My daughter returns today from a weekend mountain retreat with our church youth group, where the kids spent time skiing or snowboarding and studying the Bible. The youth minister was intent on making sure the young people were ready to open themselves to the power of God’s message: No cell phones and ipods were allowed.

Both my daughter and I were partly drawn to the Baptist church by the strength of its youth program. There’s a separate youth service that the teenagers crowd into on Sundays as well as other opportunities for study and participation in church ministries.

My mother also encouraged my involvement in the youth activities at the Methodist church our family attended. There were rap sessions with the ministers, prayer time, hot-dog sales to raise money for charity, good times with friends and Saturday-afternoon choir rehearsals. Those days marked the planting of the seeds of my faith.

We all think about what we want our children to be when they become adults. My prayer is simple. I want my daughter to first be a woman with faith and compassion. I’m doing what I can to make sure she’s on the path to developing a long and deep spiritual relationship.

Related posts:

1. Bringing church into the home
2. My daughter’s spiritual awakening
3. Finding a church home