It Does....

I've been reading a new blog, this was from a few weeks back.

IT MATTERS WHERE WE START

Several years ago when I was working a children’s camp in the summer as a Bible Study leader, I began to struggle with what it meant to “lead someone to Christ.”

We had routines ingrained into our heads during our pre-camp training, having information downloaded into our memories about everything from “what to do if a kid wants to give you a hug” to “how to steer the conversation towards ‘acceptance of Jesus’ even if that’s not what they want to talk about.”

We were told to keep it simple, make sure we induced the right words (and wording), and don’t forget to fill out the commitment card afterwards! After all, years down the road those kids could point to that decision card they filled out after committing to follow Jesus as evidence they were truly “saved.” I wonder how many of those cards are wedged in Bibles that haven’t been opened in years?

Aside from all of the problems evident in such a system of getting converts, something else deeply troubled me: We assumed a Judeo-Christian worldview and notion of God.

Not many of these kids, if any at all, were being taught to think critically about the existence of a Creator and his work in the world. We, along with their home church leaders, assumed belief in God was a given. We just needed them to “accept Jesus.”

And when those kids are children, especially those living in churched households, this wasn’t an issue.

But then those kids went to college. And because we cared far more during their childhood (they are the “formative years,” and we are constantly fed statistics about children and young teens being most likely to convert) about making sure they were “saved” and neglected to teach them to think critically about the existence of God, they were in for a rude awakening.

Most of these kids don’t walk away from Jesus. They walk away from a Christian, churchy worldview. And you could argue that they walk away from Jesus in the process, but they ultimately walk away because their understanding of God no longer fits the world in which they live.

When I think about raising Emery, I definitely want her to know Jesus. But I also want her to learn to think for herself, to explore the realities of God and his existence in the world. I want her to know about a Creator who is full of love and hates injustice.

Late in that summer, it struck me that we were getting people to “accept Jesus” who didn’t necessarily understand God. And then I began to wonder if it matter where we started with our teachings on Jesus, Christianity, and salvation.

I think it’s important that we start with God—a multifaceted endeavor to say the least. Not simple facts about God or Bible verses to be drilled into someone’s head, but a process that helps us understand the unfathomable in such a way that orients us towards the proper character, posture, and direction in the world that the Creator is calling us to.

-Petey Crowder
MrCrowder