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Sunday, October 20, 2002
Sermon: "Faithfully Yours"
Scripture: I Thessalonians 1: 1-10
Reverend Larry Gerber

American children are abandoning Barbie dolls at ever-younger ages, and there's a danger that they will ditch their faith as well. What can be done to help kids grow beyond a childish faith and become vital, active adult believers?

Do you play with Barbie dolls much?

This is not a question for the men of the church. It is really a question for pre-teen girls.

Not long ago, elementary-school girls would respond with a resounding "Yes!" But these days, if you expect an affirmative answer, you are probably about a generation behind the times.
When a 9-year-old named Andrea was recently polled about playing with Barbies, she replied, "Not really," wrinkling her nose and rolling her eyes, projecting deep disdain. She was standing at a music rack at a mall, where she'd found a Backstreet Boys album on sale.

Barbie is "really more for 6 and under," explained this little girl, as she pawed through the pop music of Aaron Carter and Britney Spears. Andreas' two younger siblings were right there with her, begging their mom for CDs.

According to recent studies, American kids are abandoning not just Barbie, but also most other traditional toys, at ever-younger ages.

It used to be, for instance, that girls in Andrea's age range, 6 to 10, were the prime market for Barbie and other dress-up dolls. But in 2002, Barbie is really big only with 3-to-5-year-olds. After that, she's considered pretty babyish.

The toy business has a name for this phenomenon: age compression. It's a deep worry to the industry, as you can imagine, because it has shrunk the market for baby dolls, action figures and other mainstays. Never mind the financial fortunes of toy makers, though: According to some parents, psychiatrists and child advocates, age compression hurts children. They worry that this cultural shift is robbing kids of their childhood.

Perhaps we live in an age of shrinking faith. According to pollster George Barna, church attendance among women is dropping - since 1991 the number has gone down 22 percent. Likewise, the number of female church volunteers has declined by 21 percent. On the whole, our nation's church attendance is on a downward slope, with 60 percent of Americans reporting that they attended services on a monthly basis in 1991, dropping to 55 percent in 1998.

The problem is especially acute among the young. Think of the children who go to Sunday school until they are confirmed, and then never show up for Christian education again. Or the young men and women who grow up attending services with their families, but then become invisible - reappearing only at Christmas, or for brief periods after personal crises. According to sociologist Dean Hoge of Catholic University, 75 percent of Presbyterians drop out of active church membership after confirmation, a number that would be matched by most mainstream Protestant denominations.

Seventy-five percent. That's a stunning statistic. You've got to wonder: Why isn't our faith as strong as it used to be?

Perhaps teenagers today consider Sunday school to be "babyish." Perhaps the growth of the wage-earning work force has drained the old church volunteer pool dry. It could be that some adults have come to think of church as being useful at an earlier age, but now no longer relevant.

We're experiencing some faith compression, for sure, somewhat similar to the age compression that is tormenting our toy makers.

Although, the toy makers can get on the band wagon real quick. The Rally Monkey is selling like hot cakes in California, especially in Anaheim, where you can see signs all over town: "Believe in the power of the monkey!" The Rally Monkey idea was conceived on June 6, 2000, reflecting on the movie: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. It has taken off, as it appears to be working for the Angels, putting them in the world series. If the team wins the world series, it will make believers out of several thousand fans, and perhaps a few thousand believers out of those on the loosing side as well.

Just think where the church might be today, if only we had a Rally Monkey.

Paul was the rally monkey in the early church. Just look at his letter to the Thessalonians. He gave thanks to God for all of the Thessalonians, remembering before God their "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:2-3). These committed Christians took the word of the Lord to Macedonia and Achaia and other regions as well, and they became known for their willingness to turn to away from idols in order "to serve a living and true God" (vv. 8-9).

So, what was their secret? How did they grow beyond a babyish faith and become vital, active, adult servants of a living and true God?

In a phrase: good role models. Paul led the rally; they believed in him, and his words. They followed him, and acted on his faith and good works.

Paul takes credit for being a good example when he reminds them that he, Silvanus and Timothy brought them the message of the gospel "not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." You remember, he tells them, just "what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake" (v. 5).

But this good role modeling did not end with Paul and his colleagues. No, in this letter, Paul reports that the Thessalonians "became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia" (vv. 6-7).

The key to their success: They followed mature Christian role models, and then became good examples themselves. Because they moved from being imitators to leaders, they progressed beyond a babyish spirituality to an experience of genuine faith expansion.

Role modeling is every bit as essential now as it was then, and it is up to us to rise to the challenge. We are not going to see strong Christian commitment among our teenagers unless confirmation classes include the mentoring of young people by older, spiritually mature members. These pairs of younger and older Christians have to talk, study, worship and perform service projects together, and then move beyond theological book work to gain an understanding of what it means to be a committed, faithful follower of Christ today.

This approach is perfectly in tune with the ultimate goal of faith expansion: a whole-life faith that will constantly be in the process of growing and maturing. Faith expansion is not finished at age 13 - the age at which Christian confirmations and Jewish bar mitzvahs tend to occur - if anything, it is only beginning.
Yesterday, we spent a few hours together, assessing who we are, and what direction we want to go. What do you need from your leadrs in order to begin a rally? How can we grow in the faith? How can we be the witness to those younger generations, who see so much of life as childishness, yet get excited when they see the rally monkey at a ball game.

From the Jewish perspective, Rabbi Philip Pohl of Olney, Maryland, has offered an innovative and inspired suggestion for lifelong faith development. Beginning with the bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah performed for Jewish boys and girls at age 13, he suggests that a similar celebration be held at 13-year intervals throughout all of life: Not just at age 13, but at ages 26, 39, 52 and 65. A renewal of faith, every 13 years.

What a marvelous model for lifelong faith expansion! Just think of the opportunities for spiritual growth. With the help of mature role models, our members could be reconfirmed as they start their careers at age 26 ... as they hit their midlife crises at 39 ... as they experience the empty nest at 52 ... and as they move into retirement at 65. Each stage brings new challenges and opportunities for faithful living, as well as for sharing in the ministry of the congregation. This would eliminate the current fiction that we are somehow equipped at age 13 to take on the religious resources needed to deal with the many difficult issues of life. It would also bring us closer to the example of the early church, in which the Thessalonians became imitators of Paul and the Lord, and then became an example to all the believers in their region.

Would a typical 21st-century American congregation support such a system? It's hard to say. Most people tend to avoid adult education, and they put little pressure on their children to continue Sunday school after confirmation. But Rabbi Pohl says that there is precedent for a mature reaffirmation of commitment, at least in the Jewish community. If a man lives to age 83 - the biblical life expectancy of 70 years, plus an additional 13 - he is given the opportunity to re-enact his bar mitzvah. This celebration is a powerful expression of commitment to faithful living - a testimony that faith can expand and new life can be found, even in old age.

Chances are, in most congregations there are a good number of adults who would like to reaffirm their faith. The Rally Monkey does not appear at the game until the 5th inning, a little past the half way mark. We reach the half way mark in life somewhere around 45 years of age. That is a crucial age. Bring on the Rally Monkey before it is too late, and we lose sight of the excitement we had in church as youngsters.

We need to keep in mind that faith is caught, not taught - passed on only by coming into contact with people who believe. That's why we all require the role modeling of people like Paul, Silvanus, Timothy and the Thessalonians, as well as the examples of countless saints that we encounter over the course of our lifetimes. There is no stage in life in which any of us is exempt from the necessity of growing and maturing in our faith, and there is no stage in which we don't need ongoing mentoring. At the same time, there is almost always an opportunity for us to be a good example to someone coming along behind us.

This activity is not just for Sunday-school kids, you see, not designed primarily for 3-to-5-year-olds. There's nothing babyish about it.

Faith needs to expand through all of life, long after we've said bye-bye to Barbie. We need a rally monkey every so often. We need a renewal of faith at least every 13 years. We need to remember that we are children, God's children, and we should act accordingly.
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Sources:
Baptists Today. April 2000, 12.
Shen, Fern. "Toys? But I'm 10 now!" The Washington Post, February 17, 2002, H1.
Wesleyan Advocate, March 2000, 13.

Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766