You are listening to Feeding the Mouth That Bites You with Ashley Parrish and Jessica Pfeiffer.

A weekly podcast guide on parenting teens and launching them into the world. As always, we are joined by psychologist and author, Dr. Ken Wilgus.

Hey everyone and welcome back. On today's episode, we will be discussing ways to drive your teenager away from church.

My name is Ashley Parrish.

I'm joined by my co-host Jessica Pfeiffer.

Hey there.

And Dr. Ken Wilkes.

Hi, kids.

So, Ashley, you know, in my own life, I see a lot of friends, family members, good parents,

intentional parents who want their kids to know and love Jesus,

but they have teens and young adults that are leaving the church in droves. Have you seen that

in your circle too, Ashley? Absolutely. And I still think to this day, parents, we just haven't

figured out the right formula, so to speak, because I think that's

what we're looking for. Because with little ones, it's so easy, like feed them, make sure they

nap, make sure they're being nice, teach them how to read. But, you know, and you teach them songs

about Jesus and to love God and, you know, all these precious Bible stories that are true

and that are in the Bible. But then they become these teenagers and that's where, you know,

we Christian parents just have the hardest time. Yeah, Dr. Ken, so why is this that great

parents, parents who are very intentional with their kids are really turning, their kids are turning away from the church?

Well, of course, one big influence that we can't address directly is that, you know, our world is getting darker.

And, you know, I don't think it's news that this nation has gone further and further from faith.

So it's not just a failure of parenting that we're talking about.

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