Will Our Children Have Faith?

Will Our Children Have Faith? is the title of a classic book from the 1970s by John Westerhoff. Even four decades ago, when the Church was still in the fading stages of its "glory days," there was a growing awareness that our efforts to raise and form the next generation of faithful people were floundering. Westerhoff wrote about our over-reliance on Sunday School, and the single, precious hour during the week that most parents expose their kids to learning about the Christian faith. Westerhoff writes that when you consider the way following Jesus is meant to shape our whole lives, and the way every other aspect of our children's maturation receives substantially more time and effort, depending on one hour to do the trick is pure folly.

It was a popular book way back when, but I think the question posed in the title is perhaps the book's greatest legacy: will our children have faith? The answer is not obvious.

Children growing up today are less likely than ever to have any exposure to Christianity or the Church, let alone formal Christian education. Kids don't know the stories of Jesus, or the stories of the Hebrew Bible (who's David?). Studies show that children are less likely than ever to pray at home, be it at meals or bedtime or any other time. Kids don't know how to worship, or why we do what we do in worship.

Since Westerhoff wrote his book, this question of "will our children have faith" has passed from whimsical reflection to an existential threat to the church's future: fewer childen are around on Sundays, fewer children know The Bible, fewer children possess a confident faith. You've seen the way sports' practice and games have become acceptable excuses for not attending worship and formation on Sunday mornings.

At St. Peter's, we need to be on the frontline of the battle to secure a faithful future for our children. We need to double-down on education and formation programs for our children. We can't rely on parents to do all the heavy lifting in raising faithful kids, but as a whole community, we must consider ways we can all make contributions to nurturing the next generation of Christians. You, you sitting there at your computer reading this, you whose children may be long since grown, you have a role to play.

• You can be a mentors, sponsor or teacher. We should never have to beg for people to help teach our kids the faith.
• Even if you can't teach, you can model for them what it means to be a Christian. Take your discipleship seriously: pray, read The Bible, speak personally about Christ, serve others.
• You can encourage those parents who say no to practices and games, and reaffirm Sunday as the Lord's Day. Say "thank you" to families who are around. Tell them you know it's not easy, and you're grateful they're here.
  

Will our children have faith? With all my heart I hope so. But the answer depends...on you.