Required reading list

Only two days left with W1 and W2 this summer! I'm not sure if I'm sad about it or okay with it. I haven't decided yet.

In the meantime, they started swimming lessons today. They've passed out of all the public lessons, so they had private lessons, and I got to sit and read. 

While sitting and reading (and watching W1 do a faceplant off the diving board...), I came up with a brilliant idea. Christian teenagers should have a required reading list. Like, maybe not teens everywhere, because there's no way to enforce that. But within youth groups, church bodies, or bible studies, students should be encouraged to read various books that explain and interpret our faith and how we live it out.

For example, right now, I'm reading "unChristian" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. And this book should be on the required reading list! Granted, it's kindof a dry read. There's quite a bit of data, charts, numbers, and statistics. But Kinnaman and Lyons do a pretty good job at drawing conclusions based on those statistics, so I just skim over the actual numbers and read the conclusions. 

And they make very good conclusions. They talk about how other people view Christians, as hypocritical, judgmental, homophobic, sheltered, too political. And they talk about why Christians are viewed that way. And most importantly, they talk about what we can do to change these perspectives. 

I am a sinner. I do not portray Christ in my life in the best possible way. I get defensive when people ask about my political views. I judge people who have made poor life choices. I preach one thing, but I don't always live it out like I should. And I know I'm not the only one! This generation of Christians needs to be aware that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. How we act, what we say, and who we are influences their opinion of God. 

And that's why I think Christian teenagers need to devour some literature.