Dear colleagues,

This month’s issue of the Anglican Journal is devoted to a recent statistical report about the future of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is an excellent collection of articles and I commend it to your attention. There was one, relatively minor theme that caught my attention: the importance of passing the faith on from one generation to another. For instance, one author writes that “Parents must teach these things [the good news] to their children who are baptised in the church.” Another notes that Anglicans in general “have been less diligent to pass on the church’s faith to our children.” In this view, the generational tranmission of Christianity is the responsibility of parents.

By chance, as I was reading these articles I also learned of the death of Molly Robinson, a long-standing member of the church in which I was raised. In giving thanks for her life while also thinking about the future of the church, I realized that the generational transmission of the faith is about more than parents: it’s the work of the whole Christian community. Molly is one of many of the “great cloud of witnesses” in that congregation who helped ensure that I grew up in the faith and in the church. Through Sunday School lessons and youth group meetings; in the generous toleration and grace they showed to the presence of rambunctious children in the congregation; in the quiet moments in which they recognized me, learned my name, and showed an interest in me—in all of this, they were ensuring that the good news of Jesus Christ was passed to a new generation. It was of incalculable significance to me that someone besides my parents cared I was in church; showed a real, genuine interest in me; and made a place for me in the community. Every time a child is baptized, the congregation pledges to do all in their power to support the newly baptized in their life in Christ. Molly, and many others, did precisely that.

A friend of mine is the rector of a church that, like many churches, is eager to attract and retain young families and children. He is working with them on all kinds of programs and adaptations to ensure this can happen. But when he arrived he had a simpler challenge for everyone. He challenged his congregants to learn the names of all the children in church and pray for them on a regular basis. He knew, as Molly did, that having people who are not their parents invested in the religious lives of children can make a transformative difference.

The passing down of the faith from one generation to another is not something Anglicans have recently been very good at. When I think about Molly, I wonder if we can begin where my friend did: learn the names of the children in our congregation and hold them in prayer.

Faithfully yours,
Jesse Zink
Principal

This message was written by College Principal Jesse Zink for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community.