Passing the Baton of Faith

I wonder who passed on the baton of faith to you. Was it a parent, a friend, a youth leader or someone else? I wonder what it was about them that made such an impact on you in terms of your early stages of faith. For me, there was a guy called Mark Chapple who ran our youth club and took me along to events. He was, I guess, 12-15 years older than me, a good laugh and yet he took an interest in my life and what I was doing, and pushed me towards Jesus, praying with me and for me.

What does the Bible say about passing on the baton of faith?

Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament there are passages galore encouraging the people of God to pass on faith to their children or to the next generation. I’m always disturbed, though, by this passage in Judges 2:7-10.

Another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. What an absolute tragedy! The people of God who had been in Egypt, in slavery, longing for the promised land. They experienced the incredible plagues in Egypt and their delivery from the hands of Pharoah. They then, despite their moaning and grumbling, see the hand of God through the parting of the sea, the provision in the desert and the tangible presence of God in the pillar of smoke and fire. And, after all this, they actually take the promised land with miraculous victories along the way. And yet, after this incredible journey, with story after story of the deliverance and provision of God, as soon as Joshua and his generation with him passes away, it’s all forgotten. They didn’t know God nor all that He had done for them.

It’s easy for us to look on and judge when we look at this story, isn’t it? We can find ourselves thinking, ‘Well, Joshua didn’t raise up a predecessor as Moses had done with him. It was failed leadership’ or ‘The families who took the land got too comfortable and complacent and started worshipping foreign Gods’. There is some truth to these, however, we need to let it challenge us personally.

There is—right now—a generation growing up in our nation that neither knows the Lord nor what He has done for them. Scripture Union suggests from their research that currently 95% of children and young people in the UK have no meaningful connection with local church. We can again look back and point the finger at previous generations, the war was a big factor—wiping out a generation, the sexual revolution in the 60’s, the rise of consumerism, individualism, social media—we can all come up with loads of reasons and again, there is a bit of truth in all of this. However, I think the challenge for us today is to let our hearts be moved, just like when Nehemiah heard about the state of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter 1.

His response wasn’t to just blame the Babylonians who had destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, but instead he was moved and grieved and fasted and prayed and repented. He cried out to God saying, ‘We God have turned away’, ‘We have sinned’. He took personal and corporate responsibility and allowed himself to be moved. Moved first to feel, then to pray and take responsibility, and then to act.

We have, I believe, a biblical call to pass on the baton of faith to our children—to the next generation. However old we are, whether we have natural children or not, we are called to pass on the baton. The first question, though, is if we will allow God to move our hearts for the next generation.

Lots of studies suggest that around 80% of people who come to faith do so before the age of 18. That is a huge percentage, a statistic that suggests people under 18 are more open to faith than at other ages. We need to prioritise, as a church, reaching this age bracket.

Right now, our experience in SWYM is that young people are more open to the transcendent/something beyond themselves and spirituality than previous generations. We are hearing stories all the time of young people walking into churches after having had a spiritual experience, whether through watching a TikTok video or just whilst going about their day-to-day lives. Generation Alpha (those under 12-13 now) are multiple generations away from those who went to church regularly, so therefore have much less baggage around church. Yes, there is a huge issue with biblical illiteracy, and tolerance being so important means that believing a set of absolute truths can be difficult, but there is a unique opportunity right now to share the Good News of Jesus with those who are interested to hear.

We need those who will come alongside, care about and share about Jesus with children and young people in our communities.

Spiritual mothers and fathers

Paul here is encouraging the Corinthians not just to teach, but to love. He’s saying teaching is of value, but we need more fathers and mothers than teachers. This generation do need teaching, don’t get me wrong, we need to teach the Bible, but this father-less generation needs fathers, needs mothers, needs grandfather and grandmother figures to love them, listen to them, to model Christ to them. We need to help young people navigate the complicated world they find themselves in. Paul is saying we need teachers but, more than that, we need mothers and fathers.

So how do we, as ministry leaders, empower our church families to take responsibility for passing on the baton of faith?

It starts by building a culture of discipleship, encouraging others simply to be interested in young people—learn their names, ask questions.

In my previous church we had a system where, when a child turned 12 years old, they were given a mentor in the church who usually wasn’t the youth worker. A member of the church family would commit to meeting them every fortnight to disciple, listen, and pray with them. We found this integrated the young people into the church more and irradicated any sense of divide between old and young. I, personally, am always trying to be mentoring at least 3 people - choosing to invest in 3 lives intentionally to try and pass the baton of faith on. We have to be safe, safeguarding is so important, but we can mother and father through mentoring in public spaces.

If this would be too much for your community right now, consider how you might create spaces for intergenerational relationships to flourish. Is there opportunity to sit with young people on Sunday? Do you intentionally communicate to your church how they can be praying for the children and young people in the community?

If we are called to pass on the baton of faith to the next generation then the church must prioritise creating environments where children and young people feel seen, known, and loved. Children’s and youth ministry can’t be isolated—it should be a community effort. As ministry leaders, we can make a significant difference in the lives of young people by creating systems, relationships, and spaces where they are not only taught but also loved and mentored in their walk with Christ.

So, let’s start asking the adults in our communities the question: Who could you be a spiritual mother or father to? Who is God inviting you to draw alongside?

Perhaps, as we empower each other to start the journey of investing one life into another, the next generation who comes after us will not be able to say that they knew nothing of the Lord nor what He had done for them.

Paul Friend is the director of SWYM (South West Youth Ministries) where he has been involved for over 25 years. He is passionate about the South West of England and seeing God move in the lives of children and young people in that part of the world.

Paul is married to Jo and has two teenage boys and, when not involved in ministry or renovating their house, loves any sport with a round ball and a good curry and a movie.