Youth Ministry and Apologetics
March 1st, 2007
Recently I have been having some great conversations with youth workers (some of my friends and colleagues around North America) about the priority, purpose and practice of apologetics in youth ministry today. To be blunt, we are all over the map as to our opinions/beliefs regarding the topic. We wonder around questions such as, “What should apologetics look like in today’s youth ministry climate?” or “Has our traditional view of I Peter 3:15 been accurately understood and taught over the years?” or “Should we really be trying to equip students with answers about God before they even fully embrace the story of God?” or “How then, if helping our students to articulate and provide accurate responses to questions about Christianity, do we equip them?”
I am very eager to discover your thoughts surrounding the topic! I would love for you to respond to some of the questions above or ask different questions that you might be wrestling with in your everyday ministry. So I invite you, when you get a minute, to comment here or email me at chrisfol@mac.com.
In brief, here is my personal and developing take on it…
First, the priority of apologetics should be to help our students develop a life that supports our Christian claims. We can help them with this through imparting our life to them — teaching, modeling, mentoring and guiding them toward a life in the way of Jesus. That is, a life characterized by love, acceptance, justice, peace, generosity, hospitality, affirmation, etc. Our best apologetic is our life…
Second, the purpose of apologetics should not merely be to provide concrete facts, logic and reason to the interested or curious. The foundational truths of Christianity are of course the core of what apologetics is all about but how those core elements are presented is key. Rather, than seeing the purpose of apologetics as to present concrete (cold, gray, cracked and often ugly) hard facts that “defend” what we believe, our purpose ought to be to present the core truths in a peaceful, nonwarring, harmonious way that invites and welcomes people to discover and explore the unfolding drama of a gracious, mysterious, awesome and pursuant God that formed the Christian faith.
Finally, the practice of equipping students to be involved with apologetics might be most effective if we shift away from our tendency to give students the scripted answers and carefully guide them to discovering the answers and individual responses on their own. I think we need to help our students own their faith — not just borrow it for a while. The biggest objections I get to this statement are usually these:
- “We don’t have time to let students arrive at their own answers we only have them for 6 maybe 7 years you know”
- “If students are allowed to arrive at their own answers then how will they know the right ones!?”
- “If we left it up to students, nothing would ever get done.”
- “Students need to know how to respond to certain questions. There is no way that they can think fast enough on their feet at 13-18 years old.”
Here’s the thing — Do we really think students are not arriving at their own conclusions and answers about life and faith outside of your youth ministry? Do we really think that you have the ‘right’ answers and that our answers, passed down to your students to distribute verbatim, is the key to unlocking the mystery of faith for someone? Do we really think students can’t get anything done? Try telling that to Zach Hunter… And finally, teaching students to ‘think quick on their feet’ is a goal of ours? Really? I would like to think that what we are really working toward is helping our students be humbly present in the lives of their friends, determined not to ‘think quick on their feet’ but rather to slow their life down, enter into their friends’ life and patiently help them to explore our rich faith heritages.
When it comes to the practice of apologetics I am all for teaching students the facts about our faith. I am all for guiding them toward discovering answers that help them articulate what it is they believe. I am all for pushing students to reveal their faith by sharing and showing Jesus verbally and in their actions. I am all for guiding our students toward a lifestyle that reflects that of the life of Jesus. I am FOR a ton…
However, I am NOT inclined to give students a scripted set of answers to potential questions. I am NOT inclined to equip students to defend anything. I am NOT inclined to help students be able to ‘think quicker on their feet.’ I am NOT inclined to think that if it were up to students, nothing would get done. Rather, I am thinking that we have the privilege to guide students at the early stages of their life-long journey of faith, giving them the capacity to become an authentic and fruitful extension of Jesus’ life and mission.
Thoughts?
March 1st, 2007 at 12:18 pm
It seems to me that even when students know all the right answers, they have to come to their own conclusions at some point. If we can encourage an atmosphere of freedom to ask questions now, they won’t be afraid to seek truth later. They will be more likely to be open to our thoughts later on if we’ve let them know we’ll journey with them toward truth instead of just giving them the right answers.
March 1st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Aaron- I like that phrase — astmosphere of freedom — thanks for your insight!
March 2nd, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I was reading through 1 Peter recently, when I came across the familiar verse that you mention (3:15). What I think is interesting is I’ve often heard or read the verse like this, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” I didn’t even realize that’s not the end of the verse! It goes on to say, “But, do this with gentleness and respect…” Maybe that’s the part that has been missing in our apologetics.
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:30 am
kelli- that is a great reminder! thanks for your insight.
chris
March 14th, 2007 at 5:22 am
The worldview developed as a youth is extremely important.
A challenge today is that kids are bombarded daily with false information. They are told, sometimes literally and sometimes with hidden messages, that if they believe the Genesis 1 events literally, they aren’t smart. (Dawkins is agressive in these comments lately.)
I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t want to be thought of as stupid. I believe few do - especially our youth. If we do not provide them with small tidbits of fact/data over time to counter balance popular media, I believe they are left vulnerable to dismissing Genesis; and then it is a short step to dismissing Christianity in whole.
The big question, IMO, is what level of fact/data and what form it should take. If a child wants to “go deep” on a topic they should be able to discuss items with a leader later.
I don’t think “going deep” with large groups always helps the cause - too many kids glaze over rather than listening. But certainly we need to be crystal clear that there are great scientific theories, facts, and other data available that line up perfectly with biblical accounts - and they should be presented fairly consistently to balance the almost daily counter-message prevelant today.
That said, I’m looking for good resources to use with our youth. Ones that are clear and make sense, and perhaps create desire to dig deeper, but not so deep initially as to bore them. Any suggestions?
~bk
March 14th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Brad-
Thanks for your comments. Tell me what you mean by “dismissing Genesis”…
March 26th, 2007 at 5:44 am
I mean “Dismissing Genesis” as neat stories with some ethical guidance value, but not really being true.
If they/we can’t accept Genesis as literally true, then we open the door to accepting/rejecting other parts of the bible and picking/choosing parts they/we want to accept. It also crumbles the foundation of Christianity because it removes the truth of original sin, Adam and Eve, the Genesis genealogies, etc…
As youth progress through higher grade levels they get more and more professors who bombard them with information - like the big bang, Abiogenesis, evolution, etc - that imply, and sometimes outright state, that Genesis isn’t true.
Besides professors, there are subtle items in the media our youth consume - and they are exposed to these things daily. When “the world” bombards them with so many counter-biblical items daily, it seems that as a church we should have a better plan to counter the lies of the world and help our youth understand that there are many intelligent reasons to be Christians, and that the field of Apologetics has wonderful information for the “thinking mind” to back up biblical truths.
(Sorry for the run-on sentence there :>)
~Brad