Following Christ Faithfully:
Unexpected Insights from
Psychology
Week 2
Passing the Torch:
Challenges in Reaching the
Millennial Generation
Today’s Plan
• Consider the profile of today’s
teens and emerging adults
regarding faith
• Look at the role of
socialization in the process
• Consider ways we might reach
them more in accordance with
the Bible
Key Terms
• Socialization
▫ Process by which a culture
encourages individuals to
accept normative and expected
values
 E.g., public schools implicitly
teach NOT to speak of religion
at all and to tolerate a range of
positions
▫ Key for Christians is issue of
competing cultures – thus
often “create own” in Christian
school
 Though often this not too
different in important ways
than the culture.
• Internalization
▫ Process by which an individual
transforms a formerly
externally prescribed
regulation into an internal ones
▫ Stated simply, it is the process
of “owning” the faith one is
taught as a child
▫ Key process in adolescence and
young adulthood
KEY POINT
• “Study after study has shown the importance of the
socialization process in determining people’s
present religious beliefs.” (Spilka et al., 2003, p.
106)
• Proverbs 22:6. “Train up a child in the way he
should go; even when he is old he will not depart
from it.”
• That is…it matters greatly how we train our
children in the faith if we aspire to their faithfully
following Christ as adults
• So, how are we doing???
Some Important Stats
• For teens, 13-17 years
▫ 82% see faith as somewhat or
very important
▫ Only 18% see it as not very
important
▫ 49% see it as important in
shaping decisions
▫ 42% of U.S. 14 yo’s in a
religious group
 Highest of 28 countries
surveyed
• College students
▫ 58% see “integrating
spirituality” into life as
important
▫ 77% pray at times
▫ See selves as highly religious
 37% of women
 25% of men
▫ Seniors in college who see
religion as important
 47% of African Americans
 27% of Hispanics
 21% of Caucasians
Remember Last week?
• Over half of American adolescents see
themselves as spiritual but not religious
• Compare
▫ Indonesia (mostly Muslim) 100% see religion as
important
▫ Philippines (mix of religions) 87%
▫ Nigeria 93%
More Teen Stats
• Of Protestant teens
▫ 33% believe in reincarnation
▫ 31% believe in
communication with the dead
▫ 21% believe in psychics
• Only a small % of
American teens believe
there is one true religion
Role of Schools?
• Research suggests that going
to a Christian elementary
and/or secondary school does
not change likelihood of
persevering in the faith
▫ That is, above the influence
of a Christian home
• While as noted earlier, public
education trains one to keep
religious beliefs private and
not talk about them
• College
▫ Stresses cultural relativism
and religious tolerance so
may be negative for faith
▫ During college years, little
change in the highly religious
and the unreligious
▫ But those in the middle, the
somewhat religious, become
less so
▫ Tensions of being Christian:
conflict with
 Dating scripts (expectations
of sex)
 Modest attire
Why the Doubts?
• Association of religion with
intolerance
• Reaction against religious
pressure tactics
• Association of religion with
negative human qualities
• Toxins in the church:
▫ Unhealthy teaching
▫ An “in group” that shows lack
of love for others
• KEY to success:
▫ Reaching out beyond the
youth group to larger circles
of people
Who Reaches Kids Best????
• The Mormons!!!!
▫ Most likely group for kids to keep faith of parents
• Why?
▫ Very deliberate in teaching the doctrines of their
faith
 Even 1 hour of “seminary” in AM every day prior to
school
▫ Specific subculture
▫ Required service
Parent-Child Agreement Studies
• More agreement here than many other areas
• Stronger relationship when families endorse a specific
creed (thus Mormon success with kids)
▫ What does this say to our “just give me Jesus” approach?
• Mothers may be more influential
▫ Especially since in Western cultures women are more religious
than men!
• Keys
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
Quality, warm relationships
Communication and emotional support
Parental harmony on religion
Modeling of faith (and other role models in the church)
Service to others
Speaking of faith regularly in the home
Soul Searching…Christian Smith
“Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”
• Teens believe, but not well-thought out
▫ Nor discussed with friends
▫ Merit of religion is helping self and others more
than oriented toward God
 “Religion actually appears to operate much more as
a taken-for-granted aspect of life, mostly situated in
the background of everyday living, which becomes
salient only under very specific conditions” (p. 130)
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, cont.
• Inarticulate faith
▫ “Many teenagers know abundant details about the lives of
favorite musicians and television stars or about what it takes to
get into a good college, but are not very clear on who Moses and
Jesus were” (p. 134)
▫ E.g. one girl said faith was very important but had nothing to do
with relationships, dating, school work, or any aspect of ordinary
life
▫ Quite inexperienced in actually discussing faith
• Being “too religious” is also seen as bad
• Individualistic: key is not judging others
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Cont.
• Teens have instrumental view of religion
 “Most instinctively suppose that religion exists to help individuals
be and do what they want, and not as an external tradition or
authority or divinity that makes compelling claims and demands
in their lives, especially to change or grow in ways they may not
immediately want to…”
▫ For many teenagers, God is treated as something like a
cosmic therapist or counselor.” (p. 147-8; italics added)
▫ Thus, don’t hurt self or others is the morality
▫ And don’t devote your life to a religious cause
▫ More for you than in service of a God who IS
▫ So 22% drop in church attendance though claim faith is still
important
▫ Rarely did teens see God as someone who call them (Quote,
p. 149)
Summary of the MTD “Faith”
• God exists and created
and orders the world,
watching over life (like
Deism)
• God wants people to be
good and fair (moralistic)
• The central goal of life is
to be happy and feel good
about oneself
• God doesn’t need to be
involved in life except
when a problem arises
• Good people go to heaven
when they die
• Thus, religion is therapy
to help one feel good,
happy, secure, and at
peace, make possible by
a God who is just there
for emergencies
• How does this challenge
the message we send??
Groups of Emerging Adults (Smith and
Denton, “Soul Searching”
• Committed traditionalists
▫ 15%
▫ Strong beliefs and practice
▫ Can articulate faith
• Selective adherents
▫ 30%
▫ Pick and choose from faith
▫ Toss ideas they think
irrelevant
• Spiritually open
▫ 15%
▫ No personal commitment
though open to some ideas
▫ May be spiritual but not
religious
• Religiously indifferent
▫ 25%
▫ Most profess religion but
don’t practice it and don’t
care that they don’t
▫ “It just doesn’t matter much”
• Religiously disconnected
▫ 5%
▫ Little or no exposure to
religion as grew up
• Irreligious
▫
▫
▫
▫
10%
Skeptical
Argue against religion
May be angry at religion
And the Bible???
• “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God,
the LORD is one. You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all
your might. And these words that I
command you today shall be on
your heart. You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall
talk of them when you sit in your
house, and when you walk by the
way, and when you lie down, and
when you rise. You shall bind them
as a sign on your hand, and they
shall be as frontlets between your
eyes. You shall write them on the
doorposts of your house and on your
gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV)
Implications for Us
• As parents
▫ Take Deuteronomy 6 very
seriously and intentionally
teach our children
 Yes, of God’s love and
compassion
 But also of sin
 And moral expectations
 And how we are to live
positively for Him
▫ Live the faith
▫ Get kids out to serve others
▫ Talk about faith day by day
• As a church
▫ Incorporating children more
into the life of the church
▫ I have argued elsewhere that
children should be in worship
▫ Finding places in worship for
them to participate
▫ Praying for covenant children
▫ Supporting families
Youth and college ministry
▫ Vision MUST be more than to entertain and please
them
▫ Relationships key
 E.g. Pray for Me is great, but even better if time spend
with the ones who pray
▫ Service activities outside of regular meetings
▫ Serving other groups in the church … especially across
generations!!
▫ Teach doctrine
▫ Teach moral expectations
 Do’s AND don’ts
▫ Create a counterculture to the world around us
 Rather than trying to entice by looking like the world