Shift Happens:

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Shift Happens  (Trans)Forming Peacemaking Sons
(and Daughters) of God in the 21st Century

• Thursday, June 2
• 900 a.m.

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Shift Happens
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Shift HappensReligious Preferences of Entering
College Students January 1989

• Roman Catholic 36.2
• Baptist 13.4
• Methodist 8.7
• Lutheran 6.2
• Presbyterian 4.5
• Other Protestant 4.8

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Shift HappensReligious Preferences of Entering
College Students January 1989

• Other 5.5
• Jewish 3.2
• Buddhist 0.4
• Muslim 0.3
• Hindu NA
• None 11.6

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Shift HappensReligious Preferences of Entering
College Students January 2011

• Roman Catholic 26.6
• Baptist 10.1
• Methodist 4.1
• Lutheran 3.3
• Presbyterian 2.9
• Other Christian 12.6

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Shift HappensReligious Preferences of Entering
College Students January 2011

• Other 2.9
• Jewish 2.9
• Buddhist 1.2
• Muslim 1.0
• Hindu 0.8
• None 23.0

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Shift Happens A Young Adults Lament

• I really thought long and hard about becoming a
  member of the church and prayed for God to guide
  me. I took the step seriously and when I finally
  decided to make my commitment to Christ and his
  ways, all I got was

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A Question Worth Pondering Posed by a Jewish
Parent

• My sons school guidance counselor met with me
  to talk about his intellectual and social
  development. With a gracious smile she said,
  Its so important for children to fit in and
  feel like they are a part of the larger culture.
  And I said to her

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A Question Worth Pondering Posed by a Jewish
Parent

• Why on earth would I want that?

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A Question Worth Pondering Posed by a Jewish
Parent

• Since I want him to grow up Jewish and know
  himself to be Jewish first and foremost and
  therefore different from the larger culture,
  thats the last thing I want!

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Think About It

• How many practicing Jews do you know who play for
  any of the big universities or the NFL?

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Shift Happens

• Its 1973 and Im in my small-town high-school
  history class. My teacher asks, How many of you
  are Protestant? About a third of the students
  raise their hands, and the teacher exclaims,
  Wow, that many of you are Catholic!
• Jump ahead thirty-six years.

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Shift Happens

• Im having a conversation with a friend about
  her commitment to raising children outside the
  church. She explains,
• What intelligent person would possibly look to
  the church as a moral compass these days?
• Times have changed.
• - Cassandra D. Carkuff Williams, Learning the
  Way Reclaiming Wisdom from the Earliest
  Christian Communities

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Shift Happens

• Whether we like it or not, most 18-29 year olds
  describe us as
• Anti-Homosexual
• Judgmental
• Hypocritical
• Old-fashioned

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Shift Happens

• Too involved in (conservative) politics
• Out of Touch with Reality
• Insensitive
• Boring
• Kinnaman and Lyons, unChristian What a New
  Generation Really Thinks About ChristianityAnd
  Why It Matters (2007)

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A Question to Ponder

• Why do I as a teenager have to go through
  Confirmation class but a 30 something who wants
  to join the church only has to tell the preacher
  and the next week she is baptized and joins the
  church? It doesnt seem fair, especially if
  shes never been a part of the church.

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Shift Happens Ways to Respond
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Shift Happens Ways to Respond
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Shift Happens

• Discern the proper age for each candidate (9th
  grade)
• Ask questions What are you seeking? Why do you
  want to become a Christ follower? Whats been
  your journey so far? What needs to die in you so
  Christ can live in you? What aspects of the
  Christian Way are not easy for you?

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Shift Happens Ways to Respond

• Incorporate the church in the formation of
  disciples through prayer and liturgy
• Use Accountability Groups
• Provide Mentors in the Faith
• Form the habit of worship
• Claim the power of the Eucharist to Feed, Form
  and Transform

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Shift Happens Ways to Respond

• Do Transformational-Reflective Bible Study (e.g.,
  Lectio Divina)
• Teach Prayer
• Practice Spiritual Disciplines (e.g. retreat,
  silence, fasting, journaling)
• Discern Spiritual Gifts
• Serve the Poor
• Dont Be in a Rush

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Shift Happens Additional Resources

• David Platt. Radical Taking Back Your Faith
  from the American Dream (Multnomah, 2010)
• Companions in Christ Resources www.companionsinchr
  ist.org
• Richard Foster. Celebration of Discipline (3rd
  ed., Harper, 1988)
• North American Association for the Catechumenate,
  www.catechumenate.or
• Shift Happens Video http//www.youtube.com/watch?
  vljbI-363A2Qg