This year, I decided to take a health class that our school offers and requires all students to take. Though at times unbearably boring, we recently watched a documentary produced by Frontline which piqued my interest. This particular documentary followed the lives of several teenagers from a small, well-to-do town. These teenagers had everything a they could possibly want and need: lots of money, the latest in clothing or gadgets, cars, and a few were quite popular at school. However, the makers of the documentary discovered that most felt very lonely and often unloved. Most of these teens had parents who worked full time jobs and were not home very much, so their relationships were shallow. Other parents just did not seem to care very much about their children and set few rules. Consequently, these teenagers turned to things like smoking, drinking, drugs, and relationships in order to pass time and to ultimately fill their desire to be loved and approved. One of the teenagers even went as far as to pay people to hang out with him, just so that he could feel accepted and that he belonged in someway.

It was this part of the documentary that caught my attention. This same teenager, desperate for answers and a solution to his perpetual emptiness and longing, decided to start attending the youth group at his local church, hoping to find what he wanted in religion and faith. He described how, as soon as he got there, he experienced and really enjoyed the sense of community that he felt there and the security that he gained through his faith. Soon, this teenager made the decision to become Christian and thought that he had finally found a place where he could find comfort and belong. However, he began to wrestle with different questions and doubts that he had, related to the existence of God, and sadly he was unable to get any satisfactory answers. He began to grow more and more unsure of his faith, and without anyone who could answer these questions he had, he attended the youth group less and less, eventually leaving and falling away from his belief. Without basis for his faith, he decided that it was ultimately pointless and turned back to paying off his so-called “friends” and spending his time with them drinking and smoking.

As the documentary ended and I looked around the classroom, I felt a sense of concern, pity, even, wondering how many of these people were just like those teenagers in the documentary – lost, alone, uncared for by their parents and unloved by peers, seeking just to be loved and accepted. It hit me how privileged I am to be a part of Interhigh, a community where I can not only experience a true sense of love and belonging among my fellow peers and mentors but where I can also learn to defend my faith and create a foundation for what I believe in. It saddens me that if that one student from the documentary could have had access to a ministry like ours, he could have remained faithful rather than falling away and turning back to drinking, smoking, and accumulating false relationships in order to fulfill his sense of longing.

We who are a part of Interhigh fellowship are truly blessed to have this kind of ministry where teenagers from all over can get together to bond and deepen our relationships and our faith. However, as Jesus said in Luke 12:48, “from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” We need to steward the blessing of this ministry that we have been entrusted with. There are many more people like this student who may be may not be entirely firm in their faith, and all they need is someone who can answer their questions and help them get over their doubts. It is important that we do not sit idly by, watching fellow Christians one by one lose interest because of their doubts that remain unanswered. Through Interhigh we are becoming better equipped, and with this entrustment to greater knowledge comes the duty of reaching out to our friends who may not have a strong foundation for their faith. Now that we have been and will continue to be trained in this way, NO individual should ever experience what this teenager went through. We need to take the initiative and take advantage of our resources by reaching out to fellow Christians who may not have access to groups like Interhigh; helping them to better understand what it is we believe and working to strengthening our faith together.

Written by Stephen Sun, Alameda High School, Class of 2011