Sticky Faith

Kara Powell and her team at the Fuller Youth Institute recently launched StickyFaith.org.  This resource for youthworkers and parents is designed to help disciple teenagers into a faith that will last.

Kara Powell explains what sticky faith is….

We want faith to stick.

Not just in a static way, but a stickiness that keeps growing, flourishing, expanding as these emerging adults experience faith in the context of college and whatever else awaits them after high school.

So (to borrow from our About page and formal definition) by “Sticky Faith” we mean faith that shows a combination of characteristics, all of which exist in a dynamic tension…

• Faith that is both internalized and externalized: a faith that is part of a student’s inner thoughts and emotions, and is also externalized in choices and actions that reflect that faith commitment.  These behaviors include regular attendance in a church/campus group, prayer and Bible reading, service to others, and lower participation in risk behaviors, in particular sex and alcohol (two behaviors we are studying specifically).  In other words, Sticky Faith involves whole-person life integration, at least to some degree.
• Faith that is both personal and communal:  a faith that celebrates God’s specific care for each person while always locating faith in the global and local community of the Church.
• Faith that is both mature and maturing:  a faith that shows marks of spiritual maturity but is also in process of growth.  We don’t assume a high school senior or college freshman (or a youth worker for that matter) will have a completely “mature” faith.  We are all in process.

HT: Josh Griffin