We review two recent publications concerned with building up young believers.

Maureen Trowbridge reviews ‘Raising Faith’ by Katharine Hill and Andy Frost (2018, Care for the Family/Essential Christian, Foreword by Rob Parsons).

This book is full of heart-warming, moving stories about bringing up children and brims full of brilliant ideas for encouraging them to grow in their personal faith. It will certainly strike a chord with parents who are needing help and guidance in teaching their children to know Jesus for themselves – but will also be relevant to grandparents and indeed anyone involved in raising children to follow the Lord.

Katharine Hill is UK Director of Care for the Family, while Andy Frost is Director of Share Jesus International. Both are parents who know what they are doing – but far from being another brow-beating parenting manual, this is an uplifting, accessible read which will encourage and inspire, often in an entertaining way.

Written conversationally and in a series of short chunks, the book is ideal for dipping in and out of as well as reading all the way through.

In the Foreword, Rob Parsons says: “Raising Faith is incredible because of its simplicity and its determination to help parents of the under-tens plant seeds of faith in their children’s lives. Full of practical ideas, it is all about giving children the opportunity to know about God and have a relationship with Jesus.”

I strongly recommend ‘Raising Faith’ for its down-to-earth wisdom and helpful ideas – it will inspire, bless and challenge you.

‘Raising Faith: Helping our children find a faith that lasts’ (103pp, paperback) is available from the publisher for £4.99.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Millennial Leaders: Research Findings’ (2018, Forge Leadership Consultancy).

This short booklet presents findings from recent research (undertaken between 2017 and 2018) into the opinions of Christian millennials - people born between 1984 and 2000 - in leadership positions across all sectors of UK society.

The project takes a very positive approach towards the millennial generation, seeking to give them a voice and to help organisations and churches understand and appreciate them more. The research took the form of 50 interviews and 442 online surveys covering areas including identity, culture, leadership development, opportunities and challenges, and spirituality. The results are revealing and will be most useful to older leaders seeking to bridge the ‘culture gap’ between the generations.

The results show, for instance, that millennial leaders are most negatively impacted by a fear of failure, and often struggle to strike a healthy work-life balance. They tend to view technology as both a challenge and an opportunity, and prefer ‘on the job’ mentoring to conferences, books and courses. They place a premium on integrity and humility in leadership, and prize strong relationships highly.

As well as statistics and analysis, the booklet also includes personal stories and concludes with recommendations for both young leaders seeking to develop their skills and organisations and churches desiring to support millennials better.

Overall, this is a well-produced piece of research and although the conclusions may not be unexpected, there will be something to be learnt here for everyone.

Click here and scroll down to download the report or to order a paper copy (£5). Find out more at millennial-leader.com.

Gospel opportunity in a changing age.

We often hear dire predictions about the future of Christianity in Britain due to the advanced age of many church congregations. The average age of those attending many British churches today is over 60 and the fear is that as this generation of senior citizens leave this world, more churches will be become redundant.

But a survey published last month paints a different picture and is very revealing about what is going on in the lives of young people.

The survey is in a new book called Faitheism by Dr Krish Kandiah.¹ His survey of young people up to the age of 25 found that 75% say they have no religion. Thus, we have a whole generation of young people who are totally unevangelised – who have no faith at all. But he found that more than half (51%) of this age group reported that they have had a positive experience of the Church and Christianity.

The Church’s Changing Position

This is a significant finding for a number of reasons, not least because it indicates a new openness to Christianity among young people under 25. The reason, according to Dr Kandiah, is that previous generations growing in the 1960s and 70s, at the time of maximum social change in Britain, were involved in the battles to liberalise the nation. At that time, Christianity was seen as being opposed to all the libertarian things that young people wanted. The Church was seen as an oppressor, on the side of the establishment and the ruling elite of the nation, and so naturally to be opposed by ordinary people.

The popular view of the Church of England was that it was the Tory Party at prayer. It was essentially conservative, standing against all forms of social change. This negative view of the Church as the embodiment of opposition to anything that would make life easier and more enjoyable for ordinary people was a great hindrance to the message of the Gospel getting through, especially to young people.

During the 1960s and 70s, the popular view of the Church of England was that it was the Tory Party at prayer. Today, things are different.

Today, things are different. The Church is no longer seen as powerful, as part of the establishment ruling the nation. Christians are no longer seen as posing a threat to the ambitions of the young. There are many stories in the press of Christians losing their jobs for standing by their faith or being prosecuted because of their beliefs.

Incidents like the bakers who refused to bake a cake with a message promoting homosexual marriage have had very positive publicity and young people see these Christians standing up for their beliefs against the oppression of the state. This is a total reversal of the experience of their parents 30 or 40 years ago.

These and many other similar incidents of the hardships experienced by Christians get circulated through social media and the press, causing young people not only to be more open towards Christianity but to be positively interested in finding out more about Jesus. He is seen as an anti-establishment hero who was hated by the authorities even though he only did good.

The Search for Meaning

There are two really interesting sociological facts here. The first is that Britain has only been a multi-faith nation for a single generation. Until the 1960s there were virtually no people of any religion other than Christianity in the UK. Despite the fact that millions of immigrants have come to Britain bringing their religions – Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Islam – there has been no measurable conversion of native British people to these religions. Probably the strongly negative publicity Islam has gained through many acts of terrorism has been influential in this.

Britain has only been a multi-faith nation for a single generation. In that time, young Brits have rejected the faith of their forebears – and they haven’t embraced the other religions now present in the country.

Instead of young people embracing other religions we have three quarters of those under 25 saying that they have no religion at all. The rejection of the religion of their parents has not caused them to seek other religions but simply to reject, or neglect, the faith of their forebears.

The second interesting fact is that the weakening power of the Church has had a positive effect upon more than half of the younger generation, at a time when there is great confusion in the nation. While our politicians are struggling to define what they call ‘British values’, the rest of the populace is experiencing a loss of firm, dependable sources of identity. Secularism is not providing them with the meaning and stability they seek. This is creating a new openness to religious beliefs and values among young people.

This openness, of course, could be dangerous. Jesus told a little parable about a demon being cast out of someone and seven more even more deadly coming in to occupy the vacancy. Openness is great, as long as it is met with truth – otherwise it could lead to even greater delusion.

Now is the Time

This is the challenge to Christians in Britain today: there is an incredible window of opportunity for evangelism, particularly during this time of political and social upheaval due to the Brexit negotiations. Many young people are trying to understand what’s going on in the nation: this is our opportunity to talk about social values, ethical principles and religious beliefs.

Now is the time to talk about the future of Britain outside the European Union. It is the time to talk about the history of Europe, the secularisation of the EU, and the whole subject of values and beliefs. It is the time to talk about the ultimate truths presented in the Bible and the basis of our Christian faith which transforms lives.

There is a new openness to religious belief amongst young people: this is an opportunity Christians must take.

Today there is enormous opportunity for older Christians to communicate their faith to young people. Grandparents are of particular value today in an age of family breakdown. In many families, grandparents are the one stable influence in the lives of children. These grandparents may not have done a very good job in passing on their faith to their children, but they have a second chance now to reach their grandchildren.

If all Bible-believing grandparents were to seize the opportunity of teaching the faith to their grandchildren, the whole social, moral and spiritual situation in Britain could be transformed in a single generation. 

References

1 Faitheism: Why Christianity and Atheism have more in common than you think. Hodder, 2018.

‘There is no occupation', Arab pastor tells shocked young tourists

An international group of millennials have seen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a new light after engaging with both sides – and being shocked by what they discovered.

A party of 11 young people from seven nations were brought together for the chance to understand issues from the point of view of those living there.

They were deliberately not primed to view things from any particular perspective in order to allow them to form their own conclusions through interviews and talks with representatives of both Israelis and Palestinians.

Their three-week trip was recorded on film for a feature-length documentary called Quest 4 Truth, now available on YouTube.

It was produced by Generation 2 Generation, a UK-based organisation founded by Andrew, Daniella and Daphne Kirk committed to inspiring the next generation with an uncompromising passion for Jesus and the Gospel.

Impact of Social Media

The group – from Germany, the USA, the UK, Norway, Japan, Brazil and South Africa – were introduced to community leaders in the Palestinian territories as well as in Israel itself.

Not surprisingly, most of them are strongly influenced by social media which generally portrays a narrative of Israel as big bullies of an oppressed people. Media bias had shaped their perception of the conflict, and they were profoundly shocked to discover that the truth was very different.

“I’ve been lied to,” said one. “You realise how false these stories are,” said another.

The Deputy Mayor of Bethlehem, Essam Juha, was forced to explain why a swastika was inscribed into the fabric of the hotel where they met him. He said it was because Israel had humiliated nations in the same way they had been treated.

“It was so hard for me to keep a straight face”, said Marlea, from New Orleans. “How dare they make that comparison [with the Holocaust]?”

Media bias had shaped the millennials’ perception of the conflict, and they were profoundly shocked to discover that the truth was very different.

After hearing how Palestinians see the Israelis as occupiers of their land, they were taken aback by the response of Arab pastor Naim Khoury, who asked: “What occupation?” And as he turned towards the windows, he added: “Where is the occupation? We are completely under the Palestinian Authority.”

The point was further brought home by a member of the group, who observed: “I have not seen one IDF [Israeli Defence Force] soldier, or Israeli flag.”

They also learnt that the throwing of rocks – and even Molotov cocktails – at Israeli soldiers is seen by Fatah, the PA’s ruling party, as non-violent activity.

Visiting ‘the Wall’

A further learning curve involved meeting Col Danny Tirza, architect of Israel’s notorious security barrier built to keep out terrorists, who said he wanted to be the first to begin taking it down when peace finally came. But in the meantime the murder rate from terrorism had been cut by 90%.

He said that those whose land had been split by the wall – only five per cent of which is concrete, the rest being a much more discreet wire fence – are offered compensation, but refuse to accept it for fear of being labelled collaborators.

Graffiti on the wall betrays the true ambition of Palestinian agitators, with a map showing all of geographical Israel as theirs. They have no wish to share the land, or establish a state beside Israel. They want all of it.

As historian Dr Michael Brown put it: “If the Palestinians put down their weapons there’d be no more war; if Israel put down their weapons, there’d be no more Israel.”

An ex-IDF soldier said: “They use our moral standards against us.” As an example, he explained how a terrorist suspect fled to a crowded residential area, knowing they wouldn’t open fire if civilians were at risk. And when the military had the place surrounded, the fugitive duly appeared on the roof in a bid to escape, at which point they shot him in the leg. But while supporting medics were bandaging him up, the soldiers were pelted with huge rocks. Israelis risk death because of the great value they place on life.

Israelis risk death because of the great value they place on life.

The youngsters hear from Israeli-supporting Stand with Us representative Shevy Kass on a visit to Sderot.Evidence of Apartheid?

Further observations on the Palestinians included – “They are victims of their own hatred” and “They are suffering a lot because of radical people in their community.”

In the southern city of Sderot, meanwhile, a rocket-proof playground has had to be built for children so that when sirens warn of regular incoming missiles from Hamas in nearby Gaza, the kids have an immediate bolt-hole.

The group also visited Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum where a tearful young British woman, Megan, was visibly shocked by the way her country – in charge of the region then known as Palestine – closed the doors to Jews trying to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. And on the question of Israel practising apartheid – a charge widely disseminated by the liberal left – she added: “I haven’t seen any evidence of it.”

Dr Brown emphasised the need for Israel’s self-defence by saying that anti-Semitism levels are as high now as they were immediately before the Holocaust. A Brazilian member added: “I believe the biggest reason for anti-Semitism is lack of knowledge.” And a German youth said: “The greatest enemy of anti-Semitism is the truth.”

Watch the full documentary by clicking here (Christian version) or here (non-Christian version).