Sticky Faith 5: Now it gets personal

Last updated on: October 24, 2011 at 5:25 am by Scot McKnight

Sticky Faith 5: Now it gets personal 2011-10-20T16:08:56-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Syler Thomas, who is the author of this series of posts, examines what “sticky faith” means to him as a father.

I’ve been walking through Powell and Clark’s Sticky Faith over the past week or so (previous posts are here, here, here, and here). There is more that could be said about their very important book, but I’d like to share one final post from a personal standpoint.

The issue of how to pass faith along to children is an incredibly sensitive subject, as there are scores of committed Christian parents who have done everything the “right” way, whose children are nonetheless not in the faith. Some of these parents feel like Paul does in Romans 9, that they would choose to be “cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of” their children.

As I have seen it play out in my context, I do think we have seen the effects of the “gospel of sin management” take its toll on some of the children of evangelicals. Parents (and the churches they attend) teach children that “all you have to do” (I heard that phrase verbatim from a teaching video at a children’s program this summer) is put your faith in Jesus, and your sins are forgiven, your spot in heaven secure. Some young people grow up and understand that faith is more than that, and others do not. This has led to the de facto creation in many churches of the category of “saved, but not walking with the Lord,” a category that I have yet to see in the pages of Scripture. But the thought process of these young people goes like this: “Each week in Sunday School, I was told that the Bible says that all I have to do is accept Jesus and I will go to heaven. That sounds great to me. In the meantime, I’ll join Billy Joel and laugh with the sinners rather than cry with the saints.”

I’d like to now share a bit about my own early faith journey.

I grew up going to an Episcopal church, but faith wasn’t anything I talked to my parents about. In grade school, while at a Christian summer camp, I first heard the message about Jesus and his offer of forgiveness, and I made my first faith profession then. When I was in 8th grade, all of my friends went to confirmation class. I didn’t want to go, and my mom didn’t make me. I’ll never know what would have happened had she forced me, but I think she was very wise to let me pass. (I eventually did get confirmed, at the end of my senior year: I met one-on-one with my priest a handful of times, and the bishop came to town the morning after my senior prom. I bet the Facebook group “Confirmed the morning after Senior Prom” would be a relatively small one).

When I was a senior in high school, I quit my involvement in theater and, with my newly found free time, agreed to be one of three high school volunteers in our church’s junior high program, which included weekly meetings with an adult leader. This was when things started to come together for me. When more was asked of me beyond just showing up and listening to a talk, my faith went deeper. This is, in fact, one of the “sticky faith” factors that Powell and Clark identify: students who get involved in ministry tend to have a faith that sticks.

The second most important factor for me was the discovery of the work of the Holy Spirit during my junior and senior years. This is, of course, another controversial subject, but I am convinced that had I not had an encounter with the power of God before I left for college, my faith never would have made it. As a skeptic, I needed “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that [my] faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor 2:4-5).

I share my story to highlight the fact that my parents really had very little to do with my faith development, beyond loving me unconditionally. As parents, I think we tend to overvalue our own influence and undervalue the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing about His work in our children’s lives. This is not to say that our role is unimportant. There is a line that parents have to walk between being overbearing on one extreme (sure to push kids away from faith) and passive on the other (one post from a youth pastor last week said that most of the adults in his church “are too busy pursuing their own adventures than spending the quality time needed to develop the kids”). We have to be ready to step in and push the point in strategic places (for instance, doing what we can to get our kids around other adults who can reinforce the faith they see modeled at home) and back off other times. This is an art, not a science.

People often say that God loves our children more than we do. If we believe it, we’ll take responsibility for our own faith first. That is, we’ll answer the call to take up our own crosses and follow Jesus, living out our faith in an authentic way. Then as it relates to our children, we plant, cultivate, and water, but ultimately, we leave the growth to God.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 24, 2011

For and Against Calvinism 4

Next Post

October 24, 2011 King Jesus and the Pastor

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which sea did Moses cross in the Exodus story?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sea of Galilee Red Sea Dead Sea Caspian Sea