Helping Your Church Explore Faith Questions

So I majored in philosophy. But obviously ended up having a lot of questions about my faith because of that experience. And I went into that experience thinking I had a really grounded, reasonable faith, but was exposed to a lot of questions that I just frankly didn't have the answer to. So as an undergrad, I just decided that I, personally, wasn't gonna abandon my faith just because of questions. I always knew that I wanted to go and hear the other side. So I ended up enrolling in Biola's Master in Christian Apologetics program, and just for my own personal knowledge.

And while I was there, I was exposed to what I would call this other world in Christianity that I had no idea existed. And I met just some of the greatest thinkers, I think, of our day. And I got to read and listen, and I ended up just feeling like my questions really were answered. And that birthed in me a passion to make sure other people had access to those answers, and knew that there were incredibly smart people thinking about whatever question they had, and that they weren't alone in trying to get answers.

And so just out of my own personal experience, I had this knowledge base that other Christians didn't have. And so as I launched into working with college students, it was almost just a natural evolution. People knew I had this background, and so they started asking me, "Hey. How can we start answering our student's tough questions?" And from there it became a part of my everyday ministry that I would help people get answers to the tough questions.

So I thankfully did not have to convince that senior pastor that this ministry was valuable. But since then I've had to convince a lot of pastors that showing up for an apologetics class, having an apologetics series for their student ministry is an incredibly valuable thing. And I do think there area lot of pastors out there who are maybe a little bit jaded about, "Ah, apologetics doesn't work. No one becomes a Christian because their questions get answered." And so I have had to face a little bit of that, for sure.

So I ended up getting with some classmates, actually, from that program and just saying, "Okay. What are the questions that people have? If we were to answer any tough question about Christian faith, which are the ones that we would tackle from the stage?" So we brainstormed a ton of topics. And then we came to Biola and we said, "Here are some of the things that we want covered. Who do you have that's great who can speak on these topics?" And they were so amazing to coordinate with us and say, "We've got this great speaker. He does a great talk on this particular question."

And something that I think a lot of people miss about apologetics ministry is that it is not just about the right answer. It is also about the environment in which you're giving that answer. And the fact of the matter is, if someone has a question, they can go read a book to get the answer. So when I'm doing apologetics ministry, and I'm crafting these conferences and these seminars, I'm not just thinking about what is the answer we need to give, I'm also thinking about what experience do we need to create to make people really excited to come and learn? And so we do a lot of things at our conferences, even at that first seminar, to make sure that people are having a great experience.

Something that's huge, so simple, we have a never ending supply of free coffee. That's huge. We have free snacks. And then we also create these moments where people turn to each other in the middle of a session, and they'll just start having conversation with each other. 'Cause I remember being a student in class, and some of my best light bulb moments didn't happen from listening to the lecture, they happened later in conversation with the person right next to me as we were working it out. And so I've always been super passionate that when I'm creating these apologetics experiences for people, even back to that first seminar, it's not just about the answer. It's also about the environment that people are learning the answer in.

So he came and he sat and he actually listened in to Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel was speaking at our Friday night, one of our first sessions. And Lee gives this great presentation on the resurrection of Jesus, and why it's a credible miracle to believe. And at the very end, ends up sharing his testimony of how he was this rational atheist who then came to faith in Jesus Christ simply by pursuing the answers to his questions.

And in that moment the world shifts for this man who's shown up to prove that Christianity is wrong. He's literally hearing Lee Strobel's story and saying, "That is my story. That's why I'm here, to prove that this is wrong." Ends up in that session praying the prayer to receive Jesus, because Lee brilliantly decides there needs to be a salvation moment at this apologetics conference. Receives Christ, and he ends up becoming one of our great volunteers, just serving at Bayside, and moves and comes and starts attending our church just so that he can be close to what God is doing, and continue the work that God started in him at that conference.

So you mentioned earlier that sometimes you have had to answer some objections from Christians, actually, in the church who say we should be spending time on other things, we should … this apologetics really doesn't work. Apart from, I suppose, just sharing these kinds of stories, how else have you found that you needed to respond to somebody who maybe didn't understand quite how God uses apologetics in the church?

And then I just start sharing from my own personal experience, what apologetics has meant to me. And I share with them how I grew up in a pastor's home, and I had a very rational faith. But there came a moment where I desperately needed some good answers to tough questions. And thank goodness I was exposed to apologetics, because I came to a fork in the road in my personal faith, where it was either gonna be I am walking away from Jesus, or I'm gonna love Jesus, but just not be able to love him with my mind. My intellect is gonna have to be divorced from my faith. And both of those options are terrible. And we need to help the Christians that come to that similar fork in the road. So I just try to really cast a vision for what apologetics can be. So that's that first reason.

So we ended up inviting them to have coffee with us, and me and another organizer of the conference, we just sat down with them and heard why they would be interested in coming and wearing those tee shirts, and letting Christians ask them questions. And it was completely opposite of what we were thinking. So come to find out, they actually believe that Christians have a really negative image of atheists. They think Christians believe that all atheists are evil, and our completely morally corrupt. And they wanted to come to this conference and just provide an environment where people could see that they could have conversations with an atheist, and it wouldn't have to be a bad thing.

So, we didn't let them do it. And you're like, "Oh, that's such a great story." We didn't let them do it, because we felt like, even if they were to handle it maturely, even if they were to handle those conversations maturely, we felt like there would be a lot of Christians who came to that conference looking for a safe place to ask questions, and the very presence of someone saying, "Come ask me about what I believe," would halt that process for them. And so we shared with these two guys, Gary and John, we said, "We really value what you want to do. Let's create another environment here at Bayside where we can get Christians and atheists and Muslims, and people from all faiths interacting. So you're welcome to come to the conference." In fact I gave them two free passes and said, "Hey, I want to know your feedback. This is our best attempt to answer you guys' objections to the faith. Why don't you come and just sit in and tell us how we're doing."

So gave them two free passes. And I met up with them afterwards, and they sat in on my breakout, and they gave me notes. They said, "We thought this was a good point, this was a bad point. We didn't like this that the speaker said." And it was so helpful. They had really genuinely good feedback that I was glad that I listened to. But we ended up creating another environment where we could get face to face and say, "Let's all be on an even playing ground, and just talk about a question like what is morality? And let's hear your perspective, and let's hear the Christian perspective. Let's hear the Muslim perspective and the Buddhist perspective." So that was an interesting situations

For instance, I'm not at all an expert in scientific apologetics. So when I meet a high school student that gets referred to me 'cause I'm the apologetics person, "Oh, ask Dena. She knows apologetics." Sometimes people refer people to me, and then I'm just honest with that student, "Hey. I don't have a good answer to that tough question. But thank goodness I know someone in our church who is an expert on that tough question. Let me link you. If you want to talk about the problem of evil, we can talk about that all day. I'm good at answering that question. But when it comes to evolution and the age of the earth, I'm not gonna be your best resource."

So the first way that I really help our student ministry pastors is by exposing them to the people within our church that have a passion for apologetics. I keep a list of people that I recommend so that when a student pastor comes to me panicked because this kid is gonna lose their faith, I know who to connect them to. So that'd be the first way that I help our student pastors is by just … I don't have to be the person that answers all the questions, but I can be the bridge that connects them to the person that can.

The second way is I really give our student pastors a vision for apologetics that's probably opposite of what most parents want their kids to experience in apologetics ministry. So let me explain. I think when parents send their kids to youth ministry, especially high school students, they're hoping and expecting that their child's faith is gonna be really shepherded and tended to and grown. My vision for apologetics with high school students specifically is I think we should absolutely mess them up, and expose them to all the tough questions that they're gonna encounter in college. I really believe that they should hear from us the things that they need to be wrestling with.

So I try to have that conversation regularly with our student pastor team to say, "Hey. I know you're inviting me to come in and talk about apologetics to your students. I'm just warning you that when I leave your students are gonna have more questions, and that's great, because I promise you, if I speak on apologetics for an hour, when they get to their freshman philosophy class, they're not gonna remember what I said. But hopefully, when they get to their freshman philosophy class, they're gonna remember that there was someone who was really intelligent, who knew about the deep questions of the faith, and she said, 'Hey. You don't need to worry about this. You need to ask these questions. You need to work hard to get great answers, but you don't need to worry about this, because you heard it here, and there are great answers to the tough questions. You just need to go out and find them.'" So that's another thing.

And that's my vision for apologetics, especially with high school students is we should show them the questions that they already have, and the questions that they're gonna be exposed to while they're here, in the presence of great church leaders who they can reach out to for help. For a variety of reasons, when high school students graduate, they don't just graduate their high school, they graduate their faith. And a lot of that is because they are disconnected from church leaders. And I don't think we're gonna be able to fix that in one broad sweep by one apologetics talk. But I hopefully have planted forever in their mind the idea that there is someone smarter than them asking this question, and there is a great answer if they will simply do the hard work of seeking out that great answer to the tough question.

And specifically we dove into the questions that a lot of moms have, like what happens if my kid is sick? What happens if I lose a child? And we just dug into those really dark, deep questions, and I was able to share, as a mom, but also as someone with an apologetics background on some possible things that may help them in their season of life.

So, whatever group I'm speaking to, I usually just ask the person hosting me, "What's the most difficult question your people are asking?" And as long as it's not science related I say, "Great. I'm your gal." If not I say, "Hey. I have a friend named Dave. He would love to come and share."

If God has given you a gift for apologetics and a passion to use it, don't necessarily just look for the doors that are not open. It could be that certain platforms are off limits for you right now. And I'd say, if a platform is off limit to you, than go create your own platform. And even if that is simply in the most honoring way possible, collecting a group of young women that are not taking their faith as seriously as they need to, and saying, "Hey. We're gonna dive into the tough questions and we're gonna go after this together," be exceedingly faithful in that platform, even if it's one of your own creating, and don't just wait for someone to open the door for you and create the platform for you. Do it right now. God wants you to use those apologetics gifts right now.

And then I would make all the great thinkers do all the homework, 'cause this is their thing. I would make them read the J. P. Morelands, and the J. Warner Wallaces, and the William Lane Craigs, and Gary Habermases. I would make them do all the research, and come to small group and teach us what they learned. And then I would invite the communicators to figure out the best way to communicate that to our general church audience.

And the reason why I would do that instead of doing my own class is my particular role in apologetics is to connect the resources to the people that need those resources. I share that with you in the past, Mikel. And I feel like there's a huge gap in apologetics right now between the thinkers and the communicators. Most people that have the platform to communicate … I say this with grace … are not the great thinkers in the church. Some of them are, but not everyone is Tim Keller. And not everyone is C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis was one of the greatest thinkers, and one of the greatest communicators. And so I would be passionate to connect the thinkers with the communicators and help the communicators really understand what they're missing in communicating from the platform.

So, I forgot your original question, but that makes me really excited.

So, if you are on staff though … say you're the youth pastor or say you're a children's ministry director, even worship pastor let's say … you have a heart for seeing this in your church. How would that differ? What advice would you give them?

Secondly, you also need to know if you're the best communicator. And this is something that is really humbling, but you may need to take a speech class. You may need to get some feedback on how you're doing in communicating. As someone that hosts apologetics conferences, let me tell you my greatest challenge is finding great thinkers who are great communicators. And so I would really challenge you, if you're not a great communicator, that is something that you need to work on. And so become a great communicator. Take a speech class. Get feedback. Every time you speak make sure people are telling you if it was making sense or not. And if you can humble yourself in that way, then you'll make sure that the passion that you have for apologetics and giving thee great answers to the tough questions, that that's actually translating to the audience who's listening.

So that's an extremely specific thing that I would do. But I do see it as one of the greatest gaps in apologetics today. And so if you're asking how you can fill in, that's a gap I see.

Patient with yourself, if you're a pastor and this is something you're struggling with, and ask for help. Ask for help. If you're struggling with knowing how to bring this to your people, then find someone who's doing this really, really well, and say, "Can I just ask you a thousand questions about how you're doing this?" Someone I would follow is Mark Clark. I think … this may be so bold … but I think he's an emerging C. S. Lewis of our generation. I think every generation has someone that not only has great answers, but also understands the questions that people are asking. And I feel like, in recent times, the person who's doing the best job of really hearing the questions that people are asking, is Mark Clark. So read what Mark is writing, and do the Bible studies that he is producing, and follow along with the journey that he's taking his church on. Because I see him doing what is needed so very, very well.