Chapter Six
1. This type of shallow faith that most Christian young people embrace
does not require the nurture of a faith community to thrive. Certainly, it is
not a holistic way of life that demands we die to ourselves for the sake of
Christ. And while it is indeed easier than following Jesus, I believe this
uniquely American take on faith among young Christians is a core reason so many
of them are disengaging from church to become nomads or prodigals.
- Is “shallowness” the new normal? Why do we accept this so easily?
2. All this leads to a faith that lacks one essential
ingredient: humility. If you already know all there is to know, if you’ve been
told your entire life that you’re “just right” exactly the way you are, if the
main job of the god you believe in is to make you feel good about yourself
(because you’re entitled to great self-esteem, along with everything else),
then there are not a lot of compelling reasons to sit in the dirt at the feet
of Jesus and live the humble life of a disciple. To follow Jesus, young adults
in the next generation— just like the generations before them— will have to
learn humility.
- From whom will they learn it? When they look at us,
do they see humble servants and eager students of the Master?
3. I suggested earlier in this book that we have a
mass-production approach to faith development. Taking our cues from public
education, among other sectors of society, we have created a conveyor belt of
development that industrializes the soul formation of young people— who
eventually become adults with inch-deep, mile-wide faith.
A
second way our communities of
faith contribute to shallow faith is by failing to provide meaningful rituals—
or, when rituals exist, failing to provide a clear sense of their meaning and
importance.
A third
problem found in many churches
and families is expecting too little of the next generation.
A fourth
practice that contributes to
shallow faith is the fact that many of our youth ministries fixate on numbers
of attendees rather than measuring spiritual growth and transformation. We
emphasize quantity over quality.
- Review and discuss each of these contributors to
shallowness of faith.
4. We must rethink what it means to “make disciples”
(Matt. 28: 19) in a context of massive, compounded cultural change (access,
alienation, and skepticism of authority). I believe we need to change from an
industrialized, mass-production, public-education approach and embrace the
messy adventure of relationship. We need a new set of ideas and practices based
on apprenticeship.
- Review these three potential areas below for deepening
faith:
A. Millions of young Christians, represented by those in
our survey, admit that they have been frustrated with their faith because “God
seems missing from my experience of church.” In a related critique, many
students point out the gaps between the miracles and faith-fueled exploits
described in the Bible and the flat, lifeless experience of church in today’s
world. If people who want to meet God are not meeting him in church, we need to
consider why this is and how we can make a different experience possible.
B. This generation wants and needs truth, not spiritual
soft-serve. According to our findings, churches too often provide lightweight
teaching instead of rich knowledge that leads to wisdom. This is a generation
hungry for substantive answers to life’s biggest questions, particularly in a
time when there are untold ways to access information about what to do. What’s
missing— and where the Christian community must come in— is addressing how and
why.
C. Another way we can cultivate apprentice-like training
for the next generation goes to the very heart of apprenticeship— finding what
young people are gifted for and called to do, and doing all we can to nurture
that calling. Most youth ministers and volunteers have some sense that this is
important and do the best they can. But I believe young people need a much
clearer, definitive, objective, and directional approach to finding their
calling in Christ’s body. This is not likely to happen through a simple weekly
message. It’s a whole mindset that needs to pervade our faith communities.
- Jesus has commanded us to make disciples. In
obedience to that call, how might we better help young people answer their
callings?
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