One of the significant roles that the Youth & Family Department holds within the CBAC is advocacy on behalf of youth and children. We long to see our Next Generations recognized for not only being the “future of the church,” but integral members of our churches now. To that end, we hold a commitment to listen to and present the voices of our youth. We have a legacy of researching the faith of our young people, and this project is the next step in that legacy.

The purpose of this study was primarily to be a place where we could gather the voices of students, listen to their experiences, and learn from them. We maintain that we have much to learn about being the people of God by listening to our youngest voices. Throughout the project, we have sought input from students at every level. We had input from students and ministry leaders for our questionnaires, and the resulting findings. They have guided our findings and helped us interpret our discoveries and observations. We intended for them to be research partners for this complete process. We developed a research team, comprised of students and youth pastors, who helped us sift through the data, and identify four significant trends. We followed up on these learnings through focus groups with high school students.