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Intentional in providing spiritual formation opportunities, Messiah College offers housing for students
to live together with a common purpose and specific mission. The Rafiki House (“rafiki” is Swahili for
friend) is home primarily to international students and children of missionaries. Despite language and
cultural differences, the students find unity in prayer, worship, and fellowship. |
From generation to generation
Every generation of American teenagers,
it seems, has somewhat confounded the
adults who seek to parent, teach, and
lead them. Bookstore shelves display titles
about “surviving the teenage years,” articles
attempt to decipher teen lingo, and
companies spend millions to understand
and capitalize on teens’ spending habits.
But are teenagers so desperately different
from adults that such schemes are truly
necessary? Sociologist Christian Smith
contends that the majority of American
teenagers are not radical, even in their
beliefs about religion and spirituality.
Rather, Smith suggests, most teenagers
tend to model the examples of faith
demonstrated by their parents and
other adults that they trust and respect.
Recently, Smith, a professor at the
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
and director of the National Study of
Youth and Religion, initiated and conducted
a comprehensive survey of
American teenagers and their religious
and spiritual lives. He elaborates on his
findings in the book, Soul Searching: The
Religious and Spiritual Lives of American
Teenagers, which he co-authored with
Melinda Lundquist Denton. Smith recently
expounded on the survey for a standing-room-only crowd at Messiah College
in March as a part of the Central Pennsylvania
Forum for Religion and Science
lecture series.
Read the full article...
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