Three young couples were married this summer — a great event in the life of a small congregation. At Chinese New Year, the congregation presented them with gifts.

First the numbers: in 1984 there were 896 Sunday schools in the Presbyterian church with 44,891 students. A decade later there were 850 schools serving 33,238 students. And in 2003: 811 schools, 25,656 students. This is not merely attrition — the mainline churches' usual excuse. This is a profoundly disturbing collapse of, arguably, the most important mission assigned to the church.

Since the age of nine I've been serving alongside my family on Tuesday nights at a homeless shelter at our church. Most nine-year-olds wouldn't want to be hanging around with homeless teenagers, but somehow it was something I looked forward to every week. Now, eight years later, I still keep in touch with youth I've met and enjoy watching some of them take steps to create better lives for themselves.

You want to walk the walk not just talk the talk. There are lots of ways to serve. Below are some to consider, along with the education or training you will need.

Two altars of unhewn stone, a three-wick pillar candle surrounded by hundreds of tea lights, rocking guitars and a sanctuary full of church leaders worshipping God with abandon. These are my memories of the Generation Next conference held by Trinity Community, Oro, Ont., in June.

On July 4, I found myself in the departure lounge of Pearson International in Toronto, waiting to leave for Hungary, Romania and Ukraine. These were the destinations for the July Youth in Mission project. Getting here, for me, has been a lifelong journey. As long as I can remember I've had a passion and desire to travel to different countries and to participate in mission. Now I was combining these two longings.

Last January, six adults and 10 teens from St. Paul's, Leaskdale, Ont., went to the Dominican Republic. After months of preparation, gathering supplies and getting to know each other, we set off for Hainamosa. After a long flight, we gathered our luggage and boarded a small bus with a smashed windshield and not enough seats. For half an hour, we travelled dirt roads — traffic laws seemed nonexistent.

I remember the first time I met someone living with AIDS. I would find out later that I already knew many people living with AIDS, but this was the first person I met who actually admitted to having AIDS. And she was dying. It was awful.

When sorting through my music collection, I, like most, file according to genres. I keep my modern hip-hop funk separate from my Thelonious Monk, and my roots-rock separate from my Motown. I go through phases of being into different genres. Often I'll listen to nothing but folk for a couple of weeks and then dive into a weeklong changeover listening to nothing but my favourite band, Radiohead. One thing that I don't do though is separate my Christian music from my non-Christian music. This has never really made sense to me.

Easter Sunday is the warmest day so far this spring, providing perfect blue skies for the year's most joyous event. Approaching the church, my grandfather waits for me outside, a wide bright smile on his face reflecting my own. I'm already anticipating the huge lunch my grandmother has prepared. Without fail, another Easter has put me in a wonderfully happy mood.

There are generally three age groups of people: adults, children and teenagers. As a member of the third, I thought writing an article about my own generation would be easy. Predictably, I was wrong.

I'm a double PK (Preacher's Kid — both of my parents are ministers) and so church has been my second home. I don't go to church because I have to, or because I feel obligated to. I go because I want to be there. Being part of a church gives me a sense of community. I don't know how it is for other ministers' kids; but my congregation has been very supportive of me and my sisters.

This past year I completed a survey of 240 young adults who grew up in the church. The survey was a result of curiosity and concern. Since 1984, we have lost approximately 10,000 children from our Sunday schools each decade.

Sunday morning. The birds are chirping. The sun is shining. And with muttered grumblings that you'll make up for it next week, you lie down and get back to dreaming. In our world today, what does it mean to be a Christian youth? It means having to find that delicate balance between young adulthood and your faith. Contemporary adolescents are seen as restless, disillusioned, rebellious and irreverent. Adults are quick to argue that we have too much time on our hands and don't spend enough of it in the church. If that's not the case, then teenagers are anxious to believe in anything, so long as it's radically different from the faith in which they were raised. But, let's just take a quick look at our daily influences: music, television, pop culture, high school, graduation, university, girlfriends, boyfriends, sports, volunteering, summer jobs, homework and always in the background, our parents.