I came across a little booklet by Richard Stevenson, “My Story, His Story.” His story is that he grew up in an unchurched home on the south side of Chicago. “I arrived home from elementary school that afternoon with a form to fill out. Although the purpose of the form has disappeared from my memory bank, I do recall sitting at the kitchen table trying to fill in the answers to each question. One of the questions puzzled me. It asked, ‘What religion are you?’ Being stumped, I called out to my mom, ‘What religion are we?’ She gave me a one-word answer, ‘Protestant.” I gave her a two-word response: ‘Spell it!’ Today, I fondly look back on that ad hoc conversation as my catechism – the sum total of religious education received in my childhood.”
When he was 15, Mr. Stevenson was invited to a party by his friend Chuck. “As it turned out, the only person I knew at the party was Chuck. Thankfully, by the end of the evening, I had made a dozen or so new friends. Then came the big surprise! The kids throwing the party—who seemed quite normal otherwise—were members of a youth group from a local church! Not only that, they seemed to have no embarrassment about admitting that they attended church every week.” And they invited him, he started going to church, went to Moody Bible Institute, and became a missionary to New Guinea.
I suspect that young people in grade schools and high schools today are doing the same thing, making friends, learning their stories, and introducing them to “His Story.” Thank God.
Comments