Religious Education Goals for Youth: A Response to the Boys Town Center Study

Abstract

The renewal of research in religious education is an indication of the revival of interest in the field. The Boys Town Center study of religious education goals for youth is another sign of serious research being done in religious education. The special significance of the Boys Town Center study is the broad view it takes of Christian education goals for a representative group of American churches. Such broad comparative studies are needed if Christian education is to achieve anything more than a shifting, intuitive understanding of its fundamental task. The purpose of the Boys Town Center study was to identify for the religious education of youth the goals that American churches actually espouse and then to explore what factors might be related to the choice of these goals. Six denominations were chosen for study: Southern Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Church of God, Presbyterian, U.S., and Episcopalian. They represent evangelical, mainline, liturgical, smaller, and larger Christian denominations.