Sure, you "like" church...

Sometimes it's amazing to me how much teens think about guys and girls and DATING. Seriously. Whether it's flirting with the waiter at dinner with the family, or checking out the cute guy in the produce aisle at Wal-Mart, you see this kind of stuff everywhere. The one place I wouldn't - and didn't - expect to see it was at church. When I go to the various youth groups and things held at church, of course I think of each as an opportunity to socialize. My friends are there and it's always nice to hang out with them. But when church becomes a place to meet guys or girls, I think that that's crossing the line. I mean, if you're at church for learning and there just happens to be a cute guy there....I can't complain about that one. But if you're valuing guys over God? I think you need to rethink things a little. The worst place I see this at my church is not at the typical Sunday church service, but at the Wednesday night youth group held at my church for middle-schoolers. Groups of giggling girls circle groups of good-looking guys like vultures with cellphones until the actual festivities start, at which time they settle for throwing googly-eyed glances across the room until they can talk, ahem, flirt, once again. Something about the whole deal just seems sacrilegious and wrong. While some of these flirting offenders are in denial, telling me, "I love youth group! The lessons are great and the songs are SO fun to sing!" others are a little more blunt, stating simply, "I just come for the guys." And, although it's wrong, you can't knock their thinking. All parents involved in one church or another want their kids to love it as much as they do, and so when their kids are just itching to go to youth group, what parent isn't going to be happy about that? Seems like a win-win for the boy- and girl-crazy. Their parents are pleased they are attending church and the kids are pickin' up the chicks. If you think about it this way, it's easy to see why middle-schoolers are attracted to church like bees to a summer barbeque. I just can't help but hope they get a little something more out of the evenings spent at the church than a few cellphone numbers and some armcandy.**