A California-based apologist who oversees a conference that has about 3,000 regular attendees recently addressed the reasons for why churches might object to apologetics ministries.
“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,” said Dena Davidson, campus life director of Thrive School who oversees the Thrive Apologetics Conference at Bayside Church.
“I do think there are a 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.”
Davidson was interviewed by Mikel Del Rosario of Dallas Theological Seminary on an episode of “The Table” podcast. She explained that she at her own church, she has been met with support for her ministry.
“I actually work in a church where it was our senior pastor who knew that we needed to have an apologetics presence on our campuses. And so he was the one who actually approached me and said, “Hey. I have this vision to do an apologetics conference. You’re doing something with apologetics. Can you run it?’” recalled Davidson.
“And I had no idea what I was saying yes to. I just thought that was so cool that my senior pastor was A, talking to me, and B, asking me to put on something that I love so much for the rest of the church.”
While she “did not have to convince that senior pastor that this ministry was valuable,” she has met some resistance from other churches. She cited two big reasons for churches resisting apologetics ministry, the first being a bad experience.
“I listen to their story about they may have seen someone use apologetics to try to argue people into the kingdom, or people use apologetics to actually tear people down,” she explained.
“After listening to their story, I just, in love, present a different option. And I say, ‘That sounds like really bad apologetics. But just because someone has done apologetics poorly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. It means that we need to do it better.’”
The second reason churches might be hesitant to do apologetics, according to Davidson, was that “it’s a lot of work.”
SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski
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