Engaging our culture: equipping our youth for adulthood

Last Sunday night, my wife and I attended a Stand to Reason event titled, Engaging Our Culture. It was sponsored by Wheatstone Academy, and presented by Greg Koukl and Brett Kunkle. Their intention were to provide youth leaders, or those involved with teaching youth, how to equip Christians to better defend their faith, and bring the gospel to a hurting world.

Here are some of the notes I jotted down during the talk:

Greg Koukl -

He's here to bring us the "bad news" - culture thinks that religion (Christianity) is intolerant and bigoted. In other words, religion is the problem.

The secular answer is that we should adopt an attitude of religious doubt (a pluralistic type of view). Especially for any religion that is arrogant enough to think it is right!

In the church: 91% of youth are moral relativists.

Brett Kunkle -

The inarticulateness of our youth with regards to expressing their faith - he quoted an interview from the book Soul Searching (by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton) re: "our personal religious beliefs".

3 Points of attack we must focus on:

1) elevate expectations: We must raise the bar, challenge our youth, understand that they are capable of much more than we give them credit for.

2) equip minds: We must reevaluate the typical messages we give our youth in the church. Our young people need deep theological and apologetic training. We must understand Romans 12:1-2 as our being transformed by the faculties of the soul.

Innoculate vs. Isolate: we cannot, and should not, expect to raise our children in boxes, and then let them loose on the world. We must expose them to the culture on our terms.

When faced with apathy, provide "intellectual discomforts" (e.g., a visiting atheist who confronts their belief systems, forcing them to think through their faith). We must teach our youth to take ownership of their faith - to be able to answer the basic question of "Why do I believe what I believe?" We must allow them to be open to express their doubts - to be able to express such doubts within the home and the church - a safe environment. We must teach this basic training by using questions to get them to learn how to defend their beliefs.

3) engage in experiences: Get involved, understand the manner in which the media in our culture presents its worldview. Some ideas: Take the time to slow down the images that speed by our culture - have a movie nite, use the pause button to zero in on worldview issues that permeate today's media (whether movie or music or current events); "Missionaries @ the door" - purposely invite Mormon missionaries over in order to engage discussion about other religions; "Campus surveys" - engage college students in surveys about "moral & religious opinions" in order to discuss secular worldviews; "Museums" (art, tolerance, etc.).

It is interesting to see the intersection of ideas, from the religious and the secular realm, with regards to the notion of the case against adolescence. In asking to "raise the bar", we have come to a realization that young adults (those between ages 13 - 19) are just that - young adults. They are capable of much more than simply having fun. Homeschoolers have been aware of this for quite a while... it's nice to see others realizing it as well. (sidenote: from a comment that Brett Kunkle made, it appears that he and his wife are considering alternative methods for their children's education (homeschooling?).)

It is so very reassuring to hear someone preach that good, solid theological and apologetic instruction is needed within the church (especially for our youth). Inoculation provides our youth with the means to combat the attacks they will face in the secular realm.

In our efforts to teach our youth, we would do well to engage in experiences. Learn by doing is the motto at the university I attended, and just about any homeschooler will tell you that one of the most effective ways to teach your children is by having them engage experience. Active participation is a wonderful methodology.

Wheatstone Academy, sponsor of the event, gave a pitch for their week-long summer series, for young adults aged 15 - 19. Their program appears to have matured and grown into a highly developed and intense "boot camp" designed to challenge Christian youth on just about all fronts. From the pitch they gave, the program looks to be a fantastic opportunity (indeed, how can it not be, what with the likes of J.P. Moreland?).

Comments

[RonsBloviating]

Good stuff Rusty. I would like to see our apologetic model change somewhat, from just giving proofs. The old model is answering questions that are no longer being asked. How to do that exactly? Not sure, but some thought needs to go into it.

[Ray]

The 3 points are great and spot on. Encouraging people to consider and embrace a personal relationship with a living God. Competing with faith is the idea that all of us are islands created by chance with purposes only derived from personal desires.