The Truth about Churches Discipling Children and Teens
The truth about churches discipling children and teens is they are doing so in a religious transmission ecosystem that includes and depends upon parents, schools, peers, media and social media, and other adult influences.
This might be good news for some church leaders, knowing that local churches do not carry the sole responsibility for discipleship. Countless research studies show that parents, not churches, play the most important role to pass on religious identity, belief, behaviour, and saliency to their children. Children are more likely to follow suit when both parents share the same religious faith and when parents model, instruct, and dialogue about the Christian faith in the home. As one religious leader told me, “I sleep well at night because this is not my primary responsibility. This is yours [parents] … the primary education in the faith is the parents and the family … we’re there to support and to give the sacraments, and it’s the families that are really called to … educate in the faith.”
Yet, these realities might cause concern because church leaders may not see parents who are equipped for the task plus church leaders simply want to play a more prominent role as the authoritative experts. I recently published an article, “Planting Seeds: The Catholic Parish in the Religious Transmission Ecosystem,” where I outline how one Catholic parish defines the aims of religious transmission with the next generation, how the parish seeks to help toward these ends, followed by the challenges and subsequent responses congregations confront.
The crux of my argument is that while the local congregation sees parents at the center of disciplining the next generation, with churches and Christian schools playing supportive roles, a perceived problem is that parents or teachers are not terribly invested in their own spiritual formation (i.e., low levels of religiosity) and thus those of the children entrusted to them. In response, the local church is simultaneously seeking to shape not only children, but their parents, teachers, and other adult influences to, in turn, play a more active and effective role in discipling children and teens. But church leaders know that their efforts are akin to “planting seeds,” hopeful that something takes root and grows for parents and their children.
This conundrum is not unique to Catholics. It applies in mainline Protestant, conservative Protestant, and Orthodox communities too, though to varying degrees and for different reasons. Parents might send their children to Sunday School or catechism classes but not attend services themselves or encourage religious belief or participation in the home. As one interviewee told me, “Come in, here are your sacraments, never see the family again. Never mind, the kids, you never see the parents again … this is the uphill battle that we’ve got.”
Mindful that parents remain critically important, I conclude with several ideas where churches can help children and teens “believe, behave, and belong” as religious groups might wish. These opportunities emerge from my own research plus many other studies that show higher retention rates in conservative Protestant settings especially.
- Strengthened collaboration between congregations, parents, and schools (e.g., church leaders provide mid-week supports for religious transmission at home or lead classes in schools).
- Ministries that encourage participatory and experiential engagement.
- Leadership and ownership opportunities.
- Service projects.
- Camps and mission trips.
- Community formation with peers.
- Meaningful relationships with non-parent adult influences/mentors.
- Formal Christian education or discipleship development.
- Serious and honest engagement with contemporary social issues.
- Enjoyable programming.
- Paid staff to lead children and teen ministry.
Joel Thiessen
Joel Thiessen is professor of sociology and director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. The Stories Congregations Tell: Flourishing in the Face of Transition and Change is available at WipfAndStock.com and Amazon.ca.
