The “How-To” Book is Done
There is a world of difference between a “how to” book and a how book. The “how-to” is more accessible, but the how will endure.
One of the constant realities of pastoral ministry is that people want you to tell them what to do. Or more specifically, they want you to tell them how to apply and put into practice the principles of whatever your teaching. They want practical checklists. This can become a tension point for a preaching whose theological orientation is towards grace, i.e. what God does. I speak from experience!
I am much more wired to speak naturally about the what and how, not the “how-to”. It’s easier for me to focus on the description of a reality than to shift into the therefore prescription.
This applies to writing as well: when I pitched to the publisher the book that became Keeping Kids Christian, I presented it as a how book; in fact, the original title was How Our Kids Stay Christian…
Passing the Torch So Kids Are Kept Christian
My focus has been elsewhere lately, but in the last few months three significant studies on childhood-to-adulthood faith retention have been published, all which validate the arguments laid out in Keeping Kids Christian.
The Experience of God’s Love in Children. World Vision and the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University studied how children experience the love of God. Christianity Today has a good write-up of the study. This is slightly different than the question of faith retention, but the “how” covers the same territory: the relationship between children and adults. The study found that children experience the love of God through their families, particularly their parents. Kids understand God’s love, not in abstract categories, but in concrete, relationally grounded human connection. Parents, families, and the adults of the church providing care and guidance is crucial for kids understanding the love of God. All people grab onto models for thinking of God, and kids inherently look to their parents to be that template.
Childhood Experiences with Adulthood Religious Outcomes. Published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, the authors looked at preexisting data sets to examine seven childhood factors: parental marital status, conversations about faith with parents, childhood religious service attendance, mother/father religious service attendance, and the quality of the relationship with one’s mother/father…
