What are we inspiring
Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it (Proverbs 22:6 NLT).
The conversation surrounding passing on our Christian faith to the next generations can become quite heated these days. On the one hand, some feel that parents, family members and especially church leaders should sit back and let the next generation choose their beliefs without any interference or coercion. On another side, there are Christian parents who expect their children to accept their beliefs without dialogue, questions or opportunity to explore their faith. I land somewhere in the middle.
Mo Friesen (left) with EMC young adults at the Youth Worker Conference in Winnipeg.
I’m confident that, in the younger years, it is appropriate to maintain a family faith rhythm; our family believes in Jesus and attends a Christian church. When questions arise about why we do this, why do we attend that, as parents we can answer, “because this is what our family does.”
As children mature, parents’ answers become more reasoned, like “reading the Bible, praying, and attending church are important because we love Jesus” or “following and trusting Jesus has given our lives meaning, and we want you to experience that too.” Children’s questions can be answered with growing nuance and deeper explanations in proportion to their growing maturity.
Questions can, at times, be seen as acts of rebellion, but most questions are indicators of growing interest, a desire to understand the difficult parts of our faith and explore boundaries. If the answers that the next generations are given don’t line up with the life that they see their parents and leaders living, the incongruency makes it difficult to accept the truth being taught.
What if we, as adults, lived our lives with passion, love for Jesus, an overwhelming commitment to Scripture, and a boundless love for each other and our neighbours? What if we demonstrated integrity and consistency in our actions, and lived with an unwavering hope for the future? What if we modelled a faith in Jesus that elevated being a disciple of Jesus above our happiness?
If we want to inspire a growing and vibrant faith, we need to have a faith worth aspiring to. Younger generations are looking for authenticity: “Is Jesus really important to my parents or is Jesus just there to give them a good feeling on Sunday?” The good news is that, according to Barna’s “The Open Generation” research, parents are still the most influential people in the faith formation of younger people. But we cannot pass on what we do not possess.
As this column moves forward, I would like to focus on ways that we as parents, extended family and church ministries can inspire our next generation to embrace the greatest news ever—that Christ has made a way for us to experience the fullness of God and that it is worth giving all our life in response to that great news. We will focus on some practices we can invite them to participate in with us.
Faith is easier caught than taught; let’s live an inspiring faith.
