Morgan Clyburn

Major Assignment 2

BAPTIST RELIGION: HOW IS IT COMMUNICATED THROUGHOUT FAMILIES?

Ever since I can remember, religion has been a major part of my life. From Sunday school to Wednesday night “junior church” to any and every other activity with our congregation outside of the typical church services. This was my life. I never knew anything different. My childhood friends were, for the most part, people I had met through church or people who were the kids of my parent’s church friends. Friends by default, if you will. I attended a private Baptist school from second grade until fifth grade, and once I started to meet other people with other beliefs my curiosity grew. I don’t think it was until I was about 12-13 years old before I really questioned whether I believed in what had been preached to me for the majority of my life. Prior to that, I never questioned or let my mind really wonder about the who, what, how, when, and why. But once I started to wonder, the questions kept growing and growing. Throughout this assignment, I’m going to be exploring one of the biggest questions I have about the Baptist religion: How do different Baptist families communicate the values of the Baptist church to their families to influence them to become Baptist? 

            First, I attended church for my field study. I went to Timber Hill Baptist Church in Hamilton, Ohio. This church is my daughter’s paternal grandparents home church. They’re very active in the church. Up until I was about 13, I went every Sunday so I am familiar with Sunday church. I go periodically, like on Easter Sunday and on special occasions with my daughter’s paternal grandparents. This time I went on a Wednesday night. Wednesday night services are more casual than Sunday service. The main reason I went was to see how many families and generations were attending together. The answer? Mainly all the congregation members were related to someone else who was there and, if they have kids, their kids were there, too. What I took away from this was that parental influence was a very, very strong. 

I tried to research different books or articles about my topic but couldn’t find anything that was close enough to answer my question or give any insight on how people communicate the values to their children. I figured that the best source for me here, would be families themselves. My parents raised us in the Baptist church, but once my siblings and I were old enough to really decide what we did and didn’t believe my parents supported that fully. I knew they would be a great resource to question because they were strong in their beliefs but weren’t pressing in them. I know my mother wasn’t raised Baptist, but my father was. Comparing how they grew up and why my mother converted would give a different point of view from my dad who decided to continue practicing the religion he was raised with. On the other side of things, my daughter’s paternal grandparents are extremely strong in their faith and they encouraged their children to be that way as well. My daughter’s grandfather, Chris, was raised in the faith while her grandmother, Carmen, like my mom wasn’t. Lastly, I wanted to interview my daughter’s father. He was raised strictly Baptist, being required to go to church until he moved out. He decided to veer away from practicing once he had the choice to. 

Case Studies

I sent each of my participants the questions via Facebook messenger. The questions I asked each participant are listed below:

1. What religion did your parents practice?
2. How were you introduced to church?
3. Did your parents insist on you going to church?
4. Why did you decide to keep going to church or why did you decide refrain from attending church?
5. How did you/will you introduce church to your children?

First Case Study: My mom, Tracy.

My mom is a mom of 3 and was the middle child of 3, raised in a single parent home. I knew growing up she wasn’t Baptist, but I didn’t know what religion she practiced before and was extremely curious as to why se converted to Baptist. 

1. What religion did your parent(s) practice?

T: My mom was Methodist, I’m not sure about my father.

• How were you introduced to church? 

T: My mom used to take us on occasion, when we were really young we went all the time. As we got older, we went very infrequently. I was really introduced to church by my husband.

• Did your parents insist on you going to church?

T: When we went consistently, yes.

• Why did you decide to keep going to church or why did you decide to refrain from attending church?

T: When I truly started going to a Baptist church as an adult I went because it was good for me spiritually and I really enjoyed it- also, I wanted my children to have a foundation in faith and religion. I stopped going when our church started having problems between the elders and the pastor. Our church became split. A lot of the congregation left and some stayed. 

• How did/will you introduce church to your children?

T: We took our children to church and they went to Sunday school. We taught them about God and church ourselves as well. 

Second Case Study: my dad, Jeff.

My dad is a father of 3 and was the oldest of 2 kids growing up. His parents were divorced and remarried. He was really the enforcer growing up with going to church.

1. What religion did your parent(s) practice?

J: Both my mom and dad were Christian  

• How were you introduced to church? 

J: My family went growing up. My mom was raised in the church and felt very strongly about us going to church as a family and learning about God. 

• Did your parents insist on you going to church?

J: As a child they did. 

• Why did you decide to keep going to church or why did you decide to refrain from attending church?

J: I really enjoyed the questions I had being answered regarding God and religion. 

• How did/will you introduce church to your children?

J: I tried to lead my children by example. We went to church as a family when they were kids and I tried to lead them outside of church as well. 

Third case study: my daughters father, Wyatt.

Wyatt is 23 years old and as stated above, the father to our 2 year old daughter, Ivy. Wyatt is the oldest out of 3 kids. I know that as soon as he turned 18 he decided he didn’t want to attend church anymore and has gone back and forth on the matter since. 

1. What religion did your parent(s) practice?

W: Baptist

• How were you introduced to church? 

W: My parents brought me up in church

• Did your parents insist on you going to church?

W: Yes until I was 18 or I would get in trouble. I would be charged rent if I missed church after turning 18.

• Why did you decide to keep going to church or why did you decide to refrain from attending church?

W: Well when I was charged rent if I missed church, I brought it to my parents attention that I was essentially being paid to attend. I veered away from going to church because it didn’t support my beliefs.  

• How did/will you introduce church to your children?

W: I would introduce church as an option that would benefit morality and spirituality. It’d only be mandatory if the child cannot be left at home or find other source of childcare. 

Fourth case study: my daughters paternal grandpa, Chris.

Chris is in his late 40s, and the father of 3. I know he is the second oldest of his siblings. He has 1 biological siblings and quite a few step siblings. Chris is a firm believer in God and going to church. His older brother is actually the preacher at their church. 

1. What religion did your parent(s) practice?

C: Both my parents were Christians, Baptist specifically. 

• How were you introduced to church? 

C: I was introduced to church when I was only 2 to 3 weeks old, so I have no memory of the world without it.

• Did your parents insist on you going to church?

C: I was taken to church every week, until I was old enough to drive and then I drove myself voluntarily. 

• Why did you decide to keep going to church or why did you decide to refrain from attending church?

C: I guess there was never a point in my life where it was a conscious decision to go or not. as a born again Christian, having the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, you feel a pulling or yearning to worship and be part of a community that desires to know God better and grow closer to Him. 

• How did/will you introduce church to your children?

C: as was the concern of my parents, the eternal destiny and spiritual health was and is still very important to me, for my family. Choosing to follow Jesus is ultimately a personal choice each human must make for themselves, however. I will continue to pray for my children and grandchildren, that they will choose to have personal relationship with their Heavenly Father. I know the enormous impact it will not only make in this life, but the one here after.

Fifth case study: my daughters paternal grandma, Carmen. 

Carmen is in her early 50’s and is the mother to 3 kids as well. I know she has 2 step siblings and 1 biological brother, I’m not sure their order of age. Her biological parents didn’t raise her in the church. She made the decision once she was in her late teens to attend church. I know she, like Chris, is really strong in her faith.

1. What religion did your parent(s) practice?

C: my parents practiced no religion.

• How were you introduced to church? 

C: My stepmother introduced me to church as a young teenager. 

• Did your parents insist on you going to church?

C: my parents did not want me to go to church as much as I did.  

• Why did you decide to keep going to church or why did you decide to refrain from attending church?

C: I decided to go to church because I got saved at the age of 17. I felt the urge to go to church myself because of my love and devotion to Christ who died for my sins. It was the least I could do in return.  

• How did/will you introduce church to your children?

C: my children were born and raised in church from birth. Obviously, they are old enough to make their own decisions now but I sincerely pray for them every day to feel the Holy Spirits pull in their hearts to go to church on their own.  

After talking to all of the people listed above and reviewing the information they provided, I felt like my initial guess on how Baptist families communicate the values of the Baptist church to their families to influence them to become Baptist was pretty accurate and defended. There were multiple similarities by Jeff, Tracy, Wyatt, and Chris with their parents introducing church to them when they were extremely young. Even Carmen was similar in the sense of a parent introducing her, it just happened to be her stepmother later on in life.  In conclusion to this case study, I think parental influence is a huge weight on how people decide to be part of a church congregation. I know I had friends growing up who had never been to church simply because their parents hadn’t ever talked about it with them or taken them, so they never really even thought about it. While on the other hand, if a person has a routine of going to church and they have a child, naturally they’re going to raise that child in the church.