---
title: "12 Religion Quotes By Kenda Creasy Dean"
description: "12 Religion quotes by Kenda Creasy Dean. Plus more from Kenda Creasy Dean and more Religion sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c9/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_deism_moralistic-therapeutic-deism-say-smith-a_18146.jpg"
---

> [“Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, say Smith and Denton, seems to be “colonizing many historical religious traditions and, almost without anyone noticing, converting believers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-say-smith-and-denton-seems-to-be/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c9/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_deism_moralistic-therapeutic-deism-say-smith-a_18146.jpg)

> [“If teenagers lack an articulate faith, maybe it is because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/if-teenagers-lack-an-articulate-faith-maybe-it-is-because-the-faith/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/565/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_communication_if-teenagers-lack-an-articulate-faith-ma_467705.jpg)

> [“The issue is not whether young people can read the Bible (they can). The real issue is . . . well, really,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/the-issue-is-not-whether-young-people-can-read-the-bible-they-can-the/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e7/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_bible_the-issue-is-not-whether-young-people-ca_2107325.jpg)

> [“Mission is not a trip or a youth activity, a silent cousin to evangelism, or an optional model of youth ministry. Mission…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/mission-is-not-a-trip-or-a-youth-activity-a-silent-cousin-to/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ec/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_goals_mission-is-not-a-trip-or-a-youth-activit_2538605.jpg)

> [“In other words, Jesus not only sends the church where he was sent; he sends us in the same way that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/in-other-words-jesus-not-only-sends-the-church-where-he-was-sent-he/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f90/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_divine-love_in-other-words-jesus-not-only-sends-the_2692381.jpg)

> [“As young people contribute to the faith community, their competence as members of that community grows; it is in doing the work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/as-young-people-contribute-to-the-faith-community-their-competence-as/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/675/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_faith_as-young-people-contribute-to-the-faith_340053.jpg)

> [“The essential mark of maturity in Christians—as in peach trees—is generativity. Mature faith bears fruit. Mature Christians are branches on which God’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/the-essential-mark-of-maturity-in-christians-as-in-peach-trees-is/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae4/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_aging_the-essential-mark-of-maturity-in-christ_19665.jpg)

> [“Foolish faith comes from the security of knowing that we live in God’s embrace, and with that knowledge comes a peculiar kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/foolish-faith-comes-from-the-security-of-knowing-that-we-live-in-god/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f06/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_courage_foolish-faith-comes-from-the-security-of_292907.jpg)

> [“Adults need spiritual apprenticeships as much as their children do—and adults need them first. Group spiritual direction, covenant groups, practice in oral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/adults-need-spiritual-apprenticeships-as-much-as-their-children-do/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cdd/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_children_adults-need-spiritual-apprenticeships-as_2350022.jpg)

> [“Legitimate peripheral participation means that adolescents make real contributions to our shared life in God, even while they are still figuring out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/legitimate-peripheral-participation-means-that-adolescents-make-real/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d5/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_life_legitimate-peripheral-participation-mean_2214148.jpg)

> [“If we say we want to translate the gospel with young people, this is what we are saying: we are willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/if-we-say-we-want-to-translate-the-gospel-with-young-people-this-is/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb8/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_christianity_if-we-say-we-want-to-translate-the-gospe_1363538.jpg)

> [“What we can say with some certainty is that American young people have enormous trouble putting faith into words. It was unclear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/what-we-can-say-with-some-certainty-is-that-american-young-people/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c9/kenda-creasy-dean-26530_religion_what-we-can-say-with-some-certainty-is-t_575906.jpg)

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- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-charles-spurgeon-22605.jpg) Charles Spurgeon 201 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/charles-spurgeon/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-timothy-keller-91037.jpg) Timothy Keller 192 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/timothy-keller/)
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- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-martin-luther-64750.jpg) Martin Luther 178 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/martin-luther/)

## More by Kenda Creasy Dean

> [“Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, say Smith and Denton, seems to be “colonizing many historical religious traditions and, almost without anyone noticing, converting believers in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-say-smith-and-denton-seems-to-be/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“The essential mark of maturity in Christians—as in peach trees—is generativity. Mature faith bears fruit. Mature Christians are branches on which God’s love is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/the-essential-mark-of-maturity-in-christians-as-in-peach-trees-is/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“Foolish faith comes from the security of knowing that we live in God’s embrace, and with that knowledge comes a peculiar kind of courage.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/foolish-faith-comes-from-the-security-of-knowing-that-we-live-in-god/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“As young people contribute to the faith community, their competence as members of that community grows; it is in doing the work of ministry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/as-young-people-contribute-to-the-faith-community-their-competence-as/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“If teenagers lack an articulate faith, maybe it is because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/if-teenagers-lack-an-articulate-faith-maybe-it-is-because-the-faith/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“What we can say with some certainty is that American young people have enormous trouble putting faith into words. It was unclear whether the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/what-we-can-say-with-some-certainty-is-that-american-young-people/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“Part of our skittishness about Christian perfection is linguistic confusion. The English word "perfect" has absorbed the Greek notion of "teleos". When the Greeks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/part-of-our-skittishness-about-christian-perfection-is-linguistic/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“When we downshift Christian education from the paradigm of expertise to a paradigm of love, we do not dilute the importance of rigorous theological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/when-we-downshift-christian-education-from-the-paradigm-of-expertise/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“divine grace is a gift, but not one we get to keep. Christ sends us into the world as he was sent: to embody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/divine-grace-is-a-gift-but-not-one-we-get-to-keep-christ-sends-us/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“We may question what we believe, but most of us are pretty clear about who we love, and who loves us. It is such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/we-may-question-what-we-believe-but-most-of-us-are-pretty-clear-about/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“Faith does not mean mimicking Jesus, but participating in his self-giving love—not because we have somehow chosen to be like him, but because, incredibly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/faith-does-not-mean-mimicking-jesus-but-participating-in-his-self/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“With God's breath in the church we are called to exhale, but not because it's a morally good thing to do but because we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/with-god-s-breath-in-the-church-we-are-called-to-exhale-but-not/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“The church’s first witness, as the theologian John Howard Yoder reminds us, is the way we live before the eyes of the watching world.4…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/the-church-s-first-witness-as-the-theologian-john-howard-yoder/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“If we say we want to translate the gospel with young people, this is what we are saying: we are willing to put the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/if-we-say-we-want-to-translate-the-gospel-with-young-people-this-is/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

> [“The issue is not whether young people can read the Bible (they can). The real issue is . . . well, really, why would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenda-creasy-dean/the-issue-is-not-whether-young-people-can-read-the-bible-they-can-the/)

[Kenda Creasy Dean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenda-creasy-dean/)

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                        "text": "“The issue is not whether young people can read the Bible (they can). The real issue is . . . well, really, why would they want to? What have they seen in the church that would suggest that the Bible is a source of power and wonder? When have they seen their parents derive life and joy from reading scripture?”",
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                        "text": "“Mission is not a trip or a youth activity, a silent cousin to evangelism, or an optional model of youth ministry. Mission is the business that congregations are in.23 Christ views young people as participants in God’s mission rather than as targets of ours.”",
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                        "text": "“In other words, Jesus not only sends the church where he was sent; he sends us in the same way that he was sent, as human translations of divine love, people whose words and actions do not grasp for God as much as they reveal a God who grasps for us.”",
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                        "text": "“The essential mark of maturity in Christians—as in peach trees—is generativity. Mature faith bears fruit. Mature Christians are branches on which God’s love is multiplied and offered for the nourishment of others. As Jesus pointed out, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:8). By nurturing and offering the life-giving fruits of the Spirit (e.g., love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control [Gal. 5:22–23]), we become branches of divine grace, vehicles Christ uses to extend himself to others.”",
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                        "text": "“Foolish faith comes from the security of knowing that we live in God’s embrace, and with that knowledge comes a peculiar kind of courage. Foolish faith flies in the face of the self-fulfilling norms of consumerism and addresses issues of identity and openness, not by avoiding the cross, as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism would have us do, but by clinging to it. As G. K. Chesterton pointed out, “A man who has faith must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool.”18 Moralistic Therapeutic Deism prepares young people to be neither.”",
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                        "text": "“Adults need spiritual apprenticeships as much as their children do—and adults need them first. Group spiritual direction, covenant groups, practice in oral prayer, lay leadership in worship, singing hymns and praise songs—and of course, the formal practice of testimony itself—are congregational practices that give adults, and not just teenagers, opportunities to put faith into words.”",
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                        "text": "“Legitimate peripheral participation means that adolescents make real contributions to our shared life in God, even while they are still figuring out how to be part of the community of faith. As teenagers become more proficient in the church’s language and practices, they become more central to the life of the congregation, and contribute more fully to Christ’s mission—until they suddenly discover that they are in a position to help lead in that mission, to bring newcomers on board, and to create the community anew.”",
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                        "text": "“If we say we want to translate the gospel with young people, this is what we are saying: we are willing to put the very power of the gospel itself—the very power of the Word of God—into the hands of teenagers, people who do not view culture the way we view culture, who do not hear God the way we hear God, who will not worship the way we worship, who will not “do church” the way we want them to simply because they will be listening to Jesus and not to us.”",
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                        "text": "“What we can say with some certainty is that American young people have enormous trouble putting faith into words. It was unclear whether the young people we interviewed in the NSYR were unfamiliar with religious language or just uncomfortable using it in public (a number of youth we talked to thought talking about religion at school was illegal). The difficulty escalated when the conversation turned to particulars (the name “Jesus” was especially absent from our interviews).”",
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