How Can We Curb the Exodus of Young Christians from Leaving Their Faith after Entering Secular Colleges or the Work Places?

It is widely acknowledged that some eighty percent of young people reared in Christian homes walk away from their faith after entering secular colleges and universities—where they are immediately confronted by the thoroughly secular ideologies, evolutionary philosophy, and alluring worldly values of academia.

A good foundation in the Bible is not enough to keep young Christian committed to their faith. Apologetics is needed. And this training must be done before kids leave home to attend college or enter the secular workforce. Christian scholar and apologist, Nancy Pearcey, comments on this and provides a solution:

Today basic apologetics has become a crucial skill for sheer survival. Without the tools of apologetics, young people can be solidly trained in Bible study and doctrine, yet still flounder helplessly when they leave home and face the secular world on their own. . . .

     We need to make sure our own children leave home with [the] conviction burned deeply into their minds—that Christianity is capable of holding its own when challenged in the marketplace of ideas. . . . The church needs to redefine the mission of pastors and youth leaders to include training in apologetics and worldview. . . . A religion that avoids the intellectual task and retreats to the therapeutic realm of personal relationships and feelings will not survive in today’s spiritual battlefield.  (Total Truth, 125-127)

Youth leaders in particular must embark on a course of study that trains teenagers on how to respond to the anti-Christian rhetoric and secular ideologies they will encounter in the world beyond the church, especially in universities and colleges. If young people learn to recognize when their professors (and classmates) are peddling untruths and misrepresenting Christianity, it will provide them a shield of protection against the anti-Christian—and often hostile—dogma commonplace in modern academia and the secular world at large. Such instruction is crucial if Christians are to prepare themselves—and their kids—to defend their faith and to be effective in sharing the Gospel in today’s largely secular societies. ©

COMING UP IN JANUARY:  This week’s blog begins a new series titled, “The World beyond the Church,” which will include a variety of diverse topics. Following my annual two week Christmas break, I’ll resume the series in January with a topic that causes unnecessary divisiveness in the church: “Should Creationists Debate the Age of the Earth?”

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