The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by BoneRemake.

Funny - I actually expected a lot more - in the way of comments on this one...

There are so many "churches" -- I wish I knew what this guy is talking about. I get the feeling that he is talking about evangelical charismatic churches, but I'm not sure.

According to my Mormon brother, the Mormon Church is the fastest growing church in America. And the Unitarians -- they seem to be healthy. I don't think this guy is talking about them.

Plus -- why so many loving shots of his own face? Way to make a vanity movie, guy.

>> ^Sagemind:

Funny - I actually expected a lot more - in the way of comments on this one...


The thesis of his doc is far too nebulous and subtle. That's not to say documentary viewers do not have an appreciation of subtlety. Heck, I'm lousy with the stuff! But who really cares whether age-segregated ministry is multiplying or dividing the church? If you're going to make a documentary about religion that you intend people to watch, the interesting question isn't about age-segregated ministry, for goodness sake. The interesting question goes a bit deeper than that, I should think.

Take Scientology for example. You think the upcoming documentary about Scientology is going to center on the question of the efficacy of print vs. new media advertising? Or do you think it'll be about something else?

>> ^bareboards2:

According to my Mormon brother, the Mormon Church is the fastest growing church in America. And the Unitarians -- they seem to be healthy. I don't think this guy is talking about them.
Plus -- why so many loving shots of his own face? Way to make a vanity movie, guy.


2/3 of the young people leaving the church? So there is still hope for America.

Even if the Mormon Church grows by lets say 1% each year and no other church does, then they would be the fastest growing church.(just showing that such a statement has no value without giving absolute values)

Why so many loving shots of his face?
I bet he likes to be an evangelist with his own mega church, those guys always love to see and hear themselves; they want to feel important.

I was interested at the beginning of the video to see how a religious kid would document and analyse the exodus (ha ha!) of youth from his church. I was even ready to jump in with something witty about using the interview backdrops from the "The Secret" DVD. But by the end of the video it was clear that this was a film maker following the Michael Moore tradition of deciding beforehand what the conclusion to be drawn was going to be, and it's about something I have absolutely no interest in: whether there's any scriptural basis for something or other that some people in the Church think is a problem for the Church.

Scripture is poppycock, and anyone who tries to find basis for anything in it is boring to me. I also don't care about "the American Church" and its rubber walls. So I gave it a pass.>> ^Sagemind:

Funny - I actually expected a lot more - in the way of comments on this one...

Upvote for kids leaving the "flock", not for the appalling quality of the video.

lame

Yeah, I'm sure it's the "youth ministry" that's making youth leave the church. Yep. You just go ahead with that.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are going to be doing something not retarded.

Christian youth are rapidly leaving church? Thank god.

It just sounds to me that more Christian parents want to micro-manage their kids lives so they can completely indoctrinate them into the church and ensure they can't stray and start lives of their own.
I think maybe they need to justify the lifetime they spent being brainwashed by ensuring that it wasn't for nothing.

On the flipside, I've seen youth ministries doing amazing things for kids and teens. Sure sometimes they go over the top, but I've seen small churches take large groups of youth and give high risk kids a place where they can have fun and relate to other teens without the fear of mom coming home drunk again or dad steeping in for a "touchy-feely"

A huge population of youth out there have no parental support or guidence and churches are stepping in to provide that.

I'm also seeing kids growing up in rule-less homes finding a lifestyle that heals all the hurts and then turning around and forcing their parents to join with them and leading their parents out of chaos.

I volunteer weekly for a local youth group. It's located in a church that recently removed it's stage, carpets etc. from it's main hall and convert it into a gymnasium and put in a coffee bar. there are about 100 grade 4-6s and about 200 teens that show up every week. That's almost bigger than the churches entire congregation.

I go, not for the religion, but to help and counsel the kids. Kids are amazing and I always find that the biggest trouble makers are the ones that end up (eventually) being the leaders in the groups. I grew up high risk as well and was always in need of support. I had a Big Brother that came and hung with me once a week for a while and I realized what a difference that made in my life. I value the difference these programs can give kids and support them with or without religion.

So in my opinion, this view about segregation being a bad thing is extremely miss-guided.