{"id":2236,"date":"2010-09-09T05:06:41","date_gmt":"2010-09-09T10:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=2236"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:01:02","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:01:02","slug":"almost-christian-make-no-small-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/09\/09\/almost-christian-make-no-small-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Christian: Make No Small Plans"},"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

Kenda\u2019s final chapter and conclusion is called, \u201cMake No Small Plans: A Case for Hope,\u201d<\/strong> and in it she attempts to find the good news in the otherwise rather dreary conclusions of the NSYR and the finding that most American teens practice a version of Christianity called, \u201cMoralistic, Therapeutic Deism.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recounts the five years of reflecting on the findings as full of sleepless nights.\u00a0 And she told CNN<\/a> that her time on the NSYR interview team was \u201cone of the most depressing summers of her life.\u201d\u00a0 Five years later, she has drawn two conclusions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. When it comes to vapid Christianity, teenagers are not the problem \u2014 the church is.<\/li>\n
  2. The church is also the solution.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Kenda is tough on the church in this chapter, and throughout the book, arguing that \u201cthe contemporary church has strayed, often badly, from the course set before us by the earliest followers of Jesus\u2026\u201d\u00a0 But, she hasn\u2019t lost hope, and she round out the book with these five encouragements\/challenges:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. It can be done (as proven by some in the study, including Mormons).<\/li>\n
    2. Religious formation is not an accident (the teenagers who showed strong religious commitment in the study did not come upon their faith by accident, or on their own).<\/li>\n
    3. Every faith community has the tools available to inculcate strong faith in teens (but those who tell a \u201cpeculiar God-story\u201d seem to have better tools, e.g., Mormons, fundamentalists).<\/li>\n
    4. Consequential faith has risks (kids want to believe in something worth living and dying for, the subject of Kenda\u2019s last book, Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church<\/em><\/a>).<\/li>\n
    5. We are called to participate in the imagination of a sending God (not to re-invent the church).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I love Kenda\u2019s hope.\u00a0 And, knowing her as I do, I know that her hope is genuine.\u00a0 No one could be involved in denominational Christianity and teach at a place like Princeton Seminary without a few iotas of cynicism, but Kenda has not allowed the discouragements of her ministry and vocation to sully her bright outlook.\u00a0 She really, really does think that the church is the hope of teenagers (and the world!).<\/p>\n

      My question: Is she right, or is Kenda placing too much hope in the church?<\/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. Kenda\u2019s final chapter and conclusion is called, \u201cMake No Small Plans: A Case for Hope,\u201d and in it she attempts to find the good news in […]<\/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":[52,375,445,509,516],"class_list":["post-2236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-youth-ministry","tag-almost-christian","tag-kenda-creasy-dean","tag-mormonism","tag-practicing-passion","tag-princeton-theological-seminary"],"yoast_head":"\nAlmost Christian: Make No Small Plans<\/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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