OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS...

Joyce Koo bows her head, a gold cross flirting with the collar of her white shirt. Her Bible, bound in a brown leather case, lies open in front of her, and her fingers sweep under each line. In an inspirational voice, Koo, 17, explains the meaning of prayer with a serene piety.

“I love to read the Bible and pray because it gives me insight into myself as both a person and a Christian,” Koo said.

Koo is among the growing number of teen-agers across the nation who have turned in recent years to organized religion and Bible study. According to a Gallup youth poll, one-half of the nation’s youth attended church weekly in 1993, up from 45% in 1992. A Gallup survey also showed that young adults are more likely (53%) to attend church than adults (40%).

Pastor Pat Follis of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Anaheim said she has noticed an increase in teen activity within her church in the past year.

“I have noticed more teen-age activity in Bible study, prayer and ministry with one another and with the community, and a greater attendance at Sunday services,” Follis said.

Some attribute a growing teen interest in religion to the deterioration of the family unit. Bible study and youth groups can offer a place of community and acceptance that some teens don’t find at home, they say.

Senior Pastor George Munzing of Trinity United Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana says other social factors are at work, as well.

“Teen-agers look at the world we live in and recognize that many things are not satisfying,” Munzing said. “Younger kids are seeing their older brothers and sisters being sent to Haiti and Kuwait; teen-agers are dying of AIDS and suicide, families are stricken with cancer. It seems that the circumstances in which we live are sobering. The church offers a moral stability we do not find in other places. Of course, it also offers love and good, healthy relationships that we all need.”

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Mirroring the growth in teen activity in churches is increased emphasis on religion in high schools--in campus clubs, in special events and in the debate over whether a constitutional amendment endorsing prayer in school should be adopted.

Christian clubs have been established on campus at many Orange County schools, with meetings held during lunch or before or after school. At Foothill High School in Santa Ana, Christian students created the Alternative Club, a Bible study/discussion group that meets every Wednesday during lunch.

The club has about 30 members, said member Tiffany Ang, but attendance varies from week to week, “depending on everyone’s schedule.”

Ang, who has gone to meetings regularly for more than a year, said the club “is a good way to support my personal beliefs.”

“I am part of the Alternative Club because I am supporting others who share the same beliefs I do and to help those who don’t know what we are about gain some insight.”

For 17-year-old Sam of Santa Ana, who preferred that his real name not be used, the Christian club at his school became a lifeline. After years of abusing drugs and running with the “wrong crowd,” Sam said he found help after a classmate invited him to a Christian club meeting.

“Before I discovered the club, I was so lost,” Sam said. “My grades had fallen; my relationship with my parents was bad, people who I respected no longer respected me. I was heading toward self-destruction at such a quick pace. It scared me. Then I found the Lord.”

As he plunged into his newfound spiritual world, Sam said, Christianity spurred him into overcoming his drug addiction.

“It was amazing,” Sam said. “I made a new group of friends who knew exactly how I felt about the Lord, and I spent my sophomore year re-evaluating my life and re-forming my goals.

“I cannot believe what a different person I have become and how much happier I am now.”