religious organizations.

The habit of attending church should also be impressed during the
habit-forming period. But the supreme opportunity of the church lies in its
ability actually to convert the youth or maiden during the adolescent
period. This is a privilege which neither the church nor the home has
adequately comprehended. When the emotional nature of the individual is at
white heat, as it then is, impressions made are lasting, and conversion, if
made then, will be so deeply impressed that it is likely to last forever.

Churches in general fail to make the most of their opportunity here. They
too often stuff the heads of children with religious facts and formulae,
feeding them with the husks of theology, instead of giving them the
upbuilding food they need. Children, too, often are starving for real
spiritual food, hungering for the bread and thirsting for the water of
life.

Parents and teachers generally need to correct their methods of presenting
the gospel to children, especially to the adolescent, if they would get the
results desired. It is their failure to meet the child on his own religious
ground, not his indifference to religion that makes the boy and girl leave
Sabbath School during the time he most needs such an influence. Let them
study and master these problems: Are boys and girls being given ample
opportunity for spiritual self-expression? Are the beautiful lessons of
the gospel being translated into terms that appeal to their lives?

Our own church, we feel sure, is answering these questions in positive,
practical ways better and better every day; but there is still much left to
do even among us.