Times have changed…

Posted by Kacy Fabie on Sep 3, 2010 in Daily Bread | 4 comments

I grew up during the Christian boom of WWJD bracelets, tacky Christian t-shirts, and having the Ikhthus, aka “Jesus Fish” on my car. At the time none of this phased me. I was a highschooler who NEEDED this kind of “STUFF” in my life to keep me on the “RIGHT PATH” with God, or at least I thought I did. I would attend Christian concerts with friends, go to church 3 times a week, I was the VP of the Bible Study club on my secular high school campus, and I more or less told people I was “Married to God” and had no interest in dating. Most Christians thought I was the “Perfect Christian,” and most Non-Christians learned that “going to church” was “just my thing,” and they accepted me for who I was and vise versa.

So with the above said, you would assume that my family was a cookie cutter Christian family, but this was not the case. In fact, they really just “believed in God,” while having no personal relationship with Jesus, and no desire to really attend church “religiously” like I did. Both my parents grew up in very “religious” families and by the time they were married and grown, they were just really sick of the “hypocrisy” of the church. They accepted the fact that I became a Christian on my own by the influence of a friend, and that I was into God and church, just like a kid might be into sports or music. Several times a year they would go to church with me to support me and my way of life, but really not for anything other than out of their love for me (today both my parents are Jesus followers and have been for several years).

A report by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released on April 27, 2009 makes connections between how actively involved kids were in their churches as children and teens and how likely they were to leave the faith in which they were raised. In looking back at the beginning years of my faith, I’ve at times, questioned the authenticity of it. Was it a fad I was into? Was I really a Jesus follower or was I simply mesmerized by the culture of Christianity? Did I become a Christian to try and be perfect? Was it an escape from the crazy things that were starting to evolve in my family life? And when I put it all together I say, “YES” to all those questions. But at the same time, I do believe that my faith was as authentic then as it is today and this is the very reason I have not “fallen from my faith” and why I did NOT become one of the 65-94% of high school students who stopped attending church after high school. Times have changed, and the way I was able to experience Jesus 10 years ago, in what I now consider cheesy and almost ridiculous, worked for me as a teenager, but really doesn’t even come close to what brings kids to Jesus today. It’s really just getting back to the basics: 1. teach Jesus 2. kids AUTHENTICALLY accept Jesus 3. students allow Jesus to change their heart 4. Jesus will not only be the “Creator in the days of your youth,” but for eternity.