1. They have questions even if they don’t ask them.
    1. Make sure you answer certain stock questions from time to time.
      1. How can I know I’m saved?
      2. Why don’t my parents let me do certain things? Why don’t my parents love me?
      3. Why can’t I do this or that?
      4. What can and should I do on dates?
    2. Try to encourage them to ask questions. The silent ones many times have questions too.
  2. Know what to say when a teenager comes to you and says, “I’ve done this or that. I know it is wrong, but what can I do now to solve the situation?”
    1. General principles
      1. The average teen won’t say this until he has been caught.
      2. He generally thinks that by avoiding punishment he has solved the situation.
      3. He generally will not want you to tell his parents.
    2. Steps
      1. Show him that the basic problem is a spiritual one.
        1. Be sure that he is saved.
        2. If he is already saved, share 1 John 1:9 with him.
      2. Show him he needs to have a scriptural attitude toward the problem.
      3. Show him it is not the end of the world.
      4. Show him everyone involved—including his parents—must be dealt with fairly and justly, which usually means he should tell them.
      5. Show him God still loves him (Psalm 51:17).
      6. Help him to try to determine the steps that led him into that sin—hog + mud = habit.
      7. Help him to see what God wants him to do now.
        1. Don’t feel guilty after confession and restitution.
        2.  Have daily devotions.
        3. Resist temptation to do it again.
        4. Determine to always do right no matter what.
        5. Witness to others.
        6. Separate from the world (1 John 2:15–17; Romans 12:1–2).
      8. Help him to see that the Bible should be his final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
  3. Realize that some questions asked are not the teenager’s real question. He is leading up to his real question by testing you to see how you will react to his trial question before proceeding to his real question.
  4. Be frank and truthful in your answers.
  5. Admit when you don’t know the answer; then go and find the answer.
  6. Usually if one teen has a question, several others in the group will have the same question.
  7. Help him to look at the situation unemotionally.