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Casually strolling down my Instagram account I noticed my church was promoting a special event with someone that seemed familiar. "Wait a minute, I know that person", I thought to myself. I had heard of the ministry MAVEN online before and I knew it had something to do with Christian apologetics. "Apologetics at my church? I'm there!" I had been looking for an opportunity to go to an apologetics conference locally, and so this was my chance. The Instagram post said the conference would be about something having to do with parenting and culture. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant or what to expect, but I'd find out soon enough.
As you may have guessed by now, I've become a little bit of an apologetics nerd, and it's no secret in my family either. I loved that my church provided this opportunity for me and my husband to attend together as a married couple who have two young kids, free of charge might I add and childcare provided. I had never really attended an apologetics event at previous churches so I personally appreciate ministries like MAVEN and my church leaders who see the value in introducing topics related to Christian apologetics to people in church that might not be exposed to such things.
If you're reading this and you're wondering, "What is she talking about Christian apologetics?", the way I like to think about it is: Christian apologetics is what all believers are called to do, which is offering good reasons for our Christian faith. So in this conference, the listeners were being equipped to think more critically about how and why they need to equip their kids, or the younger generation, to think through the world and culture they find themselves in through a Christian perspective, or worldview.
The first part of the conference went over what is a worldview, and why it is crucial for us to understand reality in light of our Christian worldview. There were several references that echoed the book by Greg Koukl, "The Story of Reality", which makes sense since the speaker and founder of MAVEN, Brett Kunkle, had been a speaker for Koukl's ministry, Stand To Reason for several years. Is anyone else thinking about how Kunkle and Koukl sort of rhyme?
The second part of the conference really dived into several alarming reasons for why it is crucial to teach our kids about the Christian worldview. I was shocked by a short clip shown about Blue's Clues that had a song teaching kids about the different 'family options', that go against what the Christian worldview teaches is God's good design. We also learned statistics about phones and young children, and how it is harming their generation (and ours too). There was a lot of practical advice, book recommendations, and a Q&A towards the end as well. I definitely feel my husband and I were equipped to raise our kids intentionally in this culture at this particular time in history.
It was especially encouraging to hear Kunkle remind us that we are a part of God's greater plan, or Story (creation, the fall, redemption, restoration), and that we don't have to feel afraid about what's happening in our cultural moment, which falls in the middle of our timeline between the beginning of time and the end of the age. We can lament what is happening in our culture with righteous anger when we keep this perspective in mind, or how Kunkle put it:
"Don't confuse the moment and the Story. Begin with the Story, not the moment."
Below are a few more of my favorite screenshots.
Follow Brett Kunkle and MAVEN at: www.maventruth.com
Further Study Resources:
