I agree with what you said here. I'd add that having a solid Christian community in adulthood is arguably the most important thing. I've had a few close friends who walked away faith, not because they didn't know the why they believe, but I think it was partially due to not having people or mentors who could pour into their lives. Christianity is not just head knowledge, it's a lived out experience. We are not meant to walk this faith journey alone.
Thank you, Sarah. Your advice is so necessary, especially in today’s university and social media environments. I can vouch for Nancy Pearcey’s books. They are excellent. For older teens, Love Thy Body and The Toxic War on Masculinity address issues of what it even means to be human in today’s culture. And Back in my young days, Josh McDowell (Sean’s dad), wrote two excellent books, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, and More Evidence That Demands a Verdict. I’m not familiar with some of others you mention, but Strobel’s books are excellent.
Thank you Sarah for another fantastic article. I have personally read some of the books you recommended above, and highly recommended them as well.
The only other book that I would also recommend is “Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College” by Michael Kruger. I highly recommend it for High School students and young adults before they go to college.
"The stricter a church (within reason), the more likely its members are to remain."
The "within reason" is doing a fair amount of work there. I know a fair number of people who left Christianity and came from very strict churches. It's better, IMO, for a church to focus on being biblically sound and recognizing that means both upholding His commandments and representing His grace.
But that's my only quibble with what you wrote. These are some great resources and I will definitely be checking them out. I 100% agree that it's critical to teach children why they can be confident in their faith. That will serve them well throughout their whole life.
When I moved to a new city and was looking for a church, I looked for ones with active youth and children's ministries. Most of the mainline churches I visited had lots of older attendees, but not many young families. They weren't healthy churches. The church we attend now has a huge youth program. (It also plants a new church every few years.) It's the exact environment I want for my kids.
Great article Sarah. I like your resource list but I wonder if something sticking solely to the Resurection may also be great for many kids.
After all if Jesus really rose again everything else kind of follows or even if it doesn’t it somehow seems less important.
I wrote a book on whether the resurrection is true (includes historical arguments) and if so why does that matter and actually your article made me wonder if it might be helpful in this context. Oddly I hadn’t considered that before. All too often, as you say, we fail to examine WHY we believe what we do. I’m very interested in your future book by the way. Here’s the title of mine in case you or others are interested. “Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything”
The Resurrection is HUGELY important. I argue that if you absolutely had to boil Christianity down to the barest elements, it would be that God is the sovereign Creator of all things and Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected. If young Christians have a grasp on those two things alone, that's a tremendous starting point.
From my experience (limited though it is), an issue facing Christian apologetics is the assumption that Christians are approaching apologetic arguments with the same Christian assumptions. I turn to the book of Job to address the problem of evil, only to encounter a lifelong Bible reader who thinks the book of Job is fiction, as in Job never existed. I print out a list discussing extra-biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus, only to have a lifelong church goer provide counter claims from the infidels.org website. Point being: the secular world is hostile to Christian faith, but some inside the church are far from a united front of shared beliefs.
This is a great post Sarah with full of great resources, and full of wisdom, common sense and foundational principles for the faith. I totally agree with the necessity of knowing why we believe what we believe, and living differentally than what the culture teaches us on the outside. On the inside, We have reduced Christianity very often to the act of receiving Jesus into our heart and after that, then what...??
May i provide an additional thought. Although we need the intellectual & informational side of Christianity, we also need to balance it with the experiential side of Christianity. This is where i think we failed. We have the objective side of Christianity but lack the subjective side of it.
Our modern day discipleship is based on knowledge and information (Ex. Lots of Bible Studies, and also apologetics for those who are more serious with their faith, etc). We know, but we for the most part, we have not had a personal experience of the presence, love, goodness and grace of God in our hearts. We lack in that sense the personal and regular (if not daily) encounters with Jesus through faith. Without the experiential side of Christianity, the soul is devoid of nourishment and assurance of the presence of God in our daily life. A soul without assurance will eventually be vulnerable to the attack of the world and of the enemy. But a soul anchored in the assurance and presence of Jesus is a soul that will withstand doubts and questions until Jesus provides more light in our gaps.
I don't want to downplay the factual side of Christianity at the benefit of the experiential side for myself, it was science that brought me back to the Lord when i was in period of deep depression and darkness, a time when i felt God was absent and when i did not even think he existed. But i must also say that during this period of my life, I did not have a strong emphasis on the experiential side of Christianity in my life.
I love much of what you have shared here; great thoughts about helping parents raise Christian kids (who don't detach from the faith as they grow older). One of the things that I see that is often overlooked--but seems essential--is to simply read the Bible with your kids. Not a storybook Bible, but the Bible. A good, essentially literal translation, and just read it with them. These is of benefit in a few ways. 1. God promises that His word will not return void but will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it. By reading Scripture with our children we partner with God in availing ourselves of His life-changing word. 2. If faith come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, then reading Scripture is an essential component to someone coming to (and remaining in) faith. 3. If we build into our children's lives by reading things other than the Bible (as foundational) then we might be modeling (unintentionally) that our faith is rooted in what people say about what the Scripture teaches rather than what the Bible simply says. This is challenging, because many parents don't read Scripture well for themselves so they will have to grow in their own experience of reading Scripture so as to live that out before their kids. 4. The best safe guard against the bad sub-Christian teaching that our children will encounter will not simply be to understand good doctrine (as important as that is), but to know how that good doctrine grows out of God's Word. False teachers use the Bible to teach unbiblical (but "reasonable sounding" things); to be able to know how to read the Bible for oneself and to be experienced in making sense of even challenging passages will serve our children well.
I love much of what you have shared here; great thoughts about helping parents raise Christian kids who don’t detach from the faith as they grow older. One of the things that I see that is often overlooked by some parents—but seems essential—is to simply read the Bible with your kids. Not a storybook Bible, but a good standard essentially literal translation. Just read it with them. This is of benefit in a few ways. First, God promises that His word will not return void but will accomplish the purpose to which He sends it. By reading Scripture with our kids, we partner with God in availing ourselves of His life-changing word. Second, if faith “comes by hearing . . . and hearing by the word,” then reading Scripture is a critical component to someone coming to—and remaining—in the faith. Third, if we build into our children’s lives by reading things other than the Bible (as foundational) then we might be unintentionally modeling that our faith is rooted in what people say about what the Scriptures say rather than what the Bible simply says. Lastly, the best safeguard against the bad sub-Christian teaching that our children will be exposed to will not simply be to understand good doctrine (as important as that is), but to know how that good doctrine grows out of a faithful reading of Scripture. After all, false teachers use the Bible to teach unbiblical things (that may sound reasonable). To be able to read the Bible for oneself and to be experienced in making sense of even challenging passages will serve our children well.
Christianity as a masculine pursuit-win. Both men and women respond positively, and the church thrives with energy and purpose.
Churchianity-feminine pursuit. Men feel exempt, un-challenged. The protestant idea of hectoring and neutering men as a "challenge" is the inverse of what is required.
Sadly, as women gain control, men withdraw. This is anthropological, I suspect. See the "estrogen ghetto" thesis.
So-for children, boys especially? The Church must recapture its warrior ethos. As it is now, it will be diminished in its lassitude.
Children respond to winners. The fact that Jesus Christ, the ultimate winner, has been disguised as the modern rainbow-flag therapy friend is a diabolical travesty.
The resources you listed are great! When I was in college and worked with high schoolers in youth group they were dying to have their questions answered about science/origins. I did a survey and the youth pastor allowed me and another college guy to do a basic teaching on going over some of the survey questions. I saw teens who didn’t take any interest usually get really excited. After that the youth pastor said he didn’t have “time to research resources” to do any more apologetics teachings on the topic and just dropped it. I was so disappointed
Thanks for writing this Sarah.
I agree with what you said here. I'd add that having a solid Christian community in adulthood is arguably the most important thing. I've had a few close friends who walked away faith, not because they didn't know the why they believe, but I think it was partially due to not having people or mentors who could pour into their lives. Christianity is not just head knowledge, it's a lived out experience. We are not meant to walk this faith journey alone.
Community is hugely important.
Thanks for this, Sarah.
It is encouraging to see Christians embracing the responsibility of educating our children.
Great article! Great 3 simple (not easy) points. Your resource selections are solid and also broad. Much needed today!
Thank you, Sarah. Your advice is so necessary, especially in today’s university and social media environments. I can vouch for Nancy Pearcey’s books. They are excellent. For older teens, Love Thy Body and The Toxic War on Masculinity address issues of what it even means to be human in today’s culture. And Back in my young days, Josh McDowell (Sean’s dad), wrote two excellent books, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, and More Evidence That Demands a Verdict. I’m not familiar with some of others you mention, but Strobel’s books are excellent.
Thank you. This is very helpful
Thank you Sarah for another fantastic article. I have personally read some of the books you recommended above, and highly recommended them as well.
The only other book that I would also recommend is “Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College” by Michael Kruger. I highly recommend it for High School students and young adults before they go to college.
"The stricter a church (within reason), the more likely its members are to remain."
The "within reason" is doing a fair amount of work there. I know a fair number of people who left Christianity and came from very strict churches. It's better, IMO, for a church to focus on being biblically sound and recognizing that means both upholding His commandments and representing His grace.
But that's my only quibble with what you wrote. These are some great resources and I will definitely be checking them out. I 100% agree that it's critical to teach children why they can be confident in their faith. That will serve them well throughout their whole life.
When I moved to a new city and was looking for a church, I looked for ones with active youth and children's ministries. Most of the mainline churches I visited had lots of older attendees, but not many young families. They weren't healthy churches. The church we attend now has a huge youth program. (It also plants a new church every few years.) It's the exact environment I want for my kids.
The video in my article talks about the "within reason." There's a breaking point where strictness goes too far and pushes people out of any group.
Sounds like you have a healthy church.
Great article Sarah. I like your resource list but I wonder if something sticking solely to the Resurection may also be great for many kids.
After all if Jesus really rose again everything else kind of follows or even if it doesn’t it somehow seems less important.
I wrote a book on whether the resurrection is true (includes historical arguments) and if so why does that matter and actually your article made me wonder if it might be helpful in this context. Oddly I hadn’t considered that before. All too often, as you say, we fail to examine WHY we believe what we do. I’m very interested in your future book by the way. Here’s the title of mine in case you or others are interested. “Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything”
The Resurrection is HUGELY important. I argue that if you absolutely had to boil Christianity down to the barest elements, it would be that God is the sovereign Creator of all things and Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected. If young Christians have a grasp on those two things alone, that's a tremendous starting point.
Absolutely. I wonder if you might have time to have a look at my own book and see if you feel it might be useful for youth in that situation.
At some point, I would enjoy looking at your book. Right now I'm up against some deadlines. Remind me in a few months.
From my experience (limited though it is), an issue facing Christian apologetics is the assumption that Christians are approaching apologetic arguments with the same Christian assumptions. I turn to the book of Job to address the problem of evil, only to encounter a lifelong Bible reader who thinks the book of Job is fiction, as in Job never existed. I print out a list discussing extra-biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus, only to have a lifelong church goer provide counter claims from the infidels.org website. Point being: the secular world is hostile to Christian faith, but some inside the church are far from a united front of shared beliefs.
https://danielmurphykennedy.substack.com/p/to-hell-and-back
This is a great post Sarah with full of great resources, and full of wisdom, common sense and foundational principles for the faith. I totally agree with the necessity of knowing why we believe what we believe, and living differentally than what the culture teaches us on the outside. On the inside, We have reduced Christianity very often to the act of receiving Jesus into our heart and after that, then what...??
May i provide an additional thought. Although we need the intellectual & informational side of Christianity, we also need to balance it with the experiential side of Christianity. This is where i think we failed. We have the objective side of Christianity but lack the subjective side of it.
Our modern day discipleship is based on knowledge and information (Ex. Lots of Bible Studies, and also apologetics for those who are more serious with their faith, etc). We know, but we for the most part, we have not had a personal experience of the presence, love, goodness and grace of God in our hearts. We lack in that sense the personal and regular (if not daily) encounters with Jesus through faith. Without the experiential side of Christianity, the soul is devoid of nourishment and assurance of the presence of God in our daily life. A soul without assurance will eventually be vulnerable to the attack of the world and of the enemy. But a soul anchored in the assurance and presence of Jesus is a soul that will withstand doubts and questions until Jesus provides more light in our gaps.
I don't want to downplay the factual side of Christianity at the benefit of the experiential side for myself, it was science that brought me back to the Lord when i was in period of deep depression and darkness, a time when i felt God was absent and when i did not even think he existed. But i must also say that during this period of my life, I did not have a strong emphasis on the experiential side of Christianity in my life.
I love much of what you have shared here; great thoughts about helping parents raise Christian kids (who don't detach from the faith as they grow older). One of the things that I see that is often overlooked--but seems essential--is to simply read the Bible with your kids. Not a storybook Bible, but the Bible. A good, essentially literal translation, and just read it with them. These is of benefit in a few ways. 1. God promises that His word will not return void but will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it. By reading Scripture with our children we partner with God in availing ourselves of His life-changing word. 2. If faith come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, then reading Scripture is an essential component to someone coming to (and remaining in) faith. 3. If we build into our children's lives by reading things other than the Bible (as foundational) then we might be modeling (unintentionally) that our faith is rooted in what people say about what the Scripture teaches rather than what the Bible simply says. This is challenging, because many parents don't read Scripture well for themselves so they will have to grow in their own experience of reading Scripture so as to live that out before their kids. 4. The best safe guard against the bad sub-Christian teaching that our children will encounter will not simply be to understand good doctrine (as important as that is), but to know how that good doctrine grows out of God's Word. False teachers use the Bible to teach unbiblical (but "reasonable sounding" things); to be able to know how to read the Bible for oneself and to be experienced in making sense of even challenging passages will serve our children well.
I love much of what you have shared here; great thoughts about helping parents raise Christian kids who don’t detach from the faith as they grow older. One of the things that I see that is often overlooked by some parents—but seems essential—is to simply read the Bible with your kids. Not a storybook Bible, but a good standard essentially literal translation. Just read it with them. This is of benefit in a few ways. First, God promises that His word will not return void but will accomplish the purpose to which He sends it. By reading Scripture with our kids, we partner with God in availing ourselves of His life-changing word. Second, if faith “comes by hearing . . . and hearing by the word,” then reading Scripture is a critical component to someone coming to—and remaining—in the faith. Third, if we build into our children’s lives by reading things other than the Bible (as foundational) then we might be unintentionally modeling that our faith is rooted in what people say about what the Scriptures say rather than what the Bible simply says. Lastly, the best safeguard against the bad sub-Christian teaching that our children will be exposed to will not simply be to understand good doctrine (as important as that is), but to know how that good doctrine grows out of a faithful reading of Scripture. After all, false teachers use the Bible to teach unbiblical things (that may sound reasonable). To be able to read the Bible for oneself and to be experienced in making sense of even challenging passages will serve our children well.
Feminization.
Christianity as a masculine pursuit-win. Both men and women respond positively, and the church thrives with energy and purpose.
Churchianity-feminine pursuit. Men feel exempt, un-challenged. The protestant idea of hectoring and neutering men as a "challenge" is the inverse of what is required.
Sadly, as women gain control, men withdraw. This is anthropological, I suspect. See the "estrogen ghetto" thesis.
So-for children, boys especially? The Church must recapture its warrior ethos. As it is now, it will be diminished in its lassitude.
Children respond to winners. The fact that Jesus Christ, the ultimate winner, has been disguised as the modern rainbow-flag therapy friend is a diabolical travesty.
Too many money-changers, too few whips.
The resources you listed are great! When I was in college and worked with high schoolers in youth group they were dying to have their questions answered about science/origins. I did a survey and the youth pastor allowed me and another college guy to do a basic teaching on going over some of the survey questions. I saw teens who didn’t take any interest usually get really excited. After that the youth pastor said he didn’t have “time to research resources” to do any more apologetics teachings on the topic and just dropped it. I was so disappointed
Excellent article. Right on the money.