The Christian church loses something like 75% of all young people after high school. For many of them, they have not heard good answers to their questions. But the answers are available. What can parents and Sunday school teachers do?
But how should Christian teachers and parents go about presenting the truth of Christianity? First, they should start with the basics — what do we believe as Christians? Then, they should answer a key question — why do we believe these things? Finally, they need to cover problems and questions Christians can expect to encounter in the secular world. Let’s look at these three steps in more detail.
First, Christian kids need to know the basic tenets of the Christian faith. They probably have heard them in bits and pieces throughout their years in Sunday school, but they need to have a coherent presentation of all the major ideas of Christianity — the nature of God, the work of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the organization and historical background of the Bible, life after death, heaven and hell, and the way of salvation. Of course, there are many sources available online that can deliver such major concepts in a clear and organized fashion. You might want to visit https://beyondtm.wordpress.com for lesson plans and to learn ways to help kids understand apologetics topics more.
Secondly, Christian young people need to understand why Christians believe these things. We must demonstrate that there is great evidence for the existence of God, that Jesus really lived and did what the gospels have recorded, that we can trust the Bible’s reliability, that life after death and the existence of the soul are reasonable beliefs, and that Christianity, of all major religions, best corresponds with what we know about the world and the human race.
Third, even if we cover both the what and the why of Christianity, we must still anticipate another key area of concern. Many young people have been confronted by skeptical non-Christians who have stumped them with questions that could have been answered with the right training. Such questions deal with the problem of evil, the nature of miracles, the blight of relativism, and the claims of other religions. The good news is that Christian thinkers over the years have also wrestled with these same questions and have come up with good answers. There is available a great resource list (see the second page of the EFCC Apologetics website). In addition, many good responses are found in the websites and books that follow in the next part of this article.
Most Christians would agree that the above three steps are important, but they might feel inadequate to cover all that territory. But many good websites and books are available to help teachers and parents. Let’s start with websites. Stand to Reason (www.str.org) has terrific resources in areas of ethics, Christianity, and apologetics. Campus Crusade for Christ (www.cru.org) has some material on apologetics. Alpha and Omega Ministries (www.aomin.org) has apologetic helps, information on cults, and further details on defending the faith. Christian Research Institute, where Hank Hanegraaf is the president, has material on cults and Christianity (www.equip.org). For all areas of apologetics, people can use Leadership University (www.leaderu.com). Another good source is Apologetics Information Ministry (www.apologeticsinfo.org), which deals with doctrine, cults, apologetics, and world religions. Parents will gain much from looking at https://mamabearapologetics.com/ and https://christianmomthoughts.com/.
Here are additional useful sites and resources for parents and teachers:
https://connect.rzim.org/t/apologetics-for-grade-school-children/2219
There are many good books available for those interested in teaching these three vital areas of the Christian faith. One favorite is Peter Kreeft’s Handbook of Christian Apologetics because it is simple to understand and organized clearly. Others that deserve attention include any by Josh McDowell, Natasha Crain’s Talking with Your Kids About God and Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side, William Lane Craig’s Reasonable Faith, D. James Kennedy’s Why I Believe, Paul Copan’s True For You, But Not For Me, Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith, and Greg Koukl’s three books: Relativism, Tactics and The Story of Reality. Teachers and parents shouldn’t worry about being experts. Instead, they need to realize there are many valuable resources they can use to help provide clear evidence for our faith.
The goal of all this is to create clear-thinking Christian young people who are not afraid to share their faith. They will see that Christianity can hold its own in the marketplace of ideas. We have a faith that is not based on wishful thinking or a leap in the dark. The evidence is there for any who take the time to examine it. Let’s put 1 Peter 3:15 into practice: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
