{"id":2178,"date":"2010-08-19T09:18:59","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T15:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:01:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:01:06","slug":"almost-christian-going-viral-for-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/08\/19\/almost-christian-going-viral-for-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Christian: Going Viral for Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean\u2019s new book, <\/a><\/em>Almost Christian<\/a><\/a><\/em>, a theological follow up to Christian Smith\u2019s <\/em>Soul Searching<\/a>. I hope you\u2019ll join me. Find all the posts here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In chapter 7<\/strong>, \u201cGoing Viral for Jesus: The Art of Testimony,\u201d Kenda begins by tackling three of the questions that I heard voiced after Soul Searching<\/em><\/a> came out.<\/p>\n

First: Maybe the teens interviewed by the NYSR were just uncomfortable talking to adults about their faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Second: Maybe teens are deeply religious but just talk about it differently than the adult researchers wanted them to<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And third: Maybe teens are just generally inarticulate, but still deeply religious<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kenda acknowledges that any of these is potentially valid (even devastating) criticism of the NSYR.\u00a0 However, she counters that there were, in fact, many teens in the NSYR who could clearly articulate what they believed and why.\u00a0 So, she writes, it is possible for a teen to be deeply religious and articulate about religious matters.<\/p>\n

Then she gets down to brass tacks: For teens who are about to speak articulately about their faith, why are they?\u00a0 The heart of Kenda\u2019s argument in this chapter is simple: It\u2019s because the parents and other adults in these teens\u2019 lives talk openly about God.\u00a0 The epigraph to this chapter gets at that truth:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have achieved anything in my life, it has been because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.\u201d \u2013Dorothy Day<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Kenda takes it one step further than Dorothy Day.\u00a0 The teenagers who hold a \u201cconsequential faith,\u201d according to the NYSR, are rife with adults in their lives who talk about \u2014 not religion or faith or even God \u2014 but Jesus<\/em>.\u00a0 In other words, generalities and facile talk about a vague God do adolescents no good.\u00a0 It\u2019s the particularities and uniquenesses of Christianity \u2014 namely, Jesus Christ \u2014 that give teenagers handles onto which they can hang as the vagaries of adolescence shake their faith.\u00a0 Kenda writes,<\/p>\n

\u201cTeenagers who have trouble articulating what they believe about<\/em> God also seem to have trouble forging a significant connection to<\/em> God \u2014 and youth who do not have a language for <\/em>Christ are unlikely to imagine and identity in<\/em> Christ.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It reminds me of a time, years ago, when I was on a church staff and our senior pastor went to a week-long conference hosted by pollster George Gallup<\/a>.\u00a0 Upon his return, we asked him what he\u2019d learned, and he said, \u201cWell, it all boils down to this: If you want a healthy and growing church, be sure that everyone in the congregation is personally asked, twice a year, \u2018How are you doing with Jesus?'\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenda goes deeper on this point when she discusses legitimate peripheral participation<\/em>, the learning theory that states that one becomes integrated into a new linguistic community primarily by participating in that community (not by learning about that community).\u00a0 Here, again, Kenda is covering some of the same ground that I did in PMYM<\/em><\/a>, in which I argued that many teenagers come to faith by being immersed in a youth ministry \u2014 I used the examples of a mission trip and the 30-Hour Famine \u2014 as opposed to becoming a Christian before being allowed into the \u201cinner sanctum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Kenda advocates for several youth ministry practices that help teenagers learn the particular language of Christianity.\u00a0 Among them are \u201capprenticeships\u201d and \u201cfaith immersions.\u201d<\/p>\n

My question about this chapter goes back to the top, and that is, Was the NSYR fair in having adults ask teenagers to articulate their faith?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean\u2019s new book, Almost Christian, a theological follow up to Christian Smith\u2019s Soul Searching. I hope you\u2019ll join me. Find all the posts here. In chapter 7, \u201cGoing Viral for Jesus: The Art of Testimony,\u201d Kenda begins by tackling three of the questions that I heard voiced after Soul Searching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,41],"tags":[52,193,375,588],"class_list":["post-2178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-youth-ministry","tag-almost-christian","tag-dorothy-day","tag-kenda-creasy-dean","tag-soul-searching"],"yoast_head":"\nAlmost Christian: Going Viral for Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean's new book, Almost Christian, a theological follow up to Christian Smith's Soul Searching. 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