Rev Norman Hamilton: Christianity is not being backed up at home and passed down the generations

A letter from Rev Norman Hamilton:
By Letters
Published 4th Feb 2023, 06:47 BST
Updated 4th Feb 2023, 07:30 BST
We are rarely taught within our churches how to deal with the very real secular objections to our faith to which our children, our wider family, our friends and colleagues are exposed every dayWe are rarely taught within our churches how to deal with the very real secular objections to our faith to which our children, our wider family, our friends and colleagues are exposed every day
We are rarely taught within our churches how to deal with the very real secular objections to our faith to which our children, our wider family, our friends and colleagues are exposed every day

It is hard to dispute the recent remarks by Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance on the 'ageing' of the Christian community (‘Christians an ageing and shrinking group,’ January 31).

However, a comment from Prof Linda Woodhead, Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London, goes a long way to explaining why.

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She said that some of the decline is ‘about not passing on religion to your children. In Christianity, faith was not being passed down generations, whereas “it’s happening much more effectively in Islam and Hinduism”.

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This has caused me to ask if many of us in the Protestant denominations have all too readily out-sourced the Christian education of our children and young people to Sunday School / Bible class / youth fellowships / Scripture Union / Bible clubs and summer camps.

I have been involved in all of these over the years, and it has been both a joy and a privilege to do so. But am I being unduly alarmed or critical that the wonderful influence of such groups seems so rarely backed up in the homesetting?

I suggest that a major cause of this is that we are rarely taught within our churches how to deal with the very real secular objections to our faith to which our children, our wider family, our friends and colleagues are exposed every day, and how to do that well.

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Traditional Christian language simply doesn’t cut it.On this basis alone, we can hardly be surprised that so many of our children are not picking up the basics of intelligent, coherent Christian faith.

(Very Rev Dr) Norman Hamilton OBE, Ballymena

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