15 years ago the American TV series, ‘The X Files’ became popular with it’s slogan, ‘The Truth is out there’.
So what is truth?
In our Post Modern, Post Christian world, in the SE of England at the front end of the second decade of this millennium, there is a marked change in the way we think and approach issues. This is prominent in education and is starting to be evidenced more in churches. At one time information in the form of facts & figures plus names & places would have been taught as truth. From those truths people would have been encouraged to make sense of their lives and experience. Today this has changed. Now the emphasis is on discovery & questions plus reflection & pondering. Truth is something to be found rather than imparted. Truth has ceased to be an absolute and has become subjective and relative. What is true for you isn’t necessarily true for me. So in History we are less likely to be taught the dates of battles and more likely to consider what the social changes were that brought about conflicts. In Science we are less likely to be taught the 4 bases of DNA and more likely to consider the ethical issues about genetically modified crops. When it comes to engaging with the truths of faith, today’s churches need to be less focused on teaching the facts of the stories in the Bible and more focused on allowing and encouraging questions about what difference the story makes to them. There needs to be more time and space to allow children to discover things for themselves rather than being told what they should feel or know from a particular story or parable. Belief comes, not from a well constructed argument, but in an honest simple search for what is real and true for them. This process of questioning and discovery can be very messy and less structured with fewer absolutes. Eventually children who are allowed the space to consider the claims of Christianity may discover a truth that isn’t in the facts of the text but in a person - Jesus, their friend. At FACT we are gearing up for another year of working with children in schools and churches offering them opportunities to try and make sense of the big questions in life: Who am I? Where am I going? Is there more to life than what I know? Also trying to help them find truth in their own situations of: financially stressful home environments; broken relationships; consumerism; materialism; ambition of fame and the immense pressure of personal image.
What, or perhaps who, will be true for them?
