The Challenges Facing Young Christians

coldcasechristianity.com/writings/the-challenges-facing-young-christians
July 5, 2017

Every other week, from May to August, I have

the honor of speaking with students at Summit Worldview Academy. I typically teach on
the nature of truth, the reliability of the gospels, and the evidence for God’s existence.
The students are eager to learn and have many good questions during the breaks,
during our lunch and dinner time together, and at an evening session specifically set
aside for questions. The students usually share a number of stories related to the ways
they were already being challenged as young Christians. Many have experienced a
season of doubt and are grateful for the training they receive at Summit. Dr. Jeff Myers,
the president of Summit Ministries, has assembled an incredible collection of thinkers,
teachers and trainers to help prepare students to face challenges and “analyze the
various ideas that are currently competing for their hearts and minds.” These young
people are eager to prepare themselves for these encounters. Christian students are
surrounded by competing worldviews from a very young age. As I speak with the young
men and women at Summit, I think about the many ways our kids are challenged from
childhood through their college years:

They Are Challenged by the Media

Young Christians are challenged very early, beginning with their first exposure to
television, movies and the internet. Much of the media is aligned against Christian
values, and Americans spend about one-third of their free time, (more than the next 10
most popular leisure activities combined) watching some form of television. The
messages communicated by television programming are often in direct opposition to
the teaching of Christianity, and students are deeply impacted by what they absorb from
the media. Two out of every three shows on television, for example, include sexual
content (a dramatic increase over the past 15 years). 50% of the couples involved in
sexual behavior in television programming are depicted in casual relationships (10% of
these couples had just met, and 9% of television programs depict sexual behavior
between teens). In a set of Kaiser Family Foundation studies, 76% of teens said that one
reason young people have sex is because TV shows and movies “make it seem normal”.
College students who were exposed to the many examples of sexual behavior on
television were more likely to believe their peers engaged in those same activities.

They Are Challenged by Elementary and High School Programming

Make no mistake about it, when Christian values are attacked in the public education
system, the basis for those beliefs (Christianity) is also attacked. Here in California, for
example, comprehensive sexual health and HIV / AIDS instruction requires schools to
teach students how to have “safe sex”. “Abstinence only” education is not permitted in
California public schools. In addition, California schools cannot inform parents if their
children leave campus to receive certain confidential medical services, including
abortions. Classic Christian values related to sexuality (and marriage) are under attack in
the public school system.

They Are Challenged by University Professors

Once students get to college, they are likely to encounter professors who are even more
aggressive in their opposition to Christianity and Christian values. According to the
Institute for Jewish and Community research, a survey of 1,200 college faculty members
revealed 1 in 4 professors (25%) is an atheist or agnostic (compared with 4-5% in the
general population). In addition, only 6% of university professors say the Bible is “the
actual word of God”. Instead, 51% say the Bible is “an ancient book of fables, legends,
history & moral precepts”. More than half of professors have “unfavorable” feelings
toward Evangelical Christians. Charles Francis Potter (author of Humanism: A New
Religion) said it best when he proclaimed, “Education is thus a most powerful ally of
Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the
theistic Sunday-schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction
of the children, do to stem the tide of a five day program of humanistic teaching?”

They Are Challenged by University Students

The attitude and influence of hostile professors is often accepted by University students
happy to reject the moral precepts of the Christian worldview. Atheist student groups
are multiplying dramatically in universities across America. The Secular Student Alliance,
for example, grew from 80 student clubs in 2007 to over 250 clubs in 2011. These
students groups are eager to identify themselves with names that challenge the
intellectual capacity of Christian students. Atheist groups often seek titles such as “Free
Thinker Society,” the “Coalition of Reason,” or the “Center for Inquiry”. The implication,
of course, is that Christians are ignorant and constrained by their antiquated worldview.

The Church will never begin to address the growing problem of young people leaving
the faith if it doesn’t first recognize the challenges facing Christian students. The young
Christians at Summit have already begun to feel the impact of the cultural forces
aligning against the Christian worldview. That’s why they are so encouraged to discover
and experience the robust intellectual tradition of Christian thought as represented by
the professors, speakers and trainers over two intensive weeks of worldview training.
These young people are forever changed by their experience at Summit. They are
equipped to meet the challenges they already face, even as they prepare for an even
greater challenge in the university setting. All of us, as youth pastors and ministers, can
learn something from programs like Summit. It’s time to address the challenges facing
students before they find themselves struggling to resist the cultural tide on their own.

For more information about strategies to help you teach Christian worldview to the next
generation, please read So the Next Generation Will Know: Training Young Christians in a
Challenging World. This book teaches parents, youth pastors and Christian educators
practical, accessible strategies and principles they can employ to teach the youngest
Christians the truth of Christianity. The book is accompanied by an eight-session So the
Next Generation Will Know DVD Set (and Participant’s Guide) to help individuals or small
groups examine the evidence and make the case.

J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline featured Cold-Case Detective, Senior Fellow at

the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, Adj. Professor of Christian Apologetics at
Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, author of Cold-Case Christianity, God’s
Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, and creator of the Case Makers Academy for kids.

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