Monday, September 10, 2012
304 - Growing Up in Our Faith
Spirituality
Column #304
September 11, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
Author of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
September 11, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
Growing Up in Our Faith
By Bob WaltersAuthor of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
A Sunday school crowded with children
is a sure sign of a healthy church.
If the kids are there, likely their parents
are there. And if the whole family is
there, the experience of Jesus goes home where Christian faith can blossom as
Christian family life to be shared with relatives, neighbors and friends.
That’s the rosy scenario, I realize.
Too often, much of the Jesus experience
is lost on the ride home from church. But
seeing children in church is nonetheless encouraging. There are plenty of places in the Bible –
Matthew, Mark, and Luke – where Jesus tells us that it is the children who are
“the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.”
Children are a big deal to Jesus.
But skip ahead to the Apostle Paul
in 1 Corinthians 13, where in his dissertation on divine love it is clear one
must “put away childish things” if one is to truly mature as a Christian. The Bible clearly tells us to both “be as a
child” and to “put away childish things.”
We are to go from spiritual “milk” as a child to spiritual “meat” as we
mature. On the one hand, we are to be as
innocent as doves; and on the other, as shrewd as snakes (Matthew 10:16). What gives?
Are we supposed to grow up, or not?
We most definitely are. The question is: Do we?
Huntington
University church history professor Tom Bergler surveys what he considers to be
the arrested development of our modern American faith in his thoughtful new
book, The Juvenalization of American
Christianity. It’s a scholarly piece
of sociology, not a Bible study. Bergler
(BERJ-ler) tracks the last century or so of American Christianity and observes
that we are largely stuck in an “adolescent faith.”
Adolescent
faith is when Christians put “self-development, my problems, and my needs” as
the center of Christian faith. Bergler
notes that a mature Christian sees his or her faith as a way to partner in the
mission of the kingdom; of evangelizing and serving others. It means understanding that “maturity”
doesn’t mean “perfect,” it means loving God, loving others, being faithful, and
seeking first to glorify God.
Bergler
tracks the development of youth ministries from the 1920s, through the
Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the turbulent 1960s. In Protestant, Catholic, and Black churches,
youth ministers met teenagers where they were: and they were adolescents. Hence, the focus became the emotional “me” side
of faith and not on a deep commitment to God.
That often carries into today’s adult church.
Bergler’s
point? All God’s children should have a
chance to grow up.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) thanks Dr.
Paul Blowers for the tip on the book.
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