To ask parents, educators, and pastors:
1. Does sharing your faith with teenagers (or your own children) feel intimidating? Why or why not?
2. Dean uses the work of Biblical scholar Walter Brueggeman to describe two kinds of conversations that are important for Christians to have: “behind the wall” conversations (for talking with other Christians, using the church’s distinctive language, symbols, and assumptions) , and “on the wall” conversations (for talking with non-Christians, using language, symbols, and assumptions of the broader culture).
- Do you think your congregation does a better job preparing young people for “behind the wall” or “on the wall” conversations? Why? What is gained/lost by that emphasis?
- Which conversation is easier for you? Why?
- Which conversation is easier for teenagers? Why?
3. Look at the distinction between belief and trust on pp. 118-119.
- How would you describe your own faith? Are you more of a believer or a truster? Does it matter?
- What about the teenagers you know? Are they more likely to believe in Jesus Christ or to trust Jesus Christ? Why?
4. “Somewhere along the way, an adult in your life—a parent, a grandparent, perhaps—shared something with you for no reason other than the sheer joy of sharing with you something he or she loved, hoping you would delight in it too.”
- Can you think of something an adult life shared with you for the sheer delight of having you share their joy? Did you delight in it with them? Was faith one of those things?
- What would change if your church recruited adult volunteers with youth on the basis of sharing a God they love versus sharing a faith they know about? (page 120)
5. “We learn best what we love most.” Is sharing faith a labor of love? (page 122-123)
6. React to Dean’s statement:
“If we say we want to translate the gospel with young people, this is what we are saying: we are willing to put the very power of the gospel itself—the very power of the Word of God—into the hands of teenagers, people who do not view culture the way we view culture, who do not hear God the way we hear God, who will not worship the way we worship, who will not ‘do church’ the way we want them to simply because they will be listening to Jesus and not to us.”
What might happen if teenagers get their hands on the gospel in your congregation? (page 130)
To ask teenagers:
1. Does your family talk about faith together? Is it easy for your parents to talk about their relationship with God?
2. Read the Charles Blondin story about belief versus trust on pp. 118-119. Do you believe Jesus or trust Jesus? Why?
3. Do you feel like your congregation trusts you with the gospel? Why or why not?
