Moralistic therapeutic Deism

Hi Team,

I'm busy reading a book on how the church in the US has lost much ground to teenagers called Almost Christian and I have seen much of these issues in our own teenagers in South Africa as I have ministered among them for the last 13 years.

The book makes the following tough point that I am convinced is very true: It is not that we've not taught people well, the problem is that we have taught them well, but we've often taught the wrong things. The church has often taught an ineffective gospel, a self fulfilment ideology and a message about faith in Jesus that has no substance, no call to holiness and no real effect in the world.

In short the church has taught a hollow form of the real deal about the cost and call of following Jesus and living for him.

This has been termed by some thinkers as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and according to 'Almost Christian' it looks like this:

1. A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth

2. God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other as taught in the bible and in most world religions

3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself

4. God is not really involved in life except when I need him to resolve a problem

5. Good people go to heaven when they die

I see this in our PVFC teenagers...last night when I asked them to pray a prayer to God praising him for some character attribute they battled to do it...they can easily thank him for stuff he does. But they really struggled to worship him as glorious, kind, compassionate, great, holy, jealous, perfect, just, truth, light, hope, creator, eternal , immortal righteous, magnificent, all knowing and all powerful God!!!.

It seems that they have lost the language of worship and see God a s needs provider...ouch, that hurts!

So what do we believe as opposed to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism listed above?

1. There is a God who created everything through Jesus his Son and he is intricately involved in all life on earth

2. God wants people to worship him through Jesus death and resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit

3. The central goal of life is to glorify Jesus and to live for him as witnesses to his power in everything that we do

4. God is sovereign ruler over all things, times, places and people and wants to be involved in all parts of our lives

5. People who live in faith in Jesus go to be with him when they die

I don't want PVFC to fall into the same trap...so let's keep it real – let's give our kids and those in our homegroups and whomever else we minister to Jesus and not half the story of following him. To follow Jesus is a radical life affirming and world changing thing and we've got to help our kids buy into that Truth!