The Shema Initiative Sermon

Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:31b;

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NLT)

"Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. (And 'Love your neighbor as yourself.') And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.⁷ Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.⁸ Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

 

Outsourced Faith Formation
It's a phone conversation that every veteran youth worker has had on multiple occasions. The players change but the story always stays the same. I had on the other line an upset parent who had some serious concerns about their soon to be teenage child. It was not directly said, but there was an implied undertone, a hope that I would be able to step in and do something to remedy the situation. Now, I have to confess that my normal course of action would have been to swoop in like superman and try to fix things in an hour or two…I bet you can guess what kind of success rate I've had with that approach…


But instead, in a moment of uncharacteristic Godly wisdom, I took a different approach. I asked this parent about Christian practices in the home. During this conversation I learned that though this parent, and their spouse were actively involved in the church's children's ministries, little or nothing was being done in their home throughout the week to reinforce their family's walk with God. I couldn't help but think that this fact played some role in the struggles they were having with their child, and I told them so. I think that many families here today might tell a similar story if asked.
We live in a world where parents are encouraged to delegate the responsibility of the development of their children to others. It is now generally expected that the church will take the primary role in forming the faith of children and youth. But is this what God intended? Is this what the bible teaches? Is this what is best for the young people of RUMC?



It seems to me that this passage, known as the Shema, has something very different to say about the faith formation of young people. Let's take a closer look.


The Shema
There are three clear statements that the Shema has to say about Christian discipleship.
First, we must love God with all that we are and with Jesus' amendment in Mark 12:31 we must also love the people around us. If we were to flip back a chapter to 
Deuteronomy 5, we would see that the commands given to the people of Israel were the Ten Commandments. It's interesting; the first 4 commands address how we are to love God, and the final six addresses how we are to love our neighbor. Perhaps they are one set of commands because we cannot love God as we should without loving are fellow brothers and sisters as He has instructed us.


The second statement made about following God is that is an all day, everyday affair. The things of God are to be with us morning, noon and night. It is not enough to come to church for an hour on Sunday to get our weekly "God-fix."


And finally, passing on the faith to the next generation must come in the same manor. We must bring our children into contact with the things of God again and again, day after day. A one hour a week Sunday school class is not enough in itself to foster a lifelong relationship between a child and the Savior. This means that Pastor Riley, Michael Walden and I can't be the sole, or probably even the primary adults concerned with the faith formation of our young people.


I know this seems like a radical statement. This might sound different than how we understand passing on the faith to children. After all, this isn't what our church has taught…or is it? Let's consider our Infant Baptism vows:

Of course these vows begin with what the staff at Rockford United Methodist Church will do to raise a child in the faith, right? They don't! How do they begin? Let's take a look (Slide is brought up).

1. Dad and Mom, do you in presenting your child for Holy Baptism, confess your faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? If so, say, "I do."
   
   
2. Do you, therefore, accept as your great responsibility and privilege to live before your child, a life that is Christ-like; to exercise all Godly care that he or she be brought up in the Christian faith; that he or she be taught the Holy Scriptures; and that he or she learn the importance of both the private and public worship of God? If so, say, "I do."
   
   
   3. And will you endeavor to keep your child under the ministry and guidance of the Church until he or she, by the power of God, shall accept for himself or herself the gift of salvation and become a full and responsible member of Christ's Holy Church? If so, say, "I will."

 
Friends, our current church staff driven model is not working. A recent survey of several hundred committed church going teenagers done by the Fuller Institute showed that up to 50% percent of them either put their faith on the shelf or permanently walked away from it during their college years. Prior research has yielded similar results. 

Consider this: in one year the average youth here at RUMC has the opportunity to attend 52 worship services and roughly 40 Sunday school classes and youth group nights. With 80% participation that comes out to just 2 hours a week. Two hours…if a family spends 15-30 minutes a day praying and doing devotions they have just matched that amount of time, not taking into account the many hours of possible informal faith sharing parents can have with their children. The Vision of our Christian Education ministries is to nurture and grow Disciples of Christ through lifelong discovery of the bible. I am telling you now, if it's just up to your church staff, we will fall short of this vision…

At this point you might be asking yourself "Chad are you saying it's entirely up to me to make sure my child becomes a follower of Christ? Are you saying I have to be resident pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian?" 

The answer is no, I am not saying that. What I am saying is that the faith formation of children and youth is like a puzzle, and parents you are the most crucial pieces. 

Study after study has shown that parents are consistently the most influential presence in young people's lives, not friends, not the media, and certainly not the pastor and church staff. 

I know that can be a scary thought parents, and that often times we don't feel qualified, but consider this…If you decided that your family needed to be healthier you wouldn't wait until you have trained for and completed a marathon before doing things as a family to be healthier, right? In the same way you don't need to wait until you feel that you have become a spiritual giant (which will never happen…) to begin sharing the Christian faith with your child…

Start by consistently praying and having devotional time with your children. Don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work to do it every day but commit to do it when it does work…find a pattern and be consistent. Also, consider finding ways to do Christian service as a family. Be greeters at church or maybe find a food pantry to distribute meals at. Try to find a service opportunity that your children will be interested in.

 
Next, show your children how your faith is a part of your everyday life outside of formal devotional times (even if it's in small ways). Let them catch you reading the bible or praying. Share with them about how you experienced God during the day and ask them to do the same. Find a way to serve at the church and talk to your children about why you volunteer. 

At this point we may need to be reminded of the work of the Holy Spirit. We must remember that we plant the seeds, but it is God who makes them grow. So, PRAY FOR YOUR CHILD'S FAITH DEVELOPMENT. Ask that the Holy Spirit would fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.

And finally, realize that this idea about children's and youth discipleship does not diminish the role that the other staff and I have, it makes it more effective. We are additional pieces of the puzzle and we are faithfully, diligently and prayerfully trying to fill that role as God intends us to, now more than ever.
So…Whenever it's feasibly possible BRING YOUR CHILD TO CHURCH ACTIVITIES!!! My lovely wife was forced to go to youth group when she was in high school (yes you can make you high school student do things…try threatening to take away their cell phone), and now she is grateful they did. I am not saying that your child can't be involved in activities that conflict with Wednesday night activities, I'm saying that the various church activities have to be a priority, and your children have to know it's a priority. Make no mistake, your family's priorities will determine what your family does with its time.

And parents, please, please realize that the staff of this church is here to help you. If you have questions about how to be a spiritual mentor to your children don't be afraid to ask us for help!

At this point I must say one more thing about this passage. The Shema was originally recited to the entire nation of Israel. The idea that it takes a village to raise a child was implied. And so, before all of you who are not parents of children and youth completely check out, I need you to do something for me. All of you who are not parents if possible please stand up, or if not raise your hand. Now sit down if you are a grandparent, aunt or uncle, cousin, neighbor, older sibling or if you are a member or regular attendee of this church.
Now you may be wondering why I mentioned members and regular attendees…let's take a look at the rest of the infant baptismal vows.

After naming and baptizing the child/ren in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the pastor then says to the church:

(Slide) Friends, I commend to your love and care this child, whom we this day recognize as a member of the Family of God. Will you endeavor to live that he or she might grow in the knowledge and love of God, through Jesus Christ?

And to this, the congregation replies (slide)


WE WILL, WITH GOD'S HELP, SO LIVE OUR LIVES AFTER THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST THAT YOUR CHILD, SURROUNDED BY STEADFAST LOVE, MAY BE ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH, AND CONFIRMED AND STRENGTHENED IN THE WAY THAT LEADS TO LIFE ETERNAL.


Remember the number 5. A study has shown that this is the number of Christian mentors a child needs in their life to have the best chance of becoming a lifelong follower of Christ. Ideally two of those adults will be parents. Certainly for many students Michael Walden or I will be one of the five. But understand this, for every child who walks through these church doors to have 5 Christian role models in their lives everyone here today has to in take seriously the responsibility to be one of those role models for one of those children. It may be that for you the best way to fill that role is to volunteer in the children's or youth ministries (It's August, you know I all about new volunteers). But it may very well be that you can successfully fill this role by informally connecting with young people from RUMC.


(slide) So, as this service comes to a close, keeping in mind the infant baptismal vows, will each of you embrace your role in the discipleship of the young people of this church? Will those of you who are parents of children and youth take seriously your role in the faith development for your children? And for those of you who are not parents of children and youth, will you endeavor to be a role model for the children you encounter? If so, say I will (congregation responds)


Amen! Please join me in prayer.

 

Shema Initiative: Practical suggestions

Friends are current church staff driven model is not working. A recent survey of several hundred committed church going teenagers showed that up to 50% percent of them either put their faith on the shelf or walked away from it completely during their college years. Prior research has yielded similar results.


Consider this: the average youth might have the opportunity to attend 52 worship services and roughly 40 Sunday school classes and youth group nights. With 80% participation that comes out to roughly 2 hours a week for the year. Two hours…if a family spends 15-30 minutes a day praying and doing devotions they have just matched that amount of time, not taking into account the many hours of possible informal faith sharing parents can have with their children. The Vision of our Christian Education ministries is to nurture and grow Disciples of Christ through lifelong discover of the bible. I am telling you now, if it's just up to your church staff, we will fall short of this vision…


Chad are you saying it's entirely up to me to make sure my child becomes a follower of Christ? Are you saying I have to be the resident pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian?

I most certainly am not saying that. I am saying that the faith formation of children and youth is like a puzzle, and parents you are the pieces in the middle. Study after study shows that parents are consistently the most influential presence in young people's lives, not friends, not the media, and not the pastor and church staff.

I know that can be a scary thought parents, and that often times we don't feel qualified, but consider this…If you decided that your family needed to be healthier you wouldn't wait until you have trained for and completed a marathon before doing things as a family to be healthier right? In the same way you don't need to wait until you feel that you have become a spiritual giant (which will never happen…) to begin sharing the Christian faith with your child…


Consistently pray and have devotional time with your children. Don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work to do it every day but commit to do it when it does work…find a pattern.

Show your children how your faith is a part of your everyday life (even if it's in small ways). Let them catch you reading the bible, share with them about how you experienced God during the day and ask them to do the same.

Finally, this idea about children's and youth discipleship does not diminish the role that that church staff plays, it makes it more effective. We are additional pieces of the puzzle and we are faithfully, diligently and prayerfully trying to fill that role as God intends us to, now more than ever. So…Whenever it's feasibly possible BRING YOUR CHILD TO CHURCH ACTIVITIES!!! My lovely wife was forced to go to youth group when she was in high school (yes you can make you high school student do things…try threatening to take away their cell phone), and now she is grateful they did. I am not saying that your child can't be involved in activities that conflict with Wednesday night activities, I'm saying that the various church activities have to be a priority, and your children have to know it's a priority.

Shut up and Pray: On Christians and unchristian Political Propaganda

To be upfront, this is going to be a brief and angry post… This is directed to both conservative (Republican) and liberal (Democratic) friends and acquaintances of mine…sorry, both sides have been guilty of this.


I am so sick of this idea that our country is going to instantly fall apart if our governments leaders don't share the same political views as us. Our country survived both Clinton and Bush, it will survive Obama and it will survive the next president. I am sick of hearing how bad either Obama or the GOP stink..."You'll never find a savior on capitol hill."


In addition, I am seeing red over the constant unchristian social network site posts in the name of Christ. Challenge issued: The next time you get the urge to smear a government official on facebook, pray for them instead! I don't have a problem with you having a political position, feeling strongly about or sharing it with others. Just make a constructive argument in support of your beliefs instead of posting an insulting cartoon on your page.


Finally, in a instance of surprisingly big perspective, the Jews rightly recognized God's hand in directing the Persian Empire in the restoration of their homeland (see Psalms 126). In the books Ezra and Nehemiah we see Persian Emperors allowing and providing for the return of Jewish exiles as well as the rebuilding of the temple and city walls. If God can use a pagan and foreign emperor to do his will I am sure he can use a most-likely "professing" Christian politician for His purposes. So maybe, just maybe, we should use the time we were going to spend hunting down the next political cartoon to post to pray that God would do just that with the leaders of our country, whoever they are.

Ode to Cheap Grace

I have often struggled with the idea that grace is free, and yet grace is costly. Bonhoeffer reminds us in his Cost of discipleship that if God's free grace is seen as cheap grace, than the church has some major problems: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church…Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before." Today we might add that cheap grace is Therapeutic Moralistic Deism. It is God as life guard or guidance counselor. Cheap grace is church as weekly pick me up, or a nice break from the kids (you already know how I feel about that one).

While I have no problem rejecting the results of cheap grace I still can't get my head around this idea that God's grace freely given is a costly grace. Once again I can do no better than to quote the words of Bonhoeffer: "Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift that must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock."

I think maybe God's grace can be both free and costly because, though it is freely given, we are unable to freely receive it. It costs us nothing for God to extend His grace, but it costs us everything to receive it. God's grace is not cheap because we cannot truly except it and be unchanged. If we allow ourselves to truly receive God's grace than we our fundamentally different. This is why Augustine could say "Love God, than do as you please." God's grace is waiting there for us to freely have, but accepting that free gift will cost us everything.

We need to count the cost, are we really willing to give up our old way of life, are we willing to give up this world. We are encouraged to count the cost, to consider the price. We are also encouraged to consider the prize and if we truly understand we are like the man who gives up all he has to gain the plot of land with the buried treasure. It's a no brainer all we have is nothing in comparison to the "buried treasure."

We don't have to work to earn God's grace, but we must work diligently to receive it. One thing I know for sure, it's worth the effort.

Daddy Issues: A tribute to my Daughter (it’s not what you think)

As a veteran youth worker I have long understood the importance of a father who is present for girls. We have all cracked a fair share of daddy issue jokes in high school and college. However, it wasn't until my daughter was born that I really understood the importance of the male presence in a young woman's life, both from a father, and from other men. Enter Sadie, an adorable 10 month old who absolutely adores anyone who happens to have a beard. I seriously think my daughter was genetically programmed to seek out the attention and approval was all patriarchal figures she encounters. You could be a "miserable old cuss", but to my daughter you are wonderful simply for being a grown man.


This is exciting because of all the male role models in my daughter's life, but it is scary at the same time because of the all young woman I know who are not blessed the way Sadie is. This is compounded by the fact that our church safety policies make it almost impossible for me to step into the gap. Our policy states that 2 unrelated adults need to be present when working with a child. This makes relational ministry unrealistic with any gender. Consider the typical gender segregation model that takes place in youth groups. Male leaders invest in male students and female leaders work with female students. I contend that in doing so we miss an opportunity to fill a void in young people's lives.


A woman talking to boys about respecting girls is more powerful than a man talking to them. A man talking to woman about self respect and the message they are sending to the male population when they dress and act a certain way carries more weight than a women discussing the same topic. Perhaps more importantly, breaking down the gender segregation allows the church to stand in the gap and provide the patriarch's so many girls need in order to have a healthy view of themselves and to develop a faith that allows them to be a well-rounded women for Christ.

Why Karl Marx Was Right…Sort of

I often thought Karl Marx didn't need to be pegged as this great villain as many of us "Democrats" tend to view him, really his only fault was putting too much faith in mankind.  I find it rather interesting that a religious community (the early church) was the only community that seems to successfully create the socialist vision that Marx had in mind considering he pegged religion as the villain that stopped fair socialist living from taking place. Forgive the awkward wording, but the basic premise of Marx's view on religion is correct, as an over-simplification. Anyways, as I thought about the historical context for most relationships between government and religion I began to see why Karl Marx saw things the way he did. If one was to view religion (particularly but no solely Christianity) from the angle of social commentary then one would conclude that religion is little more than a tool used by the government to control/persuade its citizens to come on board the ship and set sail.

Much of what I wish to say would simply be repeated and probably wasted breath (or finger energy). So I will conclude with this…Christianity began as, and I believe was meant to me, in conflict with political structures. Yes the bible is clear that the Body of Christ is to coincide with and largely work within the context of political powers, but this is more to combat terrorism (the Jews had their zealots) more than it is a stamp of approval to water down the gospel so that it will fit a democratic political structure. Jesus died a political death because of his political impact. He scared the powers that be, as did the early church. It is sad that today's Church couldn't make a 99 year old atheist politician the slightest bit uneasy, even if its life depended on it.

Belonging before Belief: Turning the Church’s Understanding of “Conversion” on its Head.

Anyone who understands even a little bit about the teenage world can tell you just how paramount belonging is for young people. Insecurity and doubt runs rampant in this "sub-culture." As my wife and I moved securely into adulthood and thus moved further and further away from adolescents we came to a realization. Those scary cool kids who ignored us were just the "flip side" of the same coin. This "too cool for school" kids were really just insecure, scared teenagers themselves. Maybe they didn't ignore us because they thought they were better than us, maybe they were scared and insecure too. Needless to say, students of all kinds are a little too busy trying to belong to worry about whether or not they have the right "belief system."

The American, evangelistic model traditionally begins with the presentation of the gospel. This is immediately followed by a decision. Joining the community of faith is the final step. We can clearly see the problem with this. There is an old youth ministry saying that clearly shows the problem with this evangelistic system; "Kids don't care what you know until they know that you care."

Perhaps America's church's and their youth workers should be a little less worried about whether or not young people believe the right things and more concerned with whether or not they believe that they belong. If students feel that they belong and are accepted at a church and its youth programs, then the seed has been planted. Lord willing, the Holy Spirit will catch hold and make that seed grow. A Christian worldview is crucial for followers of Christ, but it is only possible in a safe environment where students know that they are unconditionally loved. Otherwise we may simply be throwing them "useless pearls" (Matt 7:6)₁

1: See Dallas Willard's interpretation of Matt 7:6 in chapter 7 of Divine Conspiracy (page 228-230).