Sticky Faith

So, faith is a very important thing to me.  It is the connector between me and my relationship with God.

I know that in times of need faith has brought me through when I could not stand on my own two feet.  But, here is the kicker- on my good days am I as faithful?  or do I take the credit for the good and only rely on faith in times of need?!?!?  This is a flaw that I am working on: To remember my faith journey EVERY day.

I also think about how I will instill this relationship of faith with my children.  A survey done by The Search Institute polled 11,000 American Christian Teenagers and it shows that only 15% of young people have regular conservations with their mothers regarding faith and 5% have similar conservations with their fathers.  Only 9% of Christian teenager regularly read the bible or devotions with their families.  These numbers are shocking to me, but if I look back on my life I see a 5-7 year period as a young adult where my faith and church was not a focus.   I grew up in the family that went to church every Sunday.  I was active in my youth group; I served at a United Methodist community center in the summers, etc.  On paper you would think that my faith was solid.    Yet, my life was place into sections: church time, friend time, family time,etc. My faith was devoted to the time at church and that was that.

I will be teaching a book study in September using the book Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids Kara E. Powell Chap Clark.   I am challenging all of our families to read this book in the summer months and then participate in one of the two book studies starting in September.   Can you imagine the amazing power of our faith community here at St. Andrew after we all focus on the faith of our children and youth?   The amazing community we will have for each other’s questions and concerns, the ability to give children the opportunity to ask the hard questions and we don’t have to have all the answers.   So, grab a copy of this book and read it this summer, you will not regret the time!