Feels Like Teen Spirit

Fifteen minutes before the service starts, 100 middle schoolers are already squeezed into a basement rumpus room. The weekly worship for middle schoolers at Grace Chapel in the Boston suburb of Lexington, Mass., is called the Edge, a fitting name for a gathering that appears to be on the brink of anarchy. In one corner girls pouring orange juice giggle contagiously as the juice spills on the table, carpet and doughnuts. In another corner a number of boys are exploring ways to injure themselves with folded metal chairs--like swinging them at one another. A soccer ball zips past a hand-painted sign proclaiming Christ's love. The din of cracking voices gets even louder.

Just then, the music starts. In an instant, the adolescent mob is transformed into a congregation. All heads turn toward the worship band, a lo-fi rock combo of 13- and 14-year-olds led by middle school minister Brian Dietz, 28. Many kids shut their eyes, some sway from side to side and sing along with the rock ballad. "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord," they sing. "I want to see you."

It may not rank with the resurrection of Lazarus, but the pacification of 100 teenagers who just had glazed doughnuts for breakfast is at least a minor miracle. It's one that churches across the U.S., especially burgeoning Protestant congregations with large youth programs, are trying to duplicate. They aim to reconnect with adolescents, better known for fidgeting in the pews, by giving them their own space to play and pray while serving them the right mix of power chords and Scripture. Experts disagree about how deep or lasting those religious experiences are, but simply by reaching out to 13-year-olds, churches are catching up with an idea that reflects both ancient tradition and modern psychology. Thirteen may seem like a rudderless age, especially in the oversaturated pop culture of today, but it can also be a time of deep faith. "The Jewish tradition--along with many others--recognizes that young people at this age are increasingly responsible for their life's direction," says Rabbi Goldie Milgram, author of Make Your Own Bar/Bat Mitzvah. "But they also want the journey to have a deeper spiritual significance." Nearly two-thirds of 13-year-olds polled online by TIME said faith was somewhat or very important in their lives. Almost half said the Bible was the literal word of God.

If the blood-soaked battles and betrayals of the Old and New Testaments seem too remote to interest today's 13-year-olds, think again. Every schoolyard has a Goliath; every new friend is a potential Judas. In sermons pitched to middle schoolers, the analogies are pushed even further. Original sin, says Dietz, is like being born on the Titanic with Jesus as your only lifeboat. With adolescence comes new cognitive tools to explore those ancient ideas. "Along with the ability to understand abstract concepts, their sense of empathy is expanding," says Dr. Mary Lynn Dell, who is an adolescent psychiatrist at Emory University and an Episcopal priest. "In religious terms, this gives them the ability to discern between institutional religion and an internal relationship with God." For the first time, adolescents are able to take God home with them from church.