Paul concludes the first half of his Ephesian letter with a magnificent statement of praise. God’s glory is seen in Christ and his church “throughout all generations” (Ephesians 3:21). Paul doesn’t simply envision a multi-national congregation; he envisions a multi-generational one.
But religious affiliation is on the decline among young people. What’s more, many young adults are “deconstructing” their faith—that is, they’re reconsidering what it means to follow Jesus in present-day America. Writing in The New York Times, Ruth Graham explains that “deconstruction has a broad range of definitions and outcomes, from understanding more about a faith once accepted uncritically to full abandonment of religious belief.”[i]
On the one hand, these trends are nothing new. Young adults are often the target of pearl-clutching Christian analysts who wonder what’s to become of the next generation. Still, Christian leaders are right to ask what, if anything, can be done to produce a more resilient form of faith. The answer is a recovery of what’s known as “catechesis.”
WHAT IS CATECHESIS?
If you grew up in a traditional church, the word “catechesis” might conjure memories of musty books and rote memorization. But “catechesis” simply refers to the lifelong process of learning and applying the Christian story. As George Mason notes, this “intentional approach is all the more necessary in a time when cultural Christianity has given way…[and] Christian identity is not secure.”
Catechesis therefore prepares young people to face the counter-narratives they encounter everywhere from their college professor to consumer culture. Without this secure foundation, they develop what Darrell Bock called a kind of “brittle fundamentalism”—a faith that easily shatters against the rough edges of skeptics and personal experiences.
THE PRIORITIES OF CATECHESIS
Richard Osmer has identified three key priorities for catechesis. We’ve adapted them below for the purpose of cultivating multi-generational faith.
Passing on the story of faith
First, catechesis must anchor our children’s faith in the objective realities of God’s big story. In the 1990s, Gary Burge noted that Biblical literacy was simply not a priority for most youth ministries:
“I have asked youth leaders whether their students were learning the content of the faith (solid theological categories) or the stories of the Bible (the chronology, the history, the characters, the lessons). One remarked, “It is hard to find time. But I can say that these kids are truly learning to love God.” That is it in a nutshell. Christian faith is not being built on the firm foundation of hard-won thoughts, ideas, history, or theology. Spirituality is being built on private emotional attachment.”
But faith must go deeper than feelings. Parents and Christian ministers should aim to cultivate a Christian worldview, one that offers more structure than experience alone can bring.
Applying the story to today’s challenges
It goes without saying that every generation will face unique challenges in how it lives out the Christian story. Today’s young people will face challenges that are unprecedented in scope. Parents and leaders will have to help young people sort through issues such as:
- How does one live in a society that no longer recognizes gender?
- What does it mean to be human in an age of artificial intelligence?
- How does a person trust the news when deceit becomes the norm?
Granted, it’s simply not possible for any parent or leader to anticipate every possible cultural scenario. But to borrow an analogy from Kevin Vanhoozer, the more we understand the script, the more we’ll be able to engage in “improv acting”—applying the core faith to new circumstances and experiences.
Preserving the institutions that make Christianity possible
Finally, parents, leaders, and church members can take care to honor and preserve the social institutions that make belief possible—namely the church and the family.
Paul elsewhere calls the church the “pillar and buttress for the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). By that he means that our social worlds provide structure to the Christian story. Honoring God in our homes and joining a local church can model the Christian faith, ensuring that our young people do the same in their future lives and families.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CATECHESIS?
Parents must be cautious not to “outsource” their faith to pastors and youth directors. In one of the largest studies of its type, Christian Smith from Notre Dame discovered that
“the single, most powerful causal influence on the religious lives of Americans teenagers and young adults is the religious lives of their parents…The best general predictor of what any American is like religiously, after comparing all of the other possible variables and factors, is what their parents were like religiously when they were raising their children.”
But even children from non-religious homes can benefit from a church family of mentors. Creating a network of meaningful mentorship within your church can create an environment where faith is transmitted and preserved. These same mentors can serve as secure anchor points as children grow up, taking their faith to their college campus, workplace, and world.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
- Does your church promote Biblical literacy? What can you do to aid in transmitting the faith to your church’s youth?
- In what ways might your church work to help one another apply the Christian story to today’s cultural challenges?
- How might you serve as a mentor for rising generations in your church?
[i] Ruth Graham, “A Duggar Revisits Her Religious Upbringing,” The New York Times, February 10, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/jinger-duggar-vuolo-evangelical-christians.html
[ii] George Mason, “Training Our Aim,” in Christian Reflection: Catechism, 60.
[iii] Darrell L. Bock & Daniel B. Wallace, Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture’s Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007), 24.
[iv] Richard Robert Osmer, “The Case for Catechism,” Christian Century, 114 (April 23/30, 1997), 408- 412.
[v] Gary Burge, “The Greatest Story Never Read,” Christianity Today, August 1999, pp. 45-49.
[vi] See Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)
[vii] Smith, Christian. Religious Parenting (p. 5-6). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
