The Struggle is Real: 4 Steps to Confidently Navigate a New Age of Ambiguity
Ambiguity (noun, plural)
doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention: to speak with ambiguity; an ambiguity of manner.
an unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning, etc.
During the height of the COVID pandemic, I do what I do from time to time when I am unsure of what is going on in life in general—
I took a step back.
As I sat back and observed social media trends, church responses, books being written addressing the current situation, and personal interactions with others I have in my daily life, I noticed an attitude of ambiguity threading its way into the mindset of Christians as they navigate this new era.
The church is steadily seeing a dramatic falling away. Barna just came out with a study that showed nearly half of practicing Christians in 2000 have become non-Christian.
I hear people say…
“I don’t need to go back to a formal church because I have church at home with myself!”
“The church is a Western concept, and what we Americans have now is not church.”
“I never got anything from church in the first place, and why do I need to go to just one church, when I can sit in the comfort of my own home and sample many other churches?!”
Or sadly, the biggest reason I see such a falling away is because the church wronged them, and they do not care to go back anymore. They need no other justification to skip out the door.
I am, by no means, shouting from the street corners to stop attending a church. We Christians must maintain the command to gather together in a corporate setting to study, learn, and grow under the shepherd of a pastor.
No, the problem I see on the rise across America’s Christian cultural landscape is an attitude of ambiguity, specifically as it relates to how a Christian should respond to the questions of their faith and how they should apply the truth of the gospel to their personal lives.
There are many issues that Christians are facing which, I believe, stems from one main problem:
Christians are experiencing an ambiguous faith.
We are not wrestling with their faith rationally, nor do we know how to actively justify “the hope that is in us” (1 Peter 3:15) through apologetics or a solid grounding in the gospel.
I recently returned from a collegiate conference hosted where over 500 collegiate ministers, volunteers, and pastors gathered with the intent of reaching colleges across America. I had the opportunity to talk with men from across the country asking them what issues they were facing on the campuses towards the content and message of the gospel.
Each person I spoke with articulated that they were watching the same ambivalence towards religion unfold among Christian young people. Yet, they told me, “There is no place for apologetics on the college campus.”
After I finished seminary with a focus on apologetics, I felt fully prepared to engage with atheists, scientists, and other “intellectual” argumentation for the existence of God. However, I soon discovered the Christians were the individuals longing for answers to the questions they have been battling with or curious about.
Christians can no longer hide behind their “Christianese jargon” to wordsmith their way out of a question.
The Christian faith is rational and reasonable and is not a blind leap of faith into the unknown.
Jonathan Edwards would say it this way, “‘Tis Rational, and ‘tis biblical” as it applied to theology and discussing Christ with others.
My favorite modern-day theologian R.C. Sproul puts it this way,
“You are responsible to preach and to teach what the Bible says, not what you want it to say.”
In this, we as Christians must understand that the key to unlocking Christian ambiguity is understanding what the Bible teaches and claims.
The Christian should arm oneself with knowledge and understanding of what the Bible says because understanding leads to knowledge which brings clarity to ambivalence.
We are facing this underlying ambivalence in the faith because Christians are not taking the responsibility to seek out the answers in Scripture, and leaders are not teaching the whole of Scripture.
How do we clear up the fog of ambiguity encroaching over evangelism efforts?
How do we engage in meaningful discussions with this new generation struggling to grapple with a faltering faith?
Today, I’m presenting a game plan for Christian leaders on how to clear up this attitude of ambiguity with a few tips on how to engage in meaningful discussions with the upcoming generation.
Step 1: Set the Precepts
I believe the ambiguous faith prevalent among young people can be effectively combatted by establishing precepts.
What’s a precept?
A precept has three different technical meanings:
a commandment or direction given as a rule of action or conduct
an injunction as to moral conduct; a maxim
a procedural directive or rule, as for the performance of some technical operation
Basically, a precept is the ability to justify our faith and have a firm understanding of what defines proper ethical and righteous living in order to prompt proper behavior.
This definition offers the Christian pastor, leader, and volunteer a starting point for how to address someone who might be struggling with their faith.
Acts 17:17-18 provides a beautiful cultural landscape that portrays this concept as the apostle Paul offers practical principles to combat ambiguity:
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
In this section, Paul is in Athens an attack in Thessalonica after reasoning with the Jews and Greeks and fleeing to Berea only to have the mob follow him there to where he ended up in Athens.
Here, Paul doing what he typically does as he enters a new city goes to the location in which the people need to hear the gospel, a point of interest with a dense population for him to have the largest possible reach, the marketplace. In this marketplace, he provides us two major principles we should use to combat ambiguity and ambivalence in our arena:
Strategic
Deliberate
These two principles provide a baseline formula for engaging with young people.
First, Paul is was strategic in his location for engagement. He chose an area where he knew he would find people who needed to hear the gospel and approached them.
Not only was he strategic in his location, he was strategic in how he reasoned with them.
Paul used conversational engagement with another individual. Paul didn’t go up to them and slam them over the heads with a philosophical argument for Christ, nor did he go up to them and start off with, “If you die today, do you know where you will spend eternity?”
Don’t get me wrong, there may be a time and place where that is appropriate; however, depending on who you are reaching it may not be the ideal approach to bridge the gap.
Step 2: Bridge the Gap
So what is it going to take to disciple Gen Z?
After working with and alongside Generation Z at our connection group Crossroads at Olive, I have discovered that having several meaningful conversations is the best approach.
Connecting with Gen Z looks like taking the time to hear their life story, college studies, family dynamic, favorite music, hobbies, post-graduations plans, and other topics. When you spend time with them, the door opens for you to step in and begin reasoning with them.
A key point, I must be reasoning to Scripture or from Scripture. Do not get caught in the trap of staying “out of your intent” by continuing to engage on worldly or cultural topics. This is where a full intention and deliberate strategy can be set in motion.
Building and fostering a relationship with Gen-Z is something that takes some time. The process can be built by drawing people into meaningful conversations and you must be deliberate in what topics you are engaging them with.
Going back to our example in Acts, Paul cuts to the chase by deliberately speaking with the Athenians on their specific beliefs, challenging the two different philosophical camps that were present. Paul demonstrates he has a working knowledge of their beliefs and identified his target of approach, their altar to an unknown god.
Being intentional and sincere will help bridge the gap between you and your audience, opening opportunities to influence people with the gospel.
Step 3: Engage in Active Listening
Active listening is one habit I have been focusing on over the past several years to properly and actively engage in meaning conversations and to share the message of Christ.
This takes time and is not utilizing the shotgun evangelism approach where I walk up, spit out the message of the gospel in two minutes, and then press them for a decision to accept Christ. This is not the approach of Christ, and it should not be our common practice as Christians. We need to take the time to truly hear what your audience is struggling with.
As you are speaking with your young adults groups, you must actually listen to what they are saying and ask clarifying questions to ensure you understand where they are coming from. Most meaningful conversations happen when one person allows and affords the opportunity for the other to properly and fully convey what they mean.
We need to become better listeners.
If you take the time to truly listen to what the other person is saying, you will begin to see what they are actually saying.
Don't jump to conclusions. Listen and gain a working knowledge of their logic and reasoning skills you will see how someone came to the conclusion they hold to and provide you with the avenue of approach in which to begin the dialogue and transition to the gospel process.
Being deliberate and actively listening can help ensure I am addressing their concerns or questions they may have towards the Christian faith.
Step 4: Know What You Believe and Why You Believe It
We have all the tools available to combatting ambiguity.
The Bible speaks in objective truth, and is the only source of objective truth on earth is due to the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture.
The world is indifferent towards God because Christians are not living the gospel out properly, nor are they engaging with understanding the intricacies of Scripture.
We cannot properly explain the sweetness of salvation or the happiness that is found within if we ourselves do not take the time to study Scripture.
Christian, if you want to see lives transformed, build meaningful relationships, and have effective communication with those outside the faith, know what you believe.
But no one is going to do this for you. You have to put in the time, effort, hours, sweat, and study to combat your own uncertainty and the potential you have to be cultivating ambiguity among your speech and conduct.