Messiah, Not Mascot: Holding to conviction instead of pragmatism for the sake of the next generation.

By Dr. Steve Bezner, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Truett Theological Seminary

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at Steve’s Substack that you can find here. 

If I’ve learned anything during my time as a pastor, it’s that faith must be freely chosen. It cannot be forced. A forced faith is one that will be abandoned at the first opportunity.

Then again, maybe that’s not quite right.

It’s a bit of a stereotype that Pastors’ Kids are a handful—that they will regularly rebel or walk away from the faith. Joy and I consider it a true blessing that both of our sons continue to love the Lord and walk with Him. I don’t know that we have a lot of parenting secrets, but we have one thing we believe strongly: The faith presented in public has to match what’s lived out in private. To be clear: neither of us are perfect, and our kids know this full well. But they also saw that we tried to live at home what the very same things that we would teach at the church. We believe that the public/private consistency has helped our sons believe the faith to be true.

Maybe it’s not a forced faith that is easily abandoned as much as it is a fake faith.

By fake faith, I mean a faith with no convictions or consistency, not matching publicly and privately.

That’s where my concern of a national backlash comes in—that the distinctly American version of the Christian faith will be perceived to be fake, because it will be molded to fit the political and cultural agenda of the moment. Specifically speaking, seems to me the more we use the name of Jesus to justify political maneuvering, the more we set ourselves up for pushback, particularly if people take the time to compare our maneuvering with the commands of Christ.

A somewhat recent example I watched unfold in real time: When the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal broke, I was a young seminary student. I remember the prominent Christian voices in my particular tribe decrying the actions of then-President Clinton, noting that such actions disqualified him from office.

I watched in somewhat disbelief twenty years later as the same prominent Christian voices in my tribe defended the actions of then-candidate Trump against dozens of accusations of sexual assault and the comments from his Access Hollywood tape. Actions that were once considered disqualifying were suddenly dismissed.

Plenty of people around my age were suddenly disillusioned, because it seemed that the voices of moral authority from our childhood—voices whom we had trusted for spiritual guidance were not driven by conviction, but rather by political pragmatism.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that much of the recent deconstruction movement among many Christians was fueled by this public about-face. Most of those who deconstructed their faith and/or walked away from the church were near my age. I lost track of the number of conversations I had on this topic. But I heard the same thing over and over: “It seems like we don’t really believe what I was told we believed for my entire life.”

I’ll confess that my evidence from that era is anecdotal, but I will also confess that I have a lot of anecdotes. And for the first time in my ministry, I saw more women walking away from the faith than men. (I think this is because this specific incident centered on sexual assault, but I’m sure there are other factors at play.)

“But, Steve,” you say, “haven’t you seen the numbers? Gen Z and Gen Alpha is experiencing a revival! Church attendance has stopped shrinking. There is no need for alarm…the tide is turning.”

To start: Yes. It’s beautiful what is transpiring among Gens Z and Alpha. I love seeing the gospel spread among young people. I’m encouraged watching the videos of baptisms, of conversions, and of theological discussions.

Believe it or not, this surge among young people is precisely why I’m concerned about us living a the Christian faith in a faithful way. We lost a lot of Millenial and Gen X believers when we opted for political pragmatism over faithful presence. I believe that if we don’t correct our mistakes, the next time it could be an even more drastic drop in the American church.

To put it plainly: If we continue to treat Jesus as a mascot for political gain, the timer will start counting down to impending disillusionment awaiting our Gen Z and Alpha friends. Every time we talk about Jesus as the driving factor behind our politics but then enact a policy or support a moral decision that is not in line with Christian morality, we lose credibility. We cannot claim Jesus while ignoring the New Testament and pretend there will not be fallout.

I continue to believe that one of the best things Christians can do is tell the truth about politics and politicians—regardless of the party they have historically supported.

People want a faith that has convictions that transcend political party, are unafraid of people in power, and have the courage to say the hard thing. They don’t want a faith that continuously morphs into whatever is suddenly pragmatic in the moment. I believe that Gens Z and Alpha are coming to the faith in surprising numbers because they want something that is solid and timeless—something that won’t change with the culture. They have plenty of change in every other area of life. They want something to which they can anchor their lives.

The church today doesn’t need to present a fake faith that feels the pressure to conform with whatever talking points might be making the rounds in the moment.

The church today will garner greater influence by showing she believes the Messiah is far too sacred to serve simply as a mascot.

*The views expressed are those solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Pastor’s Common