Community Apologetics
by Mikey Walter
I love apologetics. I'm grateful for the work and ministry of men like Vodi Bakham, Lee Strobel, James White and so many others that have been voices of truth and reason to the intellectual and scientific communities that have sought to criticize many foundational truths of Christianity. If you're not familiar with the word, “apologetics” refers to the intellectual defense of the faith.
I remember, after first becoming a believer in high school, spending many nights on godandscience.org (don’t bother looking it up, it’s not a thing anymore) reading article after article on how intelligent design and a divinely inspired Bible were claims that could be deduced through scientific observation and logic. I had The Apologetics Study Bible and tried to memorize as many of the anthropic principle arguments as I could. This was partially for the strengthening of my own faith, but also to put this weapon of logical argumentation in my missions arsenal. Surely, if I was able to explain these things to unbelievers their eyes would be opened. One year I even bought my older brother The Case for Christ Study Bible for his birthday, confident that if I could get him to see the logical reasons for the faith that he would come into the fold.
It’s 16 years later, and do you want to take a guess at how many people I have convinced to come into the Kingdom primarily through my logical reasoning? Yep. It's a big fat zero. It turns out that most people who are not Jesus lovers aren't hung up on the age of the Earth or higher-criticism arguments against the Bible's authenticity. Go figure. Now, many will use those kinds of arguments to justify their position, but I would argue that these arguments are very rarely the basis for people’s resistance to the Gospel.
Then why do people resist the Gospel? It is a work of the Holy Spirit to open hearts, but He does this in partnership with us, His church. The church is God’s plan A and there is no plan B. The world is looking for and longing for something, but the problem is when they look at the Church they see us continuing to give them answers to questions they’re not asking.
Then what in the world is the world looking for?
The answer is: something otherworldly.
Shifting the nerdiness from science to sociology for a moment, the book The Rise of Christianity, by (non-Christian) sociologist Rodney Stark, argues that one of the key factors that contributed to the rapid spread of the Christian religion in the first few centuries was the love, care, and comradery that took place in the Christian communities. Outsiders were drawn to this strange community of people who laid their life down for one another, sometimes literally.
Deep within every human soul is the God-created longing to be accepted, enjoyed, and loved. This is what the world is truly looking for. While God himself will only ever be the complete fulfillment of these longings, His Church was established to be His representatives, His hands and feet, until He comes again to fulfill these longings in their fullness.
Consider this: Jesus took twelve “uneducated and untrained men” (Acts 4:13), showed them how to love their neighbor, pray for their enemies, and serve one another; and with those things, empowered by the Holy Spirit and emboldened by their faith in the Gospel, they “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Yes, they knew the Torah, and they, along with Paul and the other believers would “[reason] from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.” (Acts 17:2-3) but that was just a small part of it. We often misconstrue Peter’s directive to “always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have”. We live as if it means we have to have the answer to every question that might be posed to us (which keeps us from ever talking about Jesus), when in fact, it just means that we need to be able to share the simple truths of the Gospel, and what Jesus has done for us.
The secret to the success of the early Church was not a supernatural intellect, but a supernatural love that stemmed from their faith in the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts 4:32-35 what this Holy Spirit empowered love looked like in those very early days of the Church:
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
Though we are far from perfect, this is what we strive for in our Missional Communities (MCs) at New City. As we live together as MCs we are to “let [our] light shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven.” How we live together should be a witness of the supernatural love and power that is within us as believers. This is a huge part of what draws others in, because this is what the human heart is longing for.
Did you know that there are 59 “one another” commands in the New Testament that tell us how to live together as the Church body? That’s a whole lot. The Bible places a huge emphasis on the communal life of the Church. As a small sampling, we are called to:
Love one another (John 13:34, plus15 other references)
Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)
Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10)
Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)
Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Admonish one another (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)
Be patient with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13)
Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25)
Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
Bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)
Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2, 32; Colossians 3:13)
And on and on…
The way we live together should attract others. In our western intellectualism we can over complicated things. What we need is a child-like faith that produces a Christ-like love. What we need is to focus on the hard but simple command of our great Rabbi:
Little children, yet a little while I am with you… A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Apologetics is a helpful and useful tool, but it can never take the place of radical, revolutionary love that should characterize Christian community. When we let our search for knowledge replace actually practicing the love that Jesus demonstrated, we are not only ineffective but can become obstacles. By all means, learn, grow, study, and understand that Christianity is a defendable faith. When you have genuine questions about science, the Bible, sexuality, politics, and more, you can search for answers without fear knowing that your tried and tested faith will strengthen as it is examined, and then use what you learn to benefit the faith of those around you. But keep reason in its proper place - a tool for discipleship and evangelism, not the mission itself.
So, instead of working on a bulletproof argument against the Evolutionary Theory, consider just sharing your story with your unbelieving friend, telling of what Jesus and His body (the church) has done for you. Instead of rereading The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis, figure out how you could practically care for those in your MC who are struggling, even if you don’t have all the answers for their bad situation. Instead of putting off talking to your coworkers about Jesus scared they might ask a question you don’t know the answer to, invite them to your MC’s third place (non-churchy fellowship event) and give them an opportunity to see a community that they were literally created for, a community caring for one another, serving one another, bearing one another’s burdens, forgiving one another, and on and on…
May we be communities that turn the world upside down by our love for one another.
Grant, Lord, that with your direction
"Love each other" we comply.
Help us live in true affection,
your love to exemplify.
Let our mutual love be glowing
brightly so that all may view
that we, as on one stem growing,
living branches are in you.
(Count Zinzendorf, Christian Hearts in Love United, 1723)