Are we raising teens that are "Almost Christian"? - Missional Thought of the Day

[James Nored]

Ministers, Christian authors, academics, and cultural observers have been noting for some time the nominal nature of Christianity in the US. Not only do far more people claim to be Christians than those who "attend church," but those who do attend often report little daily awareness of God and few spiritual practices outside of the official church times.

Few tithe. Few volunteer. Few regularly read their Bibles. Few regularly have family devotionals. Few share their faith on a personal level. And now it is "coming home to roost" in our kids.

In 2003-05 there was a massive study of American teens called the "National Study of Youth and Religion." This study surveyed more than 3300 teens age 13-17, with face-to-face interviews of 267 teens.

The data is still being interpreted, but the results are not good. The book Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our teenagers is Telling the Am..., written by Kenda Dean, is a work which seeks to draw conclusions from this study.

Dean concludes that American teens believe in what she calls "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism." This is a fancy philosopohical term for a belief system that has these elements:

1. A God who exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God is not involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

Dean makes the point that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) is not a religion that could exist on its own, for it would have little power or ability to catch people's hearts and attention. Instead, it is a symbiotic belief system that takes over historic Christianity, which has traditionally included Christ's radical call to service, sacrifice, and mission. These historic elements are minimized, and people do not realize that they have substituted this benign, nice religion for the real thing.

We can blame the kids if we want to (not a wise move). But Dean makes the point that kids are merely modeling what their parents and the churches that they have attended have been practicing and teaching--that Christianity is here to solve some problems if you need it and make people nice, but that it has little real claim upon our lives. Kids view Christianity as a type of extra-curricular activity. They are not opposed to it. But when they leave home, it is easily set aside for other pursuits.

Obviously, we do not want to teach our kids to be "almost Christian." We want them to know, experience, and practice the real thing. I'll save Dean's solution to this problem for another post.

But I ask you: What do you think of Dean's conclusions? And what can we do to teach our teens a more authentic, radical commitment to Christ?

[James Nored]

Greg, great to hear from you buddy! You bring up a good question--can the faith be inherited? I would say, yes and no. I think that a lot of people do learn by osmosis, so to speak. They learn by doing, and may live out something as being true in their lives before intellectually accepting it. This is true for both adults and children.

However, at some point, every person needs to consciously affirm his or her faith and make it his or her own. And if a person grows up in the church and does not make this decision by 18, their chances of making this decision go down quite a bit. (But God can and does touch many who are older--I study with them all the time!) So we need to seeking to get our children and teens to make many different decisions for Jesus while they are still young.

Jesus is, as you indicate, the key to our children's faith. Only Jesus has the power and appeal to change lives and sustain faith. The church does not have this power or appeal on its own. Tradition does not have this power or appeal. Being right on key doctrines does not have this power or appeal. Only Jesus!

You are too young to have a granddaughter, my friend. You are definitely young at heart. I miss you and our KC preachers group. Please tell them hi. And teach that granddaughter about God! How precious. Great to hear from you Greg, and I hope that you'll continue to share these great thoughts with us.

[James Nored]

Ann, you say, "So many parents settle for the idea that we succeed as parents if we can get our kids through their teen years without getting pregnant, or thrown in jail. What a pitiful vision." I totally agree. And too many youth programs settle on these kinds of issues. Let's keep the kids moral so that they won't get pregnant or in jail. Rather than teaching the problems associated with teen pregnancy, we need to teach kids to have a heart for God. Morality follows a decision to follow Jesus, not the other way around.

Again, the teens are just following the adults here. We have taught adults that God just wants us to stay out of trouble and not do bad stuff, and to show up at church. An active and committed life of service, sacrifice, and mission--well, if the kids don't see it in us, why would they sign up for this? They are emulating us, which is a startling self-realization.

I read that post on Young People Need a Calling, Not Rules the other day too. Thanks for highlighting this. It goes perfectly with the thoughts expressed here.

[Greg Ziegler]

Hey James...haven't been on in awhile, but thought I'd at least ask a couple of questions and throw out a reckless opinion or two. Can faith really be inherited? Really? Whether parents or teens or kids or grandparents or whoever...don't we need to meet Jesus and figure out what we're going to do with who he is? I don't think even Timothy inherited his faith. I think he was taught about God, believed his mom and grandma believed God was real (i.e. they personally really bought into their own teachings)...and he decided to act on it. We can inherit traditions and practices...just like kids who were born into Judaism...but real faith and relationship? Aren't they personal choices? What our kids see in us can encourage or discourage those choices. No guarantees. But the lukewarm brand of Christianity practiced in our country (sorry for my negative perspective) as a rule, isn't overly inspiring. I love the church...don't get me wrong. And I have a strong affinity even for the traditions in which I have been raised. But at this point of my life, I wonder...if I was on the outside looking in...?

So, what do we need? We need Jesus. We need faith that walks. We need him in the morning, at the noontime, and when the sun goes down. Way too simplistic an answer. Way too simplistic an evaluation of the difficulty. But I'm looking in my 3 year old granddaughter's eyes, thinking about what is ahead, and hoping with all my heart that she'll see that Jesus is real to us. I had a teacher once that reminded us of some song lyrics on a regular basis..."to see him more clearly, to love him more dearly, to follow him more nearly...day by day." Blessings bro.

[Ann Dunagan]

Jon & I have always instilled in our older kids and teens that God desires SO much more than merely surviving the teen years, but to THRIVE and to LIVE for God. So many parents settle for the idea that we succeed as parents if we can get our kids through their teen years without getting pregnant, or thrown in jail. What a pitiful vision. There's so much more than merely "not being bad" or even being "good kids." As young men and women of God, our kids called to KNOW GOD, and to EXPAND His kingdom of light into a dark and hurting world. Earlier this week, I read this about a young pastor, Steven Furtick, who "urges Christians to issue a stronger challenge than calling young people to be 'good little boys and girls. Let's tell them to be great men & women of God. Let's raise a generation that isn't just surviving the world but changing it.'" Here's the article on The Christian Post: "Charlotte Pastor: Young People Need a Calling, Not Rules"