Several surveys confirm it: fewer of our young are going to church and remaining involved. A recent article by Austin Institute makes the point that while the church is not in immediate trouble, if we do not reach the young the future health of the church may be at stake.

It does not have to be that dire, however. Christians and other religious individuals tend to have more children and larger families than those who are more secular. Indeed, if we only keep our own kids in the faith we would reverse the current trends, even if they were not successful in reaching out to their peers from more secular homes. So while we should be concerned, it is not too late to to stem this tide.

As a college professor I know the pressures that young Christians are going to face. College is often one of the places where they lose their faith: young Christians in college face ideas and questions that many were sheltered from in their churches.

For this reason last weekend I spoke at a youth apologetics conference at my home church. The youth who attended came from our church and a few other churches in the local area. We invited local speakers who helped prepare the students for the many of the new ideas that they will deal with when they go to college. We spoke on preparing Christians for college, why we can trust the Bible, scientific evidence for God’s existence, evidence for the resurrection, and why evil does not disprove Christianity.

I want to personally thank Sam Dallas, Steve Lee and Allen Hainline for sacrificing a Saturday for the youth and for quite little compensation. I also thank my youth minister, Paul Daniel, for organizing this conference. I know they did so because of their love and care for Christian youth.

A student there asked me what churches can do to help students who go off to college. Part of my answer was that we need to deal with some of the anti-intellectualism that we have allowed to take root in our ministries. It does no good to avoid the tough questions our students will face. Instead we should create a supportive intellectual environment to allow them to explore these questions.

I do not fear an intellectual examination of Christianity. If we provide students with information supporting the truth of Christianity — information they are not going to get at college —they will have the cognitive tools necessary to weather the challenges they will face there. The same goes for those who decide not to attend college, for there are challenges everywhere. This wouldn’t guarantee that any particular student will remain in the faith. Often when people state they are leaving the faith for “intellectual” reasons, emotional and volitional factors are more at play. But overall it is certain to help.

What if churches in all of our metropolitan areas organized similar youth apologetics conferences? What if they worked across denominational and racial lines to reach as many students as possible? Could we slow the exodus of the young from the churches? Could we, by helping our students to be true critical thinkers, produce individuals who successfully take on the secular atmosphere at our colleges and universities? I believe that with effort, and God’s help, that may be possible.

Since I am a social scientist it is natural for me to assess the results of this past conference. I am currently analyzing surveys we collected from attendees there. Afterward I will meet with leadership at my church to decide what we will do next. However, I will be happy to share the results of my evaluation. It should not be limited to my own home church. Any Christian who is interested in the possibility of doing a local youth apologetics conference is free to contact me and I will share what I know.

As the body of Christ we need to work together to find multiple ways to deal with the changing religious reality among our young. I believe that apologetics conferences can be important tools to help us prepare future generations of Christians.