A book I picked up recently has really gotten me troubled. The book was written in response to the National Study of Youth and Religion that was conducted about five years ago. The study looked at the faith lives of teens in America and the news was not good. The author of “Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church” (by Kenda Creasy Dean) looks at the results of this study and gives insights into both youth and the church. Here is something she says:
“The problem does not seem to be that churches are teaching young people badly, but that we are doing an exceedingly good job of teaching youth what we really believe: namely, that Christianity is not a big deal, that God requires little, and the church is a helpful social institution filled with nice people focused primarily on “folks like us” – which, of course, begs the question of whether we are really the church at all.”
Ouch.
Dean goes on to say: “What if the blasé’ religiosity of most American teenagers is not the result of poor communication but the result of excellent communication of a watered-down gospel so devoid of God’s self-giving love in Jesus Christ, so immune to the sending love of the Holy Spirit that it might not be Christianity at all?”
Double ouch.
Things like this make me sit back and evaluate and ask the hard questions. What kind of life do my kids see me living? What kind of church do they see? What are we communicating through our lives to those who are watching? Is there any power at all in our faith?
As we spend time in 1 John, looking at what it means to experience true Biblical Community I am personally being challenged to live an authentic faith. What I’m coming to more deeply understand is, it isn’t just about my faith, it is about the future generations too. My understanding and living out of the Gospel impacts the world I live in – most powerfully my family. Together we should be helping each other live an authentic faith. The future depends upon it.
How are you doing in having an authentic faith and helping others live it as well? Need some help? I do. Let’s stand together.
David
1 comment:
Almost Christian , the authentic faith first has to be show in the family in the first 12 years at home , the parents must show the true faith talk to the children and explaine why it they will be different then others , so the children can understand their faith in early age, and when they turned teenagers and young adults, they should know how to respect and hold on to their faith and also be able to tell others in what they believe,it would be very hard for the children when they are off to college to practice their faith if they have not learn it at home.Thru faith ,hope, love and lots of prayers our children will be able to keep an authentic faith THAT THEY RECEIVED IN THEIR FIRST 12 YEARS AT HOME.
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