After
my exam, I scanned displays filled with the latest fashion frames. I always
have trouble making this decision, so I was glad hubby accompanied me.
After
about 15 or so minutes, I narrowed my search down to 3 choices. Then I spotted
another! Oh, they were lovely! I laughed as I told Brian, “Looky here! These
are a Sophia Loren design! I wonder if I’d be as beautiful as she is if I chose
these!”
The
assistant at the fitting desk overheard me. “Who’s Sophia Loren?”
I was
surprised, not having considered anyone didn’t know who this mega-movie
star was. “You don’t know who Sophia Loren is???”
Nope,
she didn’t. Then I considered her age. She’d likely lived about 1/3 of the
years I’d been alive.
So, I
felt obligated to give her a brief education (which may have included the word
bombshell). “She was a knock-out beauty of a movie star back in the…well, a long
time ago.” I realized now I was defining my age, like my whitish hair hadn’t
already done so?
Brian
searched for a photo on his phone and found one to show the girl.
“Wow!
She really was beautiful!”
“Still
living, I think. She’s even got her looks in her 80s.”
Okay.
This influencing the frames I chose, I settled on the Sophias! How could I not!
When
we went to the car, Brian and I chatted about the younger generations of today,
all they don’t know, and how we sounded like a couple of…well, maybe like our
grandparents did when they talked about us.
Yet another
“episode” took place between our granddaughter and me. While Avery and I cooked
together during a visit, she broke into a country song.
“You’re
like a junior Trisha Yearwood!” I shared.
“Who’s
Trisha Yearwood?” my young granddaughter asked.
“You
don’t know who Trisha Yearwood is??? She’s a famous country music singer
who also has a cooking show, and she’s got a great sense of humor too. A lot
like you.”
Avery
just shrugged and chattered away. “I like Billie Eilish.”
“Who’s
Billie Eilish?” I asked.
“Grandma! You don’t know who Billie Eilish is???”
We
both laughed and high-fived!
These
conversations reminded me of something else though—very much unrelated to
Sophia Loren, Trisha Yearwood, or Billie Eilish—and INFINITELY more
important—but on the same theme—youth now not knowing what we learned quite
well when we were growing up.
Startling
examples of this have been visible over the decades we’ve conducted Bible clubs
and VBSs in churches. Over the years, a large gap revealed to us that kids, for
the most part, are either not grounded in their faith or have no or little
knowledge of it. (This is magnified even more when it comes to secular kids.)
I
remember teaching the Christmas story in a Baptist church 10+ years ago. Most
the kids grew up in that church although they weren’t regular attendees. When I
mentioned Jesus’ mother…
One of
the boys asked, “Who was his mother?”
I was shocked
but tried hard not to show it. “Mary. Her name was Mary.”
“Oh,”
he said.
I
realized then, I needed to start over and cover much more territory.
This
isn’t an isolated incident. It’s happened repeatedly.
The
point here: Don’t assume the young can put all the pieces together regarding
the Word of God because they might not be able to, lacking a firm foundation.
Ken
Ham of Answers in Genesis puts it this way (not just about youth but
about all humankind): That we formerly lived in a Hebrew world—the one
my husband and I grew up in—when, even if children didn’t know a lot about the
Bible, they still had a knowledge of God and a respect and honor of Him. This
may have been because our public schools still included Him in the start of our
days. More children attended church then, and sound family still mattered.
Teaching
youth Bible differed. The kids had some basis of understanding of what may now be
considered archaic or Christianese.
But
then times changed…
…and
we became, as Ken Ham explains, a Greek world where there are many gods and so
much is foreign—literally like speaking a different language to those who are
generations younger than us.
The
way we teach the Truth now differs, but the Truth itself—Himself unchanged.
Maybe
this post will be a bit of an insight to those of you who are trying to reach
the younger generation and feel like they “just don’t get it” because maybe
they just don’t. If you’re presenting Bible, try different ways of
reaching them without compromising. It is possible to do but will
require more time, work, and patience.
But
don’t give up! You can reach the youth in so many ways that don’t disregard
honor and respect to God and don’t cross the line into anti-God culture.
The
young need foundation stones to stand on, just like we did. They’re slipping
and searching for those but don’t even know what to call them, yet alone know how
to stand firm.
Teachers,
pastors, youth leaders, parents—you are in my prayers!
A song relaying core beliefs as stated in
the Westminster Confession:
Westminster Confession of God -
Official Lyric Video
P.S.—I recently found this quote in a book
about the British Broadcasting Corporation and the argument whether to change
their approach in telling the Christmas story as it always had been broadcasted
up until, during, and after World War II or to consider the other end of
the spectrum—new territory—
“...where a large and most youthful public
to whom the whole story of Jesus
is terra incognita—children who do not
know the meaning of Christmas,
men and women to whom the name of Christ
is only a swear-word—besides a
considerable body of agnostics and
semi-Christians who accept some incidents
of the story and firmly disbelieve the
rest…”
–Dorothy Sayers to the BBC, 1941
Here
are a few helps for reaching youth:
Celebrate
Kids with Dr. Kathy Koch
Living
Waters/The Way of the Master with Ray Comfort. Kirk Cameron, & Todd Friel
BCM
Int’l, Inc. Mission Board—resources available along with teacher training
information
#eyeglasses #cooking #youth
#differentgeneration #biblicalfoundations
#KenHam #AnswersinGenesis #hebrewworld
#greekworld #teachingmethods
#Truth #standfirminfaith
#WestminsterConfession
#CelebrateKids #LivingwatersWayoftheMaster
#BCMintlinc
Photo
Credit: Pexels
Quote
from C.S. Lewis in a Time of War by Justin Phillips
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