An Open Letter to the Apologetics Community

Dear Colleague:

We have work to do if Christianity is going to reclaim the intellectual high ground. Chances are it's not entirely what you've been doing.

Few people are more dedicated to Christianity’s intellectual leadership in our culture than you, the apologists and worldview ministry leaders. Those who teach in seminaries, colleges, and universities represent another vanguard group in the intellectual realm. If I were to write to these academic leaders—especially those in the secular academy—I would simply say thank you, thank God for you, and press on! But this letter is directed specifically toward apologists and worldview ministry leaders.

I write to the apologetics community from within, as one of you. Many in our community are more educated, more widely published, and better apologists than I; but I have had my opportunities to speak at apologetics conferences, I’ve been on the radio a few times, and I have published a few dozen articles, in addition to running a blog that seems to enjoy a good reputation, and contributing to another one.

I'm a missions strategist, too, and I write you today from the dual perspective of apologetics and strategy. I know that you are accustomed to dealing with big questions in your field. Strategy asks big questions of another sort, like What’s my purpose? What’s my vision? Another way to ask the vision question is,

What do I dream of the world looking like five years or twenty-five years from now, as a result of my efforts?

I should have also mentioned I work with Campus Crusade for Christ. Having spent more than thirty years with Campus Crusade leaders, I have become accustomed, when thinking about the world, to really think about the world. All of it. The late Bill Bright infected us all with a global perspective. So I’ll ask the question again, with emphasis:

What do I want the world to look like five or twenty-five years from now, as a result of my efforts?

Here’s what I want to look different, not through my efforts alone but through the combined work of apologists, academics, pastors, and other leaders. My prayer is that when anyone in the Western world, or the widely Western-influenced world, thinks of Christianity, they think of our intellectual leadership. (Elsewhere on this website on I focus on the other half of my vision, that these same people would also think of Christianity’s moral leadership.)

Having studied some organizational psychology, I've learned some things about what motivates people at work. I can see some of these factors operating within me. They put another twist on my vision for the results of my work. When I envision the future, this also flashes across my mind: That I will be widely published and well known, have lots of face time with famous Christian leaders, and receive lots of requests to speak (for handsome fees).

Am I the only person in apologetics who considers those kinds of things to be motivating? I’ll ask the question a different way. Am I the only person in apologetics who is a normal, breathing, living human being? For unless you’re shy of notoriety, or can’t bear the thought of standing in front of a crowd—neither of which is likely, if you’re in this field—you’re going to experience those kinds of images as motivating. We all respond positively to positive feedback. Sometimes it takes some discipline to remind ourselves just how small those aspirations are. Being self-focused, they shift our vision off of God, and off of what God wants to accomplish through us. They shrink us both spiritually and strategically.

I didn’t really need to remind you of that; you knew it already. (I need to remind myself frequently, but that’s another issue.) I brought it up because I think you might be at least somewhat like me, with small visions for myself trying to intrude into what should be great ones in God. It is a frequent temptation. When the temptation advances to sin, then it's not just small, it's wrong and I need to repent.

I wanted to faced that issue honestly, since it's a common one. If you're dealing with it, you're not the only one. But I'm sure you want more and better than that, so I’ll ask the vision question one more time:

What do I want the world (not my life, my fame, or my ministry, but the world) to look like five or twenty-five years from now, as a result of my efforts?

Why do I keep repeating that question? Because I believe that even though we know better than to focus our future on our own advancement, most of us are still aiming for too small a result. We’re focused on the engagement: the question we’re addressing in this article or that, or the crowd we’re speaking to, or the debate we hope to win. What we want out of each engagement is good: to equip, to encourage, or to persuade in the name of Christ. But the engagement isn’t enough. We need to be about turning around Christian intellectual culture, to the end that every church can engage its own people or its own community from a position of strength.

We’ve gained some intellectual ground in recent years, but we have a long way to go. Earlier today I saw a blog comment about Christians: “The problem is that most of us humans want to believe in fairy tales of bible or other books. Funny these people never went to school and yet command a following.” What’s really funny is that this comment was on a news piece about Oxford University’s John Polkinghorne.

I dream of the day when everyone considers every accusation of Christian anti-intellectualism ridiculous, just as that one most obviously is. Winning over one group at a time—our usual tactic in apologetics—isn’t going to get us there. There are some among us who are thinking more strategically; but all of us to begin taking a higher and broader view of what God could do through us.

How do we being doing that? First, by assessing our dreams. Do you dream of the big publishing contract, the big crowds, the triumph in debate? I’ll admit it: I do, sometimes. If that’s part of your dream, acknowledge it. Then decide whether it’s helping you or hindering you from something far bigger and more significant. What is the far better vision God has for you? Are you dreaming of something bigger than the engagement—bigger than you could manage on your own? I am. I couldn’t imagine my dreams coming to pass apart from God doing it.

Developing or discovering God’s vision for your ministry can be challenging. It ought also to be very motivating. Suppose you’ve gotten that far: you’ve discovered a greater vision than what you’ve been pursuing so far, and you're confident it's what God wants you to pursue. Then what? What are the next steps toward accomplishing that expanded vision?

One of my own next steps has been to help get the apologetics ministry thinking more about strategy than we have been. If you’re wondering about God’s vision for your ministry now, or if you’re worried about what to do with the vision you have, then I’ve accomplished part of my purpose. I’m only taking this a step at a time, so I’ll leave it there for now. After this I hope to begin taking advantage of opportunities coming my way for further strategy work with apologists and worldview leaders. Maybe we’ll be able to bring all this together sometime soon.

Until then, grace and peace to you.

Tom Gilson