Passing Down Christianity and Adult Children
Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering a Biblical Vision for Lifelong Discipleship comes out in a month. I’m excited about my first book, which is being published by Baker Books. You find it for pre-order for 40% off with free shipping at BakerBookHouse.com, and also on pre-order and discounted on Amazon and Westminster Books.
Ryan Burge has a good article examining weekly religious service attendance based on birth cohort — how frequently people born in a five year period (e.g. 1950-1954) attended religious services at different stages of life. He tests a common theory called the “life cycle effect”, which says that kids are raised religious, drift away from religion in their chaotic young adult years, return to church when they have their own kids, and then once their kids move out either stick with church or walk away from it.
Most pastors have seen the latter possibility play out time and time again. I know I have. When parents are in church for the sake of their kids they leave once their kids are “done”. In most of these cases I’ve observed that both children and parents subsequently walk away from the faith…
Keeping Kids Christian Pre-Order!
I have a new page on my site, which is dedicated to my upcoming book, Keeping Kids Christian!
“This book is a must-read for parents, pastors, and congregations who need help with what it takes to intentionally partner with God’s Spirit to create in children and their families a discipleship that lasts a lifetime. Keeping Kids Christian offers a robust corrective to the viral dechurching of twenty-somethings walking out of the sanctuary and never returning.”
-Robbie Castleman, author of Parenting in the Pew and Story-Shaped Worship
Announcing Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering a Biblical Vision for Lifelong Discipleship! You find it for pre-order for 40% off with free shipping at BakerBookHouse.com, and also on pre-order and discounted on Amazon and Westminster Books.
The aim of the book is to provide the church with tools to help end the mass departure of our children from the faith. The rate of deconversions, dechurching, and the rise of the Nones has been significant, and my hope is that Keeping Kids Christians will speak to both the theological and practical aspects of preserving our children in a sincere and living faith.
While I wrote the book from a self-consciously Reformed perspective, it is intended and crafted to be useful to Christians of all denominational traditions. It marries the best of my theological heritage with both the best insights from the most recent sociological research on faith retention and practical experience as a minister and dad. It comes out February 24th; pre-order it today!…
