Chapter 10

Religious Identity

            Throughout history teenagers have found their identity not only in their cultures, communities, and families, but also in their religion.  In fact, their cultural, community, and family identities were often intertwined with their religious identity.  Being a Jew was a religious as well as a cultural identity.  Likewise, family and community identity concepts were often used in referring to one’s religious identity

Bible Times

            In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 14 begins by talking about family identity:  “You are the children of the LORD your God.”  Thus every Jew knew that he was not only a child of Abraham or a son of David, but he or she was also a child of God.  When people referred to God, they often spoke of him as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

            As we saw in Chapter 8, the ceremonies that developed among the Jews (and still are celebrated today) to turn children into adults were the bar mitzvah and the bat mitzvah.  Part of adulthood was one’s religious identity when he or she literally became a “son of the commandment” or “daughter of the commandment.”  The very first adult act was reading from the Torah—a religious act.  After that the new man wore the tefellin, a religious act as well.  The Jews found their religious identity to be part of their cultural adult identity.

            This emphasis carried over into Christianity in the New Testament.  In just a few verses that Paul wrote to the Romans he repeatedly used family terms: sons of God, Spirit of sonship, Abba  Father, God’s children, we are children, we are heirs, heirs of God,  co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8: 14-17).  These four verses contain eight “family” words relating to a Christian’s religious identity.  Not only is God our father, but Christ is our brother.

            In the Old Testament Deuteronomy 14 continues in verse 2 saying that the Israelites were a people holy to the Lord their God, chosen by the Lord to be his treasured possession.  The Old Testament Jews often prided themselves on being God’s chosen people, people looking for the promised Messiah.  This emphasis is carried over into the New Testament where Peter told the church that they were a chosen people, a people belonging to God, the people of God (1 Peter 2:9-10).  Paul also wrote that God chose us in him before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).  Both the Old Testament Jews and the New Testament Christians found their identity in being God’s chosen people.

USA Years Ago

            For all practical purposes there was just one church for centuries after the beginning of Christianity.  Church leaders made the decisions about what was part of the Christian faith.  These leaders decided how the Bible was interpreted and how people should behave.   The identity of all Christians centered in the existing church at that time.

            A century or two ago in many churches in the United States people called each other “brother” and “sister” whenever introducing or greeting others.  For example, to introduce someone, people said, “Brother Pete, I’d like you to meet Sister Martha.”  When greeting someone at church or on the street, people said, “Good morning, Brother Andrew.  How are you today?”  Of course, this was to acknowledge that Christians were a part of the family of God, children of God.  Children in the same family were brothers and sisters.  People outside the church would be addressed just by their names.  Although this is still the custom in some churches, the majority of people do not use this form of address.

USA Identity Today

            Many things have combined to remove religious identity from people in western culture.  Let us consider some of these.

• Reformation.  The reformer most widely known among TCKs is John Wycliffe who lived in England during the fourteenth century.  Among other things in his teaching theology at Oxford he spread the doctrine that the Scriptures, rather than the church, were the supreme authority.  Mainly the work of his followers, the Wycliffe Bible was the first translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible into the English language.  Although the followers of Wycliffe did not form another church, the power of the church was broken.
• Denominations.  By the fifteenth century these ideas were amplified by John Huss in Bohemia, and he was burned at the stake in 1415 for promoting them.  His followers formed the Hussites.  This was followed in the sixteenth century with Luther in Germany and Calvin in Switzerland, and their theologies became known as Lutheranism and Calvinism.  Several new groups of churches, denominations,  were begun to promote these new interpretations of Christianity, each with their own slightly different Christian identity.
• Independent “Community” Churches.  Denominations flourished and continued to plant churches in new places.  Of course, independent churches have always existed, but with the development of postmodernism in the last half of the twentieth century independent churches sprang up everywhere.  Each of these independent churches have their own set of beliefs, their own different Christian identity.
• Freedom.  The first amendment of the Constitution of the United States says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Although such freedom is good, if democracy continues to spread across the world, there will be fewer and fewer state churches, producing less and less religious identity.
• Pluralism.  Denominations realized that their restricted interpretations of Christianity resulted in some people leaving the church.  They then began promoting diversity and inclusivity so that people who were quite different would remain in the church.

            The invention of adolescence and the lack of identity for teenagers even in the church resulted in many adolescents dropping out of church.  Shortly after the middle of the twentieth century studies showed that attendance at Sunday School increased during elementary school, peaked at about sixth grade, then declined through junior high (middle school) and high school.  More than a third of the students attending Sunday School in late elementary school dropped out by late high school.

            In an effort to stop this loss, the church invented youth ministry.  The church’s response to the invention of adolescence was to create a separate category of people and assign a pastor to care for them.  This was analogous to the creation of Boy and Girl Scouts, boys’ and girls’ clubs, and the government’s invention of 4-H clubs—the creation of a new category of individuals with an older adult to care for them.

What can adolescent TCKs do?

            The only way to get a religious identity is to get involved, learn all you can, and initiate changes where they are needed.  Too often teenagers try to find their identity by only observing what is going on and thinking about things to try to discover who they are.  Observing and contemplating are not wrong, but without getting involved, you will never become a real part of the body, and you will never find that identity.  Some of the ways you can get involved are noted below.

• Become involved in the music ministry of your church.  Join the worship team.  Become a member of the choir.  Play an instrument.  Join the band/orchestra.  Form a musical group that performs the kind of music you enjoy most. 
• Learn about the history of the church.  Find out the background of your own local church.  Even if it is an independent “Bible” or “community” church, it had some kind of background through the people who planted it—they did not just start from nothing.
• Take a position where you can lead others.  Teach or assist in a children’s Sunday School class.  Direct the craft sessions or the recreation time at Vacation Bible School.  Lead a small group of younger teens in a Bible study group or a beginning discipleship group.
• Study the history of your denomination or other group with which your church is affiliated.  Find out what that group does other than “hold church.”  Also look at the group in the light of the history of Christianity from New Testament times to the present.
• Do something that helps in the day-to-day running of the church.  Mow the grass or shovel the snow.  Paint rooms that are getting dingy.  Clean rooms or areas of the grounds.  Help with the children in the nursery.  Become an usher. 
• Read the beliefs (doctrine, theology) that your church promotes.  Look in the Bible for Scriptural principles that support those beliefs.  Become part of a Bible quiz team to learn all about the Bible you can.  Discover how your church fits into Christian identity throughout the Bible.
• Participate in the groups that govern your church.  Attend a board meeting to see how the leaders function.  Become a board member yourself if that is allowed.  Attend denominational gatherings if you belong to one.  Attend the annual meeting of the group to which your church belongs—the  annual conference, general convention, etc.
• Find out about parts of Christianity different from your church.  The best way to understand your own church is to see how it is different from others.  Visit other local churches.  Compare your denomination with another one.  Look at a religion different from Christianity.
• Become involved in a ministry your church has to people outside the church.  Visit people in the hospital.  Join a group holding services in a jail.  Bring cheer to people in a nursing home.  Participate in a short-term mission trip to people in another culture, either in your own country or overseas.
• Take an active role in family devotions in your home.  If your family does not have a family worship time together, ask if you can start one.  Begin by reading the Bible and having prayer together—and you can then expand to whatever your family would like.
• Join some group outside your church.  Athletes become a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  College students become a part of Intervarsity or Campus Crusade.  High school students join Young Life or Youth for Christ.