Age of Conversion and the Faith of the Family

19/04/24

I’ve got one of those—so called— “boring” testimonials. I look back on my life as a disciple of Jesus, and while there have certainly been ups and down and various family members, ministers, school teachers and friends that God has used to spur me on towards love and good deeds, there really hasn’t been a time when I haven’t had an awareness of Jesus as God, Saviour and King.

As a teenager though, I attended a church with a youth ministry that was filled with kids from the local high schools, the majority of whom came from non-faith homes. By God’s kindness and grace, many of these teenagers became Christians, and several of them are still my good friends who I church with to this day.

My friends and I represent two common narratives of becoming Christians. There are many in our churches who have grown up in Christian homes, and while we’ve needed to confirm the faith our parents baptised us into, nevertheless continue in the faith passed down to us since infancy (2 Timothy 3:15). Others in our churches came to Christ from non-Christian homes and typically received Christ during youth ministry years.

I’m sure that these narratives are familiar to you. But I wondered recently if there was anything in the statistical data on faith and conversion that put some more flesh on these anecdotal bones.

The National Church Life Survey is conducted throughout Australia every five years and is the largest and longest-running survey on church and faith in the world. One of the most exciting statistics to come from this survey is the consistent observation that ~80% of Sydney Anglicans became Christians before the age of 20. The reason that this is exciting is that it fuels the recognition and significance of having effective youth and children’s ministry in our churches.

This is where the overwhelming majority of adult Christians first came to know Jesus as Lord and Christ, and where God continues to work today to grow his Kingdom. What a rich blessing children’s and youth ministry is to the Kingdom of God!

In each cycle of the NCLS, Youthworks has the opportunity to ask specific questions to dig deeper into the faith world of children and youth and investigate what God is doing amongst our youngest brothers and sisters in the faith.

In the 2016 NCLS survey, Youthworks specifically asked about the faith commitment of responders’ parents, when they were 15 years old. This gives us an indication of the faith commitments of the household that those in the church grew up in.

Response choices were, (i) Both father and mother committed Christians, (ii) Only father, (iii) Only mother, (iv) One or both nominally Christian, or (v) neither father nor mother Christian.

Here are the results from the 2016 survey for Sydney Anglican responders, shown against the age at which the responder first became a Christian.

Take note of the highlighted sections and the difference in parents’ commitment of faith with respect to the age at which the responder became a Christian. We see that if the household had both parents being committed Christians, then there is a much higher likelihood that the responder became a Christian at a younger age. However, if the household had nominal, or no faith, then the responder was far more likely to become a Christian at an older age, starting in early adolescence and into older adolescence and young adulthood.

What we see, not only resonates with mine and my friends respective stories, but validates the biblical norm, that many of those who become Christian in childhood are doing so in reference to their parents’ faith. Parents are modelling Christian faith to their children and their children are accepting this “passed on” faith (Dt. 6:1-9; Ephesians 6:1-4).

This is God’s good design at work. God’s plan for Christian families is that Christian parents live such a compelling life of faith—in both word and deed, in knowledge and love and obedience to King Jesus—that their children come to know and love and obey King Jesus for themselves.

What we also see is God’s gracious gift of salvation being taken up by adolescents who do not have the Christian faith passed onto them in their household. During adolescence, teenagers will experiment with different beliefs and ideas and will try on different ‘selves’. An important part of this development is the teenager’s differentiation of themselves from the beliefs and ideas of the family.

For those growing up in Christian homes, we want them to be exploring the implications of their household faith for themselves. This can often express itself in doubt, experimentation with other beliefs and faiths, and even walking away from faith. This can be a distressing time for our Christian parents, as they see their children questioning and even walking away from the Christian faith. Whilst we cannot ensure that our children always make the choice for Jesus, we can entrust their faith to the Lord Christ, and pray that His Spirit will continue to call our prodigal children back to himself.

For those who do not walk away from faith, this questioning of the household and childhood faith that they have shared in as children provides an opportunity to grow into an ‘owned’ faith, where the process of doubting, questioning, and experimentation results in a faith that is stronger, more resilient, and more personal for the young adult believer.

For teenagers and young adults growing up in non-faith homes, they will be going through the same differentiation process, but with respect to the non-faith that they have been raised in as children. This is why we see such significant numbers of those who become Christians from non-faith homes doing so during their adolescent years.

Implications

• Celebrate young faith. It is good and right that children from Christian families are expressing their own personal faith in Jesus, even from a very young age.[1] children’s ministry is real ministry. Children’s ministry makes disciples and forms faith in young followers of Jesus. Let us celebrate the faith of children and encourage them to keep living as disciples of Jesus as children.

• Challenge young faith. God does not have grandchildren and there is no guarantee that the children of Christians in your church do have their own personal faith. Celebrating young faith does not mean taking it for granted that every child in your church has made that decision for themselves. Without coercion and in age-appropriate ways, parents and children’s ministry leaders can check in with children and ask them whether or not they have faith in King Jesus.

• Evangelise the lost. In childhood, but much more in adolescence, there are young people from non-faith homes who are moving from darkness to light as they respond to Jesus’ invitation to take part in his Kingdom. As we’ve seen, youth ministry is going to be a key place where this happens as adolescents are at a developmental stage where they can wrestle with the claims of Christ and examine these claims against the values and worldview of their families of origin.

Where does your own story fit into this data? Where do you see God’s faithfulness at work? Perhaps like me you see God’s faithfulness in holding you from infancy into more mature faith. Perhaps you see God’s grace in bringing you from darkness to light from a non-faith household. Perhaps like those who had Christian families, but didn’t become Christians until their young adult or adult years, you see God’s patience displayed in welcoming you back from your “prodigal” years.

Whatever your story, let us continue to pray for the children and teenagers in our churches and communities, that God will evidence his work of salvation in each of their lives.

[1] In the 2021 NCLS 18% of adult Christians in our churches identify become a Christian before the age of 5, and 31% between the ages of 5-14 Kemp, B., & Bellamy, J. (2024). Becoming a Christian: Key Influences on Faith Formation and Retention. A. D. o. Sydney.