctrines, like the inerrancy of the Bible
and the need for a personal relationship with Christ. But here and
elsewhere, many Christians, especially members of the clergy, take
commitment to a particular church seriously.
"If families spread their loyalties around, it's been my experience that
they don't benefit as well as they could," said Peter Beringer, a youth
pastor at Pulpit Rock Church, which has about 1,000 adults in attendance
every Sunday. "They don't seem to have relationships in the church that
are as deep. From what I have seen of students who have done this, they
find it easier to disengage and be the kid on the fringes."
Hannah Wight, a soft-spoken girl who deliberates over her words, stands
by her choice. She said she felt more connected to Woodmen Valley after
attending a series there that helped young people discern their
"spiritual gifts," like the desire to serve.
"The message spoke to me a lot," Hannah said. As for attending two
churches, she said, "It's not hard for me at all because I feel like my
needs are being fulfilled."
Still, her parents said, people note Hannah's less-than-regular
appearances at the family's primary church, Pulpit Rock. And her
13-year-old brother, Brian, does not understand her decision.
"I will defend her when necessary, but over all I'm on their side,"
Brian said, referring to how others at Pulpit Rock have reacted to
Hannah's choice. "I don't know why she has to make things inconvenient
for the rest of us or why she picked that church when she has been going
to Pulpit Rock as long as the rest of us."
Emily Hoogenboom said she went to Forest Ridge largely out of respect
for her parents, whose friends founded it about five years ago. But when
Emily steps into New Life, she embraces a second family. Other youths
come and hug her. They hug all the time, boys and girls showing
affection for one another without risking trouble.
One Wednesday evening, boys in thrift-store jackets and porkpie hats,
pale Goth devotees, and petite girls with the same mascara, lip gloss
and tight, flared jeans, about 250 teenagers in all, streamed into New
Life for their youth group. By the hall entrance, Chad Fritzsche, 17,
and Esther Saforo, 15, two of Emily's friends who also attend New Life
on their own, were playing guitar and singing songs they had written.
The youth pastor, Brent Parsley, entered on a sleigh dressed as a
hip-hop Santa. "I'm going to break it down for you, Clarence," Mr.
Parsley told an actor in the Christmas play. "Christmas ain't about
presents, yo! The true meaning of Christmas is my main man: J.C."
The crowd shrieked. At this unbuttoned church, teenagers channel the
roiling passions typical of their age into devotion. And Mr. Parsley
egged them on. He told them in an overcaffeinated tempo that God had
much in store for them. Reading Biblical excerpts on his P.D.A., he
reminded them that David was young when he slew Goliath and that Mary
was probably quite young when she bore Jesus. He said: "God loves to use
young people. I want all of us to live our lives as if God had something
extraordinary planned for us."
The music began again. The young people ran toward the stage, but Emily
went by herself to the aisle behind her seat. In the darkened hall, she
was freer than she had been on Sunday. The band played a simple rock
song, and everybody shouted the lyrics over and over: "Bless the Lord
with all that's in me. Bless the Lord. May kingdoms fall and rulers
crawl before your throne."
Emily threw her head back and sang and sang. Then she fell to her knees.
Bent forward at the waist, rocking, she sang into her curled body what
others shouted to the rafters: "I want to give you all of me. I'm giving
you all of me."
* Copyright 2005The New York Times Company
That Fits By NEELA BANERJEE
COLORADO SPRINGS - At 11 a.m. on a recent Sunday, Emily Hoogenboom, 14,
was at church, her second that morning.
First, she had dutifully sat through a staid worship at Forest Ridge
Community Church, which she attends with her family. Now she was with
her 17-year-old friend and 4,000 other worshippers at an evangelical
megachurch listening to six singers, backed by a band and a swaying
choir of 250 people.
Like Emily, a number of Christians are regularly attending different
churches in the course of a week or a month, picking and choosing among
programs and services, to satisfy social and spiritual needs. They are
comfortable participating in multiple churches.
The practice is particularly pronounced among young people, sociologists
of religion say. Everyone in a family may attend one church for a
service on Sunday, but the children then go their own way to youth
groups, for example.
In a survey of 13- to 17-year-olds conducted from 2002 through 2003, the
National Study of Youth and Religion found that 16 percent of
respondents participated in more than one religious congregation. Four
percent attend youth groups outside their congregations.
Some critics, particularly conservative evangelicals and the ministers
of various denominations, decry such practices as a consumerist approach
to faith.
But sociologists say it is a growing practice, a reflection of how
Americans today are less attached to a historical, family denomination.
Parents also want their children to have an "authentic" relationship to
faith, and "if you don't choose it, it's not authentic for you," said
Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of North
Carolina and director of the survey on youth and religion.
Emily and her parents, who are evangelical Christians, say her decision
to attend the megachurch, New Life, reveals the strength of her faith
and the profoundly individual spiritual course each believer follows.
"I saw that my parents' relationship to Christ and my relationship to
Jesus Christ were different, and my kids aren't going to relate to Jesus
Christ the same way we do," said Emily's mother, Tracy Hoogenboom, 49.
"And that's to be expected because Jesus Christ is your own personal
lord and savior."
It remains unclear how many Christians attend several churches
regularly. Most young people who go outside their family church are
Protestants, from mainline denominations and evangelical churches alike.
Some are from mixed-religion marriages, Mr. Smith said, but many go
simply because a second church appeals to them.
"We see it all the time, everywhere," said Jose Zayas, director of
teenage evangelism for Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian
group based in Colorado Springs. "They gravitate to where they feel a
connection. They're more pragmatic than their parents' generation. They
look at what works for them. I think it's healthy."
At New Life, led by Ted Haggard, president of the National Association
of Evangelicals, the youth group sessions feel like rock concerts:
T-shirts are on sale outside and bands are onstage, grinding their way
through screaming songs of praise for Christ while teenagers dance
before them. Friends often lead other teenagers to new churches,
sociologists and adolescents themselves said.
Though Emily's family had attended New Life when she was in grade
school, she visited the church again in junior high at the invitation of
a friend, largely because, Emily said, she was unhappy with the popular
but catty girl she had become. She stayed because the youth pastor's
sermons made sense to her.
"That was just the biggest thing for me: that you don't have to be
perfect, that God loves you not for what you do and for this body that
we have only for a short time, but for your heart and soul and who you
are inside," Emily said of what she had heard.
"Every time I went to church," she continued, "I felt God loved me, that
I don't have to worry about sin because he forgives me. So I looked
forward to going back. I don't really understand all of it. But I have
the passion to learn more."
Many children in evangelical families also see the example their parents
have set, leaving the denominations they grew up in to embrace
evangelical Christianity as young adults.
"I left the church of my upbringing to find Christ on my own," said Chad
Wight, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, attends Pulpit Rock Church
here with her family but also goes to a youth group at Woodmen Valley
Chapel, both nondenominational evangelical churches.
Mr. Wight said his family looked for a church that would nourish his
children.
"Their spiritual health is really important right now," Mr. Wight said,
"and if they continue their walk with the Lord, that's crucial."
Parents largely accept their children's choices, as long as the other
churches espouse a similar theology, said Nancy L. Eiesland, associate
professor of sociology of religion at the Candler School of Theology at
Emory University. "Many of them are happy their kids will go to anything
in their teenage years," Ms. Eiesland said.
As a hub of evangelical Christianity, Colorado Springs offers many
churches that preach similar doctrines, like the inerrancy of the Bible
and the need for a personal relationship with Christ. But here and
elsewhere, many Christians, especially members of the clergy, take
commitment to a particular church seriously.
"If families spread their loyalties around, it's been my experience that
they don't benefit as well as they could," said Peter Beringer, a youth
pastor at Pulpit Rock Church, which has about 1,000 adults in attendance
every Sunday. "They don't seem to have relationships in the church that
are as deep. From what I have seen of students who have done this, they
find it easier to disengage and be the kid on the fringes."
Hannah Wight, a soft-spoken girl who deliberates over her words, stands
by her choice. She said she felt more connected to Woodmen Valley after
attending a series there that helped young people discern their
"spiritual gifts," like the desire to serve.
"The message spoke to me a lot," Hannah said. As for attending two
churches, she said, "It's not hard for me at all because I feel like my
needs are being fulfilled."
Still, her parents said, people note Hannah's less-than-regular
appearances at the family's primary church, Pulpit Rock. And her
13-year-old brother, Brian, does not understand her decision.
"I will defend her when necessary, but over all I'm on their side,"
Brian said, referring to how others at Pulpit Rock have reacted to
Hannah's choice. "I don't know why she has to make things inconvenient
for the rest of us or why she picked that church when she has been going
to Pulpit Rock as long as the rest of us."
Emily Hoogenboom said she went to Forest Ridge largely out of respect
for her parents, whose friends founded it about five years ago. But when
Emily steps into New Life, she embraces a second family. Other youths
come and hug her. They hug all the time, boys and girls showing
affection for one another without risking trouble.
One Wednesday evening, boys in thrift-store jackets and porkpie hats,
pale Goth devotees, and petite girls with the same mascara, lip gloss
and tight, flared jeans, about 250 teenagers in all, streamed into New
Life for their youth group. By the hall entrance, Chad Fritzsche, 17,
and Esther Saforo, 15, two of Emily's friends who also attend New Life
on their own, were playing guitar and singing songs they had written.
The youth pastor, Brent Parsley, entered on a sleigh dressed as a
hip-hop Santa. "I'm going to break it down for you, Clarence," Mr.
Parsley told an actor in the Christmas play. "Christmas ain't about
presents, yo! The true meaning of Christmas is my main man: J.C."
The crowd shrieked. At this unbuttoned church, teenagers channel the
roiling passions typical of their age into devotion. And Mr. Parsley
egged them on. He told them in an overcaffeinated tempo that God had
much in store for them. Reading Biblical excerpts on his P.D.A., he
reminded them that David was young when he slew Goliath and that Mary
was probably quite young when she bore Jesus. He said: "God loves to use
young people. I want all of us to live our lives as if God had something
extraordinary planned for us."
The music began again. The young people ran toward the stage, but Emily
went by herself to the aisle behind her seat. In the darkened hall, she
was freer than she had been on Sunday. The band played a simple rock
song, and everybody shouted the lyrics over and over: "Bless the Lord
with all that's in me. Bless the Lord. May kingdoms fall and rulers
crawl before your throne."
Emily threw her head back and sang and sang. Then she fell to her knees.
Bent forward at the waist, rocking, she sang into her curled body what
others shouted to the rafters: "I want to give you all of me. I'm giving
you all of me."
* Copyright 2005The New York Times Company