2 Reasons Apologetics Is Vitally Important Today

When I first started teaching apologetics, there were many Christians claiming that apologetics was no longer important. Many leaders in the “emerging church” movement made statements like these:

Young people no longer care about reasons for the existence of the Christian God. What matters is telling your narrative and being authentic.

New generations today no longer need “evidence that demands a verdict”or a “case for Christ.”

Conversion is about the heart, not the intellect.

I have worked with high school students for roughly a quarter century and can say that these sentiments were devastatingly wrong. While culture has shifted radically since the early 2000s, and some different issues have arisen,we need apologetics training in the church today more than ever. Let me say that again, to make sure it sinks in:
We need apologetics training in the church today more than ever.

To say that apologetics is critical for ministry today is not to say that Christians just continue business as usual. That would be foolish. Our world is changing, and it is changing
rapidly. But God does not change (Malachi 3:6),and neither does human nature. Humans are thoughtful and rational beings who respond to evidence. People have questions, and we are all responsible to provide helpful answers.

People often confuse apologetics with apologizing for the faith, but the Greek word
apologia refers to a legal defense. Thus, apologetics involves giving a rational defense for the Christian faith.The biblical evidence is clear: All Christians are to be trained in apologetics, which is an integral part of discipleship (1 Peter 3:15, Jude 3). This involves learning how to respond to common objections raised against the Christian faith and how to positively commend the gospel to a particular audience.

Christians have certainly made mistakes in the way we have defended our beliefs in the past, but this hardly means we should abandon apologetics altogether. Rather, we ought to learn from the past and do better today. Beyond the biblical mandate, apologetics is vitally important today for two reasons.

1) STRENGTHENING BELIEVERS

The first reason is to fortify faith. It is no secret that many Christians, including young Christians, are leaving the church. According to the authors of
The Great Dechurching, “More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening,and Billy Graham crusades combined.”¹ This trend has continued to increase since the mid-1990s.² While there are many reasons people disengage from the church, one common reason is that people are talked out of believing that Christianity is true. Why sacrifice time and money—and sleep—if you think Christianity is a fairy tale?

Christian students are being bombarded with anti-Christian messages on social media, in the classroom, and from their friends. While “deconstruction” can often be a positive way of aligning one’s faith more closely with scripture,³ there is also a significant trend of social media influencers trying to “help” Christians deconstruct a
way from the historic Christian faith.⁴ How do we help them resist some of the secular ideas permeating our culture? How do we help them stand strong in their faith and not abandon it? Apologetics training must be part of our parenting and discipleship with the next generation.

2) REACHING THE LOST

The second reason apologetics is vital today is for evangelism. The apostles of Christ ministered in a pluralistic culture. They regularly reasoned with both Jews and pagans, trying to persuade them of the truth of Christianity.They appealed to fulfilled prophecy, Jesus’ miracles, evidence for creation, and proofs for the resurrection (Acts 17:2-3).

We live in an increasingly pluralistic world today. And yet, there is an openness to Jesus in this generation.⁵ Does this mean young people are walking around with deep spiritual questions at the forefront of their minds? Not necessarily. But it does mean that many young people are open to Christianity when motivated in the right way. The key question is how we might use apologetics to engage people to consider the claims of Christ. If done in the context of a relationship, and with the right attitude and approach, apologetics can be one effective means of helping remove intellectual barriers people have to the Christian faith. It is one vital tool for reaching the lost.

1. James Davis and Michael S. Graham with Ryan P. Burge,
The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan, 2023), 5.

2. Davis et. al.,
The Great Dechurching, 5.

3. Sean McDowell & John Marriott,
Set Adrift: Deconstructing What You Believe Without Sinking Your Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2023).

4. Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett,
The Deconstruction of Christianity: What it is, Why It’s Destructive, and How to Respond (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2023).

5. The Barna Group in partnership with Alpha, Biblica, and World Vision,
The Open Generation: How Teens Around the World Relate to Jesus, Vol. 1 (2022).