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 This year’s twist was that one in five thought he played for Chelsea, half believed that December 25th is Santa’s birthday and ten per cent thought Rudolph was in the stable when Jesus was born. Another survey showed that many school nativity services are being modernised to become more inclusive, with new characters including aliens, punk fairies, Elvis Presley, footballers, a lobster and drunk spacemen.

Surveys of this kind are often disappointing; we like to think that children in the UK grow up knowing this stuff. The danger is that it makes us long for some golden age in the past where everyone knew these stories and our Sunday Schools were full of incredibly well-behaved, biblically literate children. There are two issues with this. Firstly, we should probably reflect on how ‘golden’ that age was as the long-term result of it was a slow drift away from Church. Secondly, we have to accept that it just isn’t like that anymore.

The Christian story has become relegated from ‘the’ story in our society to one of many stories which all have value and which people may choose to engage with if they find it works for them

We now live in a time which could be described as postmodern and certainly post-Christendom. In others words, truth is now relative and pragmatic; what works for you is truth for you and as a result the Christian story has become relegated from ‘the’ story in our society to one of many stories which all have value and which people may choose to engage with if they find it works for them. It’s a very different place and our solution shouldn’t be to think that we should expect to go back to a time where children are taught to read using the Bible as a text. It’s not going to happen and I’m not sure we really want it to.

We also shouldn’t allow the fact that our story has lost its place as the dominant narrative in our society to cause us to lose confidence in it. Our story hasn’t lost its power just because its position in society has changed. Hopefully surveys like this one can motivate us to tell our story afresh to a new generation who need to hear it for themselves, to help them find meaning in their lives through it.

Writers like Jerome Berryman talk about giving stories to children like gifts; not as educational tools but as something that allows them to find meaning in the story of their lives by connecting with feelings and characters in it. Seeing how God is at work in the story will help them to see how God can be part of their lives too. The Christian story is one that we share as a gift with children, a gift that allows them to find meaning and values in a world without them.