Start the PartyMfano

I consider myself very blessed. I come from a background of many different faith experiences. I go to and serve at a nondenominational church, I attend a Catholic school, and I go to a Pentecostal youth group. I’ve learned countless things about the different perspectives of the Christian faith. How people express their faith, interpret certain things in the Bible, and get personal in their relationship with God, just to name a few. Through my own experience, one of the most important things I’ve learned is that just because you believe one thing doesn’t mean you should criticize others for believing something different.

One time, I was in class, and some of my friends talked about different ways to worship. They were Catholic, and the only thing they had ever experienced was worship in the Catholic church. Because of that, they thought this was the only way to worship. However, I had seen how several different churches worshiped, so I knew there was more than one way. I realized they just didn’t know; they hadn’t experienced anything else before. I had to shift my perspective and remember that both their experiences and my experience were good, just different. There was room for both of our experiences and perspectives to exist at the same time.

The next time you come across someone with a different experience, background, or opinion than you, I challenge you to remember that different experiences are good. There is something you can learn from them, too. You just have to be willing to try!

Written by Audri, age 15, from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, USA