Shoal Creek ParenTeen - Is my teen developing a heart for God? Part 2

I ran across a series of concise, one minute audio snapshots that seek to give us examples of what to look for to determine if our teens are developing what might be called "heart for God".

I have listened to the second session, which can be found here if you'd like to listen to it on your own. Below I've written out the summary of what I listened to, and then provide my own take on how we might be able to tell if our teen is on what I think of as a "Kingdom-Bound" trajectory. 

Sign #2 That Our Teen May Be Developing a Heart For God = Teens that are developing a heart for God will have a desire to participate in corporate worship and instruction.

This pretty much just means, "A teen who is developing a heart for God will want to go to church services so that they can be surrounded by others that are pursuing the same thing--God--that they are."

Again, kind of a "no-duh." Meaning, of course they'll like going to church if they like God. Perhaps we'd get more out of this Sign #2 if we thought about the biggest reason why our teens don't want to go to church. 

The biggest reason teens don't like going to church is that it church can very easily seem completely non-relevant to their lives. Most likely, they know very few people who've been revolutionized by the love of Jesus, and never end up saying to themselves, "Wow! Following Jesus really DOES make a difference! I want some of that! Let's go to church!"

The average teenager is overly busy, overly committed to school, extra curricular activities, and/or overly concerned with finding acceptance among their peers. The don't see the power Jesus' Kingdom in their everyday world, so going to church seems like a waste of time.

Teenagers (and adults alike) will always feel like going to church is a waste of time unless the ones who claim to follow Jesus verbalize their personal reasons for going, and by example show the difference that Jesus is making in their personal lives.

Humans need to "see it to believe it", so those who follow Jesus need to show--and VERBALIZE--from their own lives, the difference that Jesus is making.

Which really should make us ask ourselves, "What kind of difference IS Jesus making in my life RIGHT NOW?" If you can find an answer that question, then the next time that your teen is dragging their heels on going to church (or serving, or giving, or whatever the spiritual practice may be), we need to be ready to verbalize why it's important to us, and help them understand that our job as parents/adults is to help them experience the same kind of positive life transformation that can be found in following Jesus.