Back when I was involved in youth ministry (you remember that, way back in the day?) I remember thinking that perhaps we should take a more authoritative approach with Jr. highers and late grade schoolers. It's really col to see kids figure out stuff for themselves in the context of relationships and conversations which encourage personal thought on faith and personal ownership of spiritual growth, but I think at such a young age many kids are not ready to do that kind of critical thinking. That's not an across the board generalization, I think many kids that age can engage Christianity on a deeper, more abstract, personal level. However, I feel like sometimes we might leave kids who haven't developed quite as much yet in the dust. Also, there is something to be said for a person in a position of authority saying, "This is the truth. You can challenge it if you want, but here are the things I know to be true." I seem to remember kids really latching onto that. We've all ran small groups where we asked "What do you think about this...?" only to be answered with akward silence or fidgeting. But I can remember times when I simply said "this is what I believe and this is what happened in my life and what the bible says that makes me believe it" and I think the kids were impressed by that. These kids sure aren't learning about biblical history or doctrine from their schools, and they probably aren't from their parents, so I think instead of always asking our kids "What do you think about this?" or "How does this make you feel?" we could spend some of our time saying decisively "This is what we believe" and "This is what the Bible says." I trust kids to be able to form their own opinions once they are able to, but I also think we should give them a foundation to build those opinions on, things that they can choose to accept or reject as they see fit.