Preparing our Children For Success in College
As the Director of Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) and a mom of two emerging college students, I am often asked this question by parents and guardians: What can I do to prepare my children for success in college? Sending a child to college, especially one far away from home, is traumatic; it marks the moment that our little ones are called to stand strong as adults. As parents, this transition may require an enormous leap of faith - the idea of letting our children go into the fast-paced, over-stimulating world of college, is downright scary.
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Growing up Digital, Wired For Distraction
On the eve of a pivotal academic year in Vishal Singh’s life, he faces a stark choice on his bedroom desk: book or computer? By all rights, Vishal, a bright 17-year-old, should already have finished the book, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” his summer reading assignment. But he has managed 43 pages in two months. He typically favors Facebook, YouTube and making digital videos. That is the case this August afternoon. Bypassing Vonnegut, he clicks over to YouTube, meaning that tomorrow he will enter his senior year of high school hoping to see an improvement in his grades, but without having completed his only summer homework. Read More....
More Teens Becoming Fake Christians
(CNN) -- If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning: Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem. Read More
Modesty Revisited
This afternoon I was reading a magazine for brides in which a woman had submitted the following question: "My fiancé wants us to move in together, but I want to wait until we're married. Am I doing our marriage an injustice?" The editor responded: "Your fiancé should understand why you want to wait to share a home. Maybe you're concerned about losing your identity as an individual. Or maybe you're concerned about space issues."Read More....
Keeping Our College Students Connected to the Church
"Keeping our College Students Connected to the Church" is a tagline for Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). You'll find it throughout our literature and even on our stationery. It says concisely what we believe to be our primary mission. I've spent hours thinking about it, talking about it, and wrestling with it. To be honest, I think it needs some unpacking, some clarification. Read More...
Facing Up to the Reality of Youth Leaving the Church:
A Pastoral Response
What most of us have intuitively feared for years appears to be true,and the studies are stacking up to substantiate it. According to the recent study completed by the Barna Group out of Los Angeles, as many as 60% of Christian students who leave for college never return to Church. Subsequent studies conducted by individual Christian traditions report statistics as high as 80-90%. Experts refer to this as faith attrition. Regardless of the real number and what we may think about survey statistics, the Christian Church appears to be facing a serious challenge, and there's no credible reason to believe that the Orthodox tradition is immune to it. Read More....