I’ll never forget the first time I encountered cotton candy.
There it was in all of its colorful and sugary glory at an amusement park. The attendant was circling the bowl to make this humongous ball of cotton candy. My mouth was watering. It looked amazing!
And then…I bit into it. And there was literally nothing to it! It had no substance. It evaporated in my mouth. I was so disappointed!
To this day, I’ve never bought another cotton candy for myself (yes, I did give in and buy it for our kids once, but they quickly realized their snack dollars were better spent elsewhere!).
Lesson learned. Appearances can be deceiving!
The more I reflect on it, the more I think that’s what’s going on with much of what is called ‘Christianity’ today. It looks really good and uses the right buzz words but then there’s nothing to it. Not much substance and it simply evaporates.
A Generation of Almost Christians
We are raising a generation of almost Christians. I think that explains some of the numbers we are seeing when it comes to youth. Yes, some students do walk away from the faith (about 50% disengage from their faith during the college years and many don’t appear to be coming back). But honestly, some never really had a substantial faith to begin with–that was there’s anyway. They didn’t own it.
Kenda Dean, author of Almost Christian observes:
“A significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that it is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition. It is not so much that U.S. Christianity is being secularized. Rather, more subtly, Christianity is either degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or, more significantly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a different religious faith.”
I see this first hand when I work with students and parents. And this breaks my heart.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be almost Christian.
God has called us to more than Cotton Candy Christianity.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2
This year let’s do something about that together. Let’s pray. Let’s dream. Let’s think. And then let’s act.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be almost Christian.
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In the days ahead we will be talking about how to do that.
Your Turn: What do you dream for this year when you think about your spiritual growth?
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A quick response to the “who are you to judge” objection.
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