Four Phases of
DISBELIEF
Disorientation :
A young person’s belief system is shaken. They wonder what they should believe.
Doubt :
A young person does not know what is true. They question what they were taught.
Distortion :
A young person alters their worldview. They assemble their own belief system.
Disbelief :
A young person rejects Jesus Christ. They walk away from Christianity.
We want our young people to love Jesus, think like Jesus and live like Jesus,
but to do that they must be immersed in a biblically-based,
Jesus-centered, God-driven worldview.
I believe that means we have to get engaged on the educa-
tional front for it is here that worldviews are being formed
and belief systems are being shaped. If you knew a child’s
education was the difference between that child following
Jesus or rejecting Jesus, would you act? Education is power-
ful. It is never morally or spiritually neutral. In the absence
of clear, biblical teaching young people tend to get sucked
into believing what the culture believes. Education is never
the ultimate answer. Jesus is. But education is a vehicle that
disciples millions of young people every day so that they no
longer “know what to believe and won’t pledge themselves
to Jesus.” We cannot ignore education. Avery is a testimony
to this fact.
If you are a pastor, my encouragement is to start explor-
ing how you can equip parents in your congregation to train
their children to have a biblical worldview and how you can
build worldview training into your programs. If you are a
parent, my encouragement is to learn what secular human-
ism is and to begin regularly reading and discussing the Bible
with your children. There are wonderful resources available
to assist you in this effort. Renewanation, Summit Minis-
tries, and Answers in Genesis are a few excellent resources
available to you. I want to encourage you to explore all that
Renewanation offers, both in print and audio format, as they
have proven to be helpful for me and the families I minister
to. It may be the difference between your child walking with
Christ or walking away from Christ.
Josh Mulvihill is pastor to children and families at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, MN.
He is responsible for shepherding parents and their children into a deeper walk with
Christ, as well as leading the children’s and family staff. He is married to his wife Jen
and has three sons and one daughter.
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