I ended the previous part of our discussion (see here and here) with a discussion of the frequent need on the part of those who profit from the legacy of previous generations of believers for some sort of reassurance about the reality of God’s personal relationship with them.  Admittedly, this is not the sort of area where we have a great deal of deliberate instruction about how it is that institutions are supposed to ensure that younger generations are not left out and that their perspectives are not ignored and marginalized given the way that conversion narratives are highly privileged by those who have dramatic examples of them.  We first need to recognize that believers who are born and raised in a way of life that they then choose to follow as adults, with the hope of passing along their beliefs and practices to generations after them in turn are going to have different experiences of God’s ways than those whose conversion marks a dramatic change in their lives from what came before.  What we do have, though, are plenty of examples of instances in which new generations of believers (especially leaders) were provided with reassurance about the legitimacy of their own place as part of God’s family, and it is to those examples that we will now turn.

An early, and perhaps obvious, example of this need for passing along of the knowledge of God’s ways to future generations can be found in Deuteronomy 31:9-13:  “So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.  And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.””  Here we see a very clear understanding that there needs to be periodic reminders of the fact that all Israel (physical or spiritual) is in a covenant relationship with God and needs to know the obligations of living according to those ways, so that the young grow up knowing that they too are a part of the congregation of Israel and have certain beliefs and practices to develop.

There were in addition to this not only rituals of coronation that sought to convey the succession of one generation after another to rulership, but we also find examples where God Himself sought to establish a relationship with a new ruler, as is the case with Solomon in 1 Kings 3:4-5:  “Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.  At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?””  While we might think the appearance of visions to a young man who had grown up as part of a believing household (albeit a dysfunctional one) was unique to Solomon, the example is one we find in the New Testament with Timothy, as is recorded by Paul in 1 Timothy 4:12-16:  “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”  We may see then that both God directly as well as the institution of the Church has a role in confirming and encouraging those growing up like Timothy did as believers who were the children (and grandchildren) of faithful members.

As we might imagine if we are familiar with reading the New Testament, the Apostle John did a great job at writing to younger members.  Since he wrote his epistles when he was somewhere between 80 and 100 years of age, most of the members of the congregation could be considered little children, as he writes in 1 John 2:1-2:  “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”  As the last surviving apostle and an old man, the gentleness and graciousness in these (and other) words from his letters gives those of us who are older a model in addressing the concerns of young people by reminding them that they are part of the family, and by writing them not to complain and berate them as is the fashion of many in dealing with younger generations, but in a loving and patient way to remind them of God’s ways and of the relationship that they already have with God the Father and our heavenly advocate in Jesus Christ.  

Together, these various passages suggest the sort of approach we should have in encouraging younger believers who grew up in the faith.  Following John, we should make clear that younger believers are God’s children and to point out the relationships that they have with older brethren and with God.  Even Paul reminded Timothy of this necessity in 1 Timothy 5:1-2 when he said:  “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.”  In addition to this, the laying on of hands (which normally occurs after baptism) and the periodic reading of the law help remind young people of both the connection between the generations of the Church of God as well as the terms of the covenant that we are all a part of.  At times, even if this is not very usual, God may provide certain visions that encourage those who are entering into new offices and new responsibilities, even if this is not a universal experience.  What is universal is the need for unity and love to exist between the brethren that overcomes the various questions of identity that tend to divide us, including the identity of generation.  I would like to close this discussion (unless someone reminds me of something else I need to address) with a discussion of some of the advantages of having grown up as a believer rather than having a dramatic conversion experience.