The church library beckons with overflowing shelves of books. I scan my eyes over the spines and smile. There’s some great stuff in here. Then I look down to the young folks section. Lovely children’s books with fantastic artwork. Picture books with inspiring stories. A couple of devotionals. I pick one up and flip through it. Almost immediately I cringe. I flip to the index just to check and sure enough, there are anti-gay entries. I tuck the book under my arm. As the new faith formation director, this isn’t a book I want in the hands of the families of the church. The other devotionals are more of the same.
It’s the same when I go into a bookstore to browse. Almost all of the devotionals and books for younger folks harbor anti queer, anti sex sentiments. They also espouse a theology that is mostly built around the fear of God: hell, damnation, making God angry or sad.
Even if there isn’t anything egregious, the theology is rather watered down. It takes verses out of their context (context of the book, context of the history) and gives them a “me and Jesus” shine.
Too often progressive folks hand our kids a devotional thinking, “It’s a Christian book! It’ll be fine!” Without realizing that the things these young, impressionable minds are reading are damaging theologically and young folks don’t necessarily have all of the skills to discern which parts they should be holding on to and which parts they should be discarding.
A young person, possibly trying to come to terms with their sexuality or gender identity, doesn’t need to be reading about how much God won’t like them if they’re queer or trans. And a young person who is straight doesn’t need to have doubts planted in their heads about their queer/trans friends or parents.
Not only that, but we need to be encouraging youth, from the youngest of ages, to read the Bible faithfully and responsibly which means encouraging them to understand context and also giving them tools to make sense of what can be a hard book to understand (for people of all ages)!
There are so few resources I’ve found that I can recommend unequivocally. I’ve often found myself saying most of this book is really good, but… Or these chapters are great, but I would make sure you’re reading these chapters with a grain of salt.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a devotional that treated young people as intelligent, engaged, compassionate, curious, and able to think about complex things? Wouldn’t it be great for their to be a resource that gives young folks some context for the things in the Bible their reading AND relates it to their lives today? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a resource that helped young folks make a direct connection between their faith and their lives? Both an emotional connection, but also one that would help them to live out their faith in ways that connect them to others (and aren’t focused on a narrow vision of proselytizing)?
I wanted to write a resource that was approachable, connected, took the Bible seriously, and invited young people to do the same. More than that I wanted to give young folks some tools on how to read the Bible well so they can continue to engage with the text responsibly and well even when they’re finished with the devotional.
Today I’m excited to reveal the cover for my new book: Come and See: An Invitation to a Radical Encounter With Jesus being published by Hodder Faith in September. It’s available for pre-order now! This will be a great addition to church libraries. It will also be good to confirmation gifts, graduation Sundays, or for small groups (or families) to read together. While it’s aimed at younger folks, I actually also think adults will get a lot out of it as well and some of the prompts and practices will support people of all ages at integrating their faith more fully into their lives. So whether you buy it for a young person in your life, do it together as a family or church, or just go through it on your own, I’m excited to be able to offer this new resource.
As I’ve mentioned with my other books, pre-orders are MASSIVELY important. And I think in the progressive children’s space they’re even more important. It’s vital we send a message that resources like this are not only needed they are wanted and that people will step up and buy them when they are available.
I also know that as a trans man writing a faith book for kids, there is not a small chance that I’ll get some pretty terrible pushback for this book. So folks supporting it, reading and reviewing it as soon as it comes out, and letting people know it matters will be vital to making sure this book reaches the people it needs to reach.
You can pre-order wherever you buy your books. Here are a couple of links:
I’m so excited for you to Come and See.
