Sixteen and Evangelical

The Nugget

Growing up together in the same church with the same faith, a group of friends navigated through adulthood with widely differing relationships to their religion. The suicide of one of their own significantly impacted their faith and relationships, leading to diverging paths and shattered beliefs.

Make it stick

🙏 You become what you dwell on.
🌱 Shared experiences shape beliefs and relationships.
💔 Tragedies can fracture faith and relationships.
🌟 Even with a shared past, individuals grow and change, impacting their beliefs and connections.

Teenage years spent together in a church community fostered deep friendships among a group of friends.
The influence of evangelical purity culture on the group's discussions about sex and relationships.
Devotion to faith and strong friendships shaped their high school experiences and perspectives on the world.

The suicide of a close friend caused a significant fracture in the group's faith and relationships.
The aftermath of the tragedy led to varying responses among the friends, ranging from deep questioning to a strengthened resolve in faith.
Processing grief and loss within the context of religious beliefs led to profound shifts in personal faith journeys.

As the friends grew up, they developed distinct relationships with their religion, leading to diverging paths in faith and life choices.
The revelation of sexual misconduct allegations against a church leader added further complexity to their relationships with their faith community.
Despite shared experiences in the same church, each individual's unique circumstances and perspectives influenced their beliefs and attitudes towards faith.

"We were left holding the broken pieces of a faith some of us had never expected to falter."
"God was the glue that had bound us, and even though we still loved each other, our faith—the collective unit of faith that we had and we were—fractured."
"They found her body in Lake Michigan... Laurie’s death was bewildering to us then and remains bewildering nearly 15 years later."
"A world without God wouldn’t make sense to me. But it now makes sense to many of my friends."
"Devotion to faith and strong friendships shaped their high school experiences and perspectives on the world."

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.