We have been going through the Book of Galatians in Kainos in a series called Owning the Faith. (Kainos is a young adults ministry at Believers Fellowship.) Some people suggest that 80% of kids raised in church will walk away from the faith when they get out of high school. Why is this? I think part of it is because they are never urged to "own their faith"--to make their faith their own, apart from their parents.
In Owning the Faith, we have been looking at Paul's faith journey from Pharisee to missionary to the Gentiles and then asking ourselves, what does our faith journey look like, apart from the one we inherited from our folks?
This week Johnny introduced Paul's awesome transformation from Galatians 1:11–24. Paul was a persecutor of the church. As a Pharisee, he was obsessed with the ethnic identity markers that distinguished the Jews from the "Gentile sinners" around him. Paul feared that the young Christian movement compromised the purity of the Jewish nation and he sought to eradicate it. On one trip to Damascus, however, he was confronted by the risen Jesus and he did an about-face. The guy who once persecuted Jesus became his biggest advocate, and his transformation had power.
Johnny followed Paul's story of transformation with his own. Several others shared as well. The stories of how God has transformed us can be powerful influences on those around us. Feel free to share.
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