Forming Faith
Written by Matt Markins, Mike Handler, and Sam Luce, Forming Faith teaches you how to disciple the next generation in a post-Christian culture. Instead of shielding or entertaining children, we need to form them.
Gospel and Scripture
In a chapter that resonated deeply with me, the book compares the two kingdoms of Walt Disney and Fred Rogers. While Walt created an escape from the real world, Fred lived in a neighborhood and showed kids how to navigate the real world. Where Walt entertained, Fred empowered. Walt was concerned about your experience; Fred was concerned about who you were becoming.
Three resets are needed: (1) Who matters more than what, (2) real transcends virtual, and (3) small is the new big. The book explains how relational presence transcends production value. We must show up, listen, and insist on intimacy. Tell your kids the truth, and don’t forget you were a kid once – as was Jesus.
The old map of children’s ministry focused on church growth, entertainment, relevance, and a “Bible-lite” approach. This leads to legalism, moralism, and moralistic therapeutic deism. The new map is actually an old map. It consists of faithfulness, lasting faith, community, and engagement with the gospel and Scripture.
Discipleship is a Dialogue
The authors argue that the single most strategic opportunity to form faith is to move the perceived deadline of spiritual formation from high school graduation to as early as possible. World formation takes place between preschool and elementary school. By the time a child reaches middle school, an entire worldview has already been established.
Church leaders can strike a better balance between formal training and informal conversations to encourage, train, and develop parents through deliberate discipleship. This will help parents feel confident and equipped to disciple their children. The book also suggests changing the language, especially from “children’s ministry” to “children’s discipleship.” Partnering with families, emphasizing the urgency of the eternal, and fostering intergenerational connections are also helpful.
I was particularly interested in the idea that there is a cost to discipleship that families must consider. Families need to realize that they must own their schedules or their schedules will own them. Discipleship is not a monologue but a dialogue. Forming Faith challenged and inspired my approach to children’s ministry—rather, children’s discipleship—both at church and in the home.
I received a media copy of Forming Faith and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.