Growing Up Religion

The more I get closer to my graduation, the more I know that I want to continue to grow in a Christian environment. I go to school at Northwest Christian, and I have recently been grateful for my experience as I am constantly surrounded by peers and teachers who love the Lord. Fortunately, I have gone to a Christian school my whole life. Nonetheless, my spiritual life is not finished growing, which I can continue to grow in a Christian College. The reason I want to continue my academic journey in a Christian Environment not only to make myself grow in Christ, but also so I can surround myself with those who have the same beliefs as myself. Due to having teachers who have the same beliefs, I do not have to be forced to believe something I do

Another challenge concerning the Millennials is that a lot of these young adults are growing up without attending church. The Barna group calls them the unchurched segment and report that this segment has increased in the last 10 years, from 44% to 52% (5 Reasons). This is a problem because it decreases the chances for new members to join the church. The majority of people that follows a specific religion learned about that religion in early childhood. Students of human behavior believe that “The most significant borrowing occurs in early childhood. Family is thus an important factor…” (Wuthnow 106). If the number of the unchurched segment continues to grow at this pace, in the next few decades, this will continue to be a major concern for church leaders across the Americas. It is a lot harder to try to reach those people that have never attended church or don’t come from a religious background than try to reach those that belong to a church or have been brought up in the faith.

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

I grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Eureka, where I still live today. If you ever look at me and wonder where that scar on my forehead came from, well it happened when I was roughly 12 months old when I fell out of a moving car. My parents raised me as a Methodist at the Eureka United Methodist Church. During my years attending Geggie Elementary School, every Sunday my parents would force me to get out of bed and go to Church with them. During church, all the children would go to Sunday school while the parents were listening to the sermon. In Sunday school, we had a teacher, sometimes my mom, who would give out fun church related activities. However, I did not enjoy doing that mostly because it involved getting out of bed early and since I did not like the subject matter either, but at that age, children do not fully grasp the importance of attending church and

Born and raised in Marion, Iowa and into an evangelical church, my parents “Baby Dedicated” my life to christ. At age 5 my family moved to New Covenant Bible Church. When I was young I didn't think much of church, it was just something you did and was merely going through the motions. But when I hit middle school my parents made me go to church every Wednesday and Sunday. Key phrase, made me. At this point in my life I didn't like church, at all. As I grew older, I wanted to be at church less and less. And I dreaded going every time Sunday morning rolled around. I had the mindset that the world had more to offer me than Christ did. And so I made excuses and put up fights and soon I rarely went to church. My family went but I stayed

Being raised in a Christian home, I attended church quasi-regularly up until the age of six. Church participation after the age of six became inconsistent, due to conflict in the church that required the

As I grew up I attended a church daycare which taught us about the bible, Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed (AWANA), and other various church activities. I had always been around the Christian beliefs. However, my personal walk didn’t start until the summer after my freshmen year after attending a summer camp called Momentum; now, I am unashamed to claim that I am a Christian and I love to share my faith with other people.

Nashville-based group LifeWay Research gathered 2,000 Protestant and non-denominational church attendees for a research sponsored by LifeWay Kids for the book “Nothing Less: Engaging Kids in a Lifetime of Faith.” All of the respondents go to church at least once a month and have children ages 18 to 30.

Growing up, I attended church every Sunday. My mother and father would wake us (my two brothers and I) up at approximately 8:00am to get us ready for both morning service and Sunday school. As the years went on, the older we grew and there came a time when morning service was non-existent. Around the age of 16 is when I stopped attending church every Sunday because of the rigorous schedule I endured. It’s not that I don’t believe in God, because without him I would not be where I am today. He is the reason for my success, my hardships, and my life in general. Believing and installing my trust in him has gotten me to the point in my life where I want to be.

I have grown up in church. I have been to church pretty much every Sunday of my life. My family never really missed church, except if we sick. Even when we were on vacation, we would go to church. I also spent a lot of time at youth group. During my time at youth group, there were positive and negative experiences that I had. Even though I do not want to go into youth ministries, I still think my background shapes my opinion on it.

My dad’s family lived in a middle class neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago until he was in sixth grade when they moved to Deerfield. He grew up protestant and attended church every Sunday. This continued until he was in eighth or ninth grade when him and his brother were confirmed. After confirmation, his family no longer went to church.

Times have changed over the years from simple to downright chaotic. As a child I could not wait until Sunday morning, so I could attend bible school, and during summer we would attend Bible School. Even after I became an adult I even sang in the choir. Church has always been the structure of my life as a child and as an adult. At one time families worshiped God together as a unit, as a whole where he was welcomed into their homes. Now times have changed where God is no longer welcomed in homes, and the blessing is no longer said at the dinner table. Leaving God out of the mix brings chaos, destruction, loss of jobs and families as well as losing children to the evil entities. Bible school was the highlight of summer. Attending there making

Religion plays an important role in my life. I identify as catholic, but there are some thing that me and my family don’t follow. We don't go to church often and when we do it's only for important events. This is because we’ve had bad experiences with

While consensus among researchers on the definition of spirituality and religiosity is lacking, what it means to be spiritual or religious and what constitutes a spiritual person in the literature is still very highly researched (Stranahan, 2008). Many definitions of religiosity and spirituality include religious service attendance, some sort of meaning and purpose in life, personal strength to cope with difficulties, and believing in a higher being (Stranahan, 2008). Older adults tend to have stronger faith and greater spirituality than younger populations (Moberg, 2005). This difference in spirituality between younger populations and older adults is possibly tied to “the deepening of spiritual interests and concern during the later years” (Moberg, 2005, p. 15). Older adults tend to become more religious, or turn to religion more as they age, instead of maintaining a high level of religiosity throughout their lives (Moberg, 2005). Spirituality and religiosity are very important to the aging process due to the connection observed in many studies between spiritual health and physical and mental health and well-being, with religion having protective health effects. Much research has been conducted on the association between religion and spirituality and physical and mental health outcomes, especially among older adults. This paper will summarize the recent findings related to religion and spirituality and health in older adults, including a discussion on the theory of

To begin with, religion is one aspect of my life that I could not be happy without. My brothers and I have formed this conviction in the Lord from being taught the right way. My father is the minister at Sims Hill Christian Church and he has always taken us to every church service held as long as we were able. It has always been a priority in the Jones’ household to read the Bible and to present ourselves in the correct manner. Without God, the pursuit of happiness