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I recently finished reading the long-awaited final installment of the Harry Potter series, and discovered several things the church could learn from Harry about what teenagers are looking for.

As early as the first book in the series, we learn that Harry is destined for a fight that could prove deadly. A terrible villain is looking for him and trying to kill him. Certain adults recognize this battle cannot be fought exclusively by them and that this young man eventually must face this villain. However, these adults, especially Dumbledore, some teachers, parents of his friends, and his godfather all work to make certain that Harry is equipped with what he needs before he faces the final battle that could kill him.

Starting at the age of eleven, Harry lives in constant awareness of the danger facing him. But he knows that unless he faces his enemy eventually, people he loves are going to get hurt and killed because his enemy won’t stop pursuing him. So he involves himself wholeheartedly in this fight, both being prepared by these mentors and helping teach other teenagers what he has learned.

And here’s the thing, the adults don’t prevent the teens from taking part in the struggle against evil. Wherever they can, they protect them. Whenever they can, they equip them, but they don’t pat them on the head and tell them to wait until they’re older and can be “real” members of the fight against evil.

Here is where we the church need to take notes. Kenda Dean, in Practicing Passion, talks about how teenagers are looking for something that they would be willing to die for. Teenagers are passionate, less cynical than most, and are still crazy enough to think they can actually make a difference in the world, something a lot of the rest of us too often forget.

And teens are not blind to the cost of such passion. Fighting for something means battle wounds. Teens are okay with that because if it’s worthwhile, it will always be worth it, even when it’s not fun.

This means that teens should be flocking to Christianity left and right because after all, where else do we see such a rich heritage of people willing to lay down their lives for what they believe it, or people persecuted for the simple act of claiming Jesus as Lord?

And this Jesus we claim is none other than the one who laid down his life for all of us, the ultimate act of a loving God. The passion of Christ both led to the cross, and was embodied in the cross. Jesus did battle against evil by giving up his life and then coming back again from the dead, thereby defeating the power of death. Sound familiar? Harry goes willingly to his death in order to stop Voldemort from continuing to do battle against the people he loves. As it turns out, this was the only way to destroy Voldemort (read the book for an explanation). And of course, it doesn’t kill Harry, he comes back to defeat Voldemort and save the day. While he didn’t defeat death itself or rid the world of all evil, the end of The Deathly Hallows shows us a teenager willing to die for his friends.

So if the parallel between what teens want and Christianity is so strong, where are they? Dean suggests the church “has largely sanitized love of suffering, leaving Christianity with a mealy-mouthed niceness that fails to ring true to young people who know in their bones that love and heartache go together” (p. 4).

How do we reach teens and draw them into the community of faith? We must rediscover the passion of Christ and the passion of martyrs all over the world who know all too well that love and suffering go together. Not only will we reach teenagers who are longing for something to be passionate about, but I venture a guess that we’ll discover something that’s been missing in our lives for far too long.

Thanks for the object lesson, Harry.