God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

You've heard that saying before; and I've even seen it on some t-shirts. It sounds nice, and I suppose there's some truth to it. But this slogan is representative of a mindset that has caused a lot of trouble in and for the Church. Specifically, in terms of the overall decline of the Church, it's contributed by negatively impacting the faith of 'churched' kids. This thought process essentially promotes an ignorant faith mentality.

For two consecutive generations we've failed to teach our kids to ask 'why' when it comes to their faith. Instead, we've insisted that they continue with, and not question, traditions and teachings that have been established over time. And as a result, we lament the fact that our kids don't know the Bible (like previous generations) - and they don't. We grumble at the fact that they have a greater interest in fun than their faith - and for the most part they do. Whose fault is that? More importantly, how can that be fixed? And whose responsibility is it to work towards fixing it?

The past two generations place a higher importance on transparency and authenticity than previous generations did. Said another way, where older generations were more obedient, recent generations are more inquisitive. To ignore this reality displays a great deal of ignorance and foolishness, and as we are experiencing the consequences are severe. We've insisted that our kids accept our faith and religious practices without question. At best that's illogical; and at worst, its unscriptural.

If Christ's body is going to continue to flourish, grow and prosper, we must teach our kids that it's not only okay to ask why, but it's their responsibility. And we have to be consistent in the demonstration of our faith. That means that we don't do things just because that's they way we've always done them. We do things because that's pattern and command we have from the NT. And when our sacred cows are challenged we have to be able to defend them with concrete scripture (not quotes from men) and be willing to give them up for our kids sake if we can't defend with them with scripture.

When our faith and religion is truly transparent and authentic to our kids (and our practice matches our words) we'll start to see a change - and the Church will start to grow again. Until then . . .