Most of the people reading this are either serious about the Christian convictions they hold, or serious about examining the evidence for Christianity. They’re pursuing the truth. But outside the realm of those who make the case for Christianity, just offering evidence to people is no longer good enough. Many in our culture don’t care if Christianity is true. In fact, they don’t care about the truth much at all. So, how do we reach people like that? What can we do to encourage people to consider what we have to say? And how do we handle the fact that many of those folks are inside the church?
The Need for “Invangelism”
I ask these questions not just about the skeptics and atheists we encounter. If we are to believe the statistics, they also apply to how we interact with many who are sitting next to us in church on any given Sunday. For instance, according to George Barna’s latest research, here is what we’re up against:
The culture in general:
< 6% of American adults hold to a Christian view of the world
51% think they do.[1]
For those ages 18 to 29, it’s less than 2%.[2]
Among self-identified Christians:
< 9% hold to the tenets of basic, orthodox Christianity
80% of “born-again” Christians believe they do.[3]
51% of pastors profess a traditional view of the Christian faith.[4]
These results are based on responses to 51 worldview-related questions drawn from eight categories of worldview application that measure both beliefs and behavior. The survey was taken in January 2020. Since then, my guess is that things have actually gotten worse.
Among our young people:
Within 5 years of leaving home, 65-75% of our youth walk away from the faith.
Only 16% of Generation ‘X’ (born: 1965-1980) attends church
Only 4% of “Millennials” (born: 1980-1994) attends church
13% of Generation ‘Z’ (born: 1995-2012) consider themselves atheist. That is double the previous generation!
80% are spiritually disengaged by age 29
In other words, if you are a follower of Christ, you’re not just in a vast minority of people in general, you’re also a member of a vast minority within your own church.
Making the Case for Making the Case
What you should get from this is that our target audience sits very close to home. As I recently heard Greg Koukl put it:
“Apologetics has changed over the last twenty-five years. We apologists used to be concerned with repelling enemies from outside the church. Today, the more pressing issue is the wolves who are inside.”
I like to call it “invangelism” — our challenge to make the case inside the church, too.
No matter what you want to call it, we can’t escape the fact that our work is cut out for us. But to be effective communicators of biblical truth, just knowing some answers isn’t good enough. We also need to be able to deliver the message with precision and clarity.
We need to make the case … for why we need to make the case for the truth of Christianity. And I’d like to offer a couple of suggestions for how to do that.
Stop Selling “Apologetics”
The first step in that project is to stop talking about “apologetics” or calling yourself an “apologist.” I say that for two reasons.
First, almost without exception, when I have brought up the topic of apologetics to someone inside the church the response I get is some variant of, “What is that?”
Most of our fellow churchgoers don’t even know what the word “apologetics” means, let alone how to practice it. This is no one’s fault. It’s just a by-product of a century of cultural amnesia about the intellectual foundations of the Christian faith.
So, instead of selling apologetics, talk about things like “articulating and defending your faith,” “answering tough questions,” “confronting doubt,” or having “confidence in what you believe.”
All of those fall under the banner of “apologetics,” of course. The difference is that you don’t need to explain what those words mean. And you don’t sound weird when you say them.
That’s an easy obstacle to overcome. The second one is much harder.
1 Peter 3:15b
The other problem with referring to “apologetics” or calling yourself an “apologist,” is that some people do know what it means, and they don’t like it — at all.
Unfortunately, history has shown that many people who are drawn into the world of apologetics are the kind of people who want to prove a point. They like winning arguments, forgetting that there are many ways to win an argument that do not include winning over the person with whom they’re arguing.
Let me be blunt. Too many apologists have a reputation for being jerks. They’ve cited the first half of the foundational apologetics verse (1 Peter 3:15) with great zeal: “Always be ready to give an answer (apologia) to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have …”
Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten the second half of the verse: “But do this with gentleness and respect …”
Too many of us leave that part out.
Being successful is definitely about our attitude. But it’s also about our method.
Recognize the Curse of Knowledge
Recently, I saw the following exchange in a Facebook comment section. Someone had been given the opportunity to present apologetics material to a group of young adults at their church. They were asking for suggestions about what others thought they should cover. Here was one response:
If you have an hour, I’d consider a broad overview of apologetics; why apologetics matters in our postmodern world, the fine-tuning argument for existence of God, the fate of the apostles and conversion of James and Paul after the Resurrection. Manuscript evidence for the reliability of the Bible (could also include Isaiah scroll from Qumran and 900 AD to show the accuracy of copies of time). Evidence for the historical Jesus.
Really?
There is no possible way to cover all those topics in an hour. A trained apologist could probably spend multiple hours talking about any one of them. So, lighten up. Stop overwhelming people with information.
Here’s another example from an apologetics-focused magazine where the writer of the article discusses how to handle the challenge of a wide variety of issues we face from the culture:
This steady psychological challenge leads us to seek ways of escaping the maelstrom of exigencies.
Huh?
Both of these are fantastic examples of what some have called, “the curse of knowledge.” In their book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip and Dan Heath define it this way:
Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like to not know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily recreate our listeners’ state of mind.
What I’m suggesting is that we need to stop talking like Charlie Brown’s teacher. If you’re too young to know the reference, here’s what I mean.
Don’t Be Discouraged, Be Ready
Read the room. The goal isn’t to dump a bunch of information on people or to impress them with how much you know. Those of us who traffic in this stuff need to remember where we were before we discovered apologetics. We need to present the case accordingly.
Stop using “Christianese” language or philosophical jargon. Talk like a normal person.
The goal is to encourage people to embrace their faith and own it for themselves. In the end, it’s not about information; it’s about transformation. It’s about imparting confidence in folks and empowering them to make that confidence infectious.
Recognize the mission. Be wise about how you approach it. Don’t succumb to “the curse of knowledge.” And don’t be discouraged by the apathy you may encounter or the lack of success you may realize. Neither of those is your problem.
Your charge is to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Do it with grace and humility — then leave the consequences to God.
NOTES
[1] George Barna, “Perceptions About Biblical Worldview and its Application,” 2021, p. 4. Available at: https://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF21E41.pdf
[2] 2020 American Worldview Inventory. Available at: https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2020/03/24/inaugural-crc-study-dangerously-low-percentage-of-americans-hold-biblical-worldview/
[3] Barna, p. 9.
[4] Barna Research Group, “Only Half of Pastors Have a Biblical Worldview.” Available at: https://www.barna.com/research/only-half-of-protestant-pastors-have-a-biblical-worldview/
Great thoughts, Bob. I have taught many "apologetics" classes over the years. I really like your idea of "stop talking about “apologetics” for the reasons you give. It is true that the first 15 minutes or so of every "apologetics" class is devoted to explaining what apologetics means.