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.