Part Two: Do As I Say Not As I do

Last week I asked everyone to read an article by CNN's John Blake about Teens becoming Fake Christians. The article was the result of a study done by Princeton professor, Kenda Creasy Dean, about the shallowness of teens' faith, and their general inability to talk about their faith/beliefs. In my opinion the most notable finding of the study was that most teens who profess a faith in God, practice something that Dean calls 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism,' which in short means they believe God exists, wants them to be good, and be happy. Somewhere Christianity has been misconstrued to teenagers, because following Jesus is so much more than just 'being good' and he didn't die just so we could 'be happy.'

At the end of my last post I challenged everyone to join the discussion about where the disconnect was, and what we should be doing about it. Some of the causes we came up with were that America's 'What's in it for me?' Culture, the medias constant advertising barrage, self-centered morals, and a lack of genuine Christ followers.

I have a nephew who is nearly 2 years old named Ryan. Alicia and I got to visit him just last week at my parents' house. Right now Ryan is at a stage where he will do absolutely whatever you tell him. We had our miniature dachshund, Hans, with us and he started licking Ryan's face. "Ryan," I said, "When he licks you, you should give him kisses back." Sure enough, Ryan leaned in right away and started trying to lick Hans. The moral of the story isn't just that I'm a bad Uncle either.

Its not just toddlers who mimic what they see or do whatever they are told. Ryan, will grow out of the stage where he quickly does whatever is suggested to him, but he won't outgrow looking at the people around him to see how he should act and behave. His parents, family, and friends will constantly be shaping his beliefs, and his actions.

One of the passages that Clayton, Paula, and I are always coming back to is Deuteronomy 4:9 where God challenges His people to not forget His words, and to pass them on to their children so that they might now what is right. Ephesians 6:4 echoes that challenge and tells fathers to train and instruct their children in the Lord. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 11:1 , "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."

Students from early childhood to their late teen years look to the action, behavior, and culture around them to form their own behavior and beliefs. We clearly see in the Bible that God not only recognizes this truth, but created it for us to use to raise up children to follow God and be an active part of God's Kingdom.

John Blake told us on CNN.com that most Christian teens' faith is shallow, and they really can't even express what they believe. We can clearly see how as a child grows up their beliefs and actions are shaped by the people in their lives. So the questions I want you all to answer this week are simple. Are we doing anything as God's church worth following? What's it going to take for teenagers to discover a real faith built on a deep foundation?