Reaching Teenagers Who Don't Care: Apologetics for the Indifferent
By Chris Talbot
In previous generations in the United States, the apologetic question may have been framed as one of authority: “Who says?” Apologetics in youth ministry, in response, gave attention to the reliability and authority of the Bible. Those in youth ministry focused on topics like inerrancy and textual reliability.
In the current generation, the question may be one of relevance: “Who cares?” We find ourselves not so much faced with questions as faced with indifference. Youth pastors doing apologetics are often more focused on stirring up belief in youth rather than on resolving difficulties. Thus, to minister more effectively to unbelieving youth in the United States, focus must be given toward a compelling and transformative apologetic. [1]
The Problem
A natural question arises: why are youth in America largely indifferent to the gospel? Questions like this are obviously complex. Any number of variables could explain why an individual seems inoculated to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Consequently, any kind of diagnosis will necessarily generalize and not describe every individual of the demographic. The effort here is to offer a broad diagnosis and prescription, knowing we often need to provide specific apologetic approaches to individuals.
Compared to other countries, many American youth enjoy high rates of prosperity and affluence. For example, they have often experienced higher material wealth and lower unemployment than others. According to one study, 56% of Americans were high income by a global standard, another 32% were upper-middle, while “only 7% of people in the U.S. were middle income, 3% were low income, and 2% were poor.” [2] Moreover, the United States is home to the largest number of millionaires, which has increased in previous years. [3] Material prosperity and affluence are valued goods in the United States.
However, with material prosperity often comes extravagant, affluent lifestyles. Where being wealthy means one has material abundance and financial resources, affluence refers to a high standard of living regardless of actual wealth. Thus, a vast majority of individuals in the U.S. live affluently whether their budgets allow for it or not. [4]
Interestingly, the emphasis on individual prosperity is what American apologist Francis Schaeffer called “personal peace and affluence.”[5] Back in 1976, Schaeffer warned,
Personal peace means just to be let alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of other people, whether across the world or across the city — to live one’s life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed....Affluence means an overwhelming and ever-increasing prosperity — a life made up of things, things, and more things — a success by an ever-higher level of material abundance. [6]
As Schaeffer made clear decades ago, economic and material prosperity can be a double-edged sword. Schaeffer would argue personal peace and affluence inevitably lead to significant indifference to the world around you, including the radical claims of Christianity. In a desire for more material abundance and an untroubled life, youth become desensitized to the profound and provocative truth of Christianity.
The Apologetic
If a major problem among emerging youth in the United States is indifference amid affluence rather than any number of issues (e.g., lack of knowledge or philosophic concerns), then the apologetic response must answer accordingly. Articulating a robust vision of the Christian life is vital to the response. That is, a sufficient answer requires not only a defense of “mere Christianity” but also a “thick” vision of Christianity worth dedicating one’s life.
What youth in the United States need is a defense of a full-orbed, robust Christianity, rather than a fragmented and anemic Christianity. As Richard Ross posits, “Perhaps teenagers and adults have settled for sleepy, sentimental, scaled-down versions of the One who reigns supreme.” [7]
Kenda Creasy Dean likewise observes, “If teenagers lack an articulate faith, maybe it is because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation.” [8] She continues, “The God of the Bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whatever-ism. If the God of Jesus Christ is a missionary God who crosses every boundary — life and death and space and time — to win us, then following Jesus is bound to be anything but convenient.” [9]
These insights amount to saying those involved in apologetics must provide youth with something worth believing in — something that will rouse youth not only from their indifference but also from their unbelief.
This kind of apologetic emphasizes Christianity’s truth, beauty, and goodness. We teach students the truth of the Christian worldview, demonstrating its internal consistency and its external coherence. But we also show students that when the true worldview is lived out, it is good for both them and others, and it is also beautiful.
Appealing to beauty and goodness will help rouse youth from their indifferent slumber. By not only giving them true answers regarding the Christian faith but also teaching and demonstrating the goodness and beauty of Christianity, the apologist hopes to awaken the whole person to the Christian worldview.
This apologetic seeks to battle indifference (and any kind of unbelief) by providing a splendid picture of Christianity — one that implores its listener to respond. In other words, by showing youth Christianity is not only true but also incredibly good and splendidly beautiful, the apologist paints a picture of the Christian worldview so incredible young people can no longer be indifferent to its claims.
Admittedly, this approach is not easy. Though this point may seem counterintuitive, the best way forward for ministry and apologetics with the emerging generation is actually backward into history, showing students the Christian worldview to which the Church has held for millennia. David Kinnaman, summarizing his own findings concerning the next generation, states, “After countless interviews and conversations, I am convinced that historic and traditional practices, and orthodox and wisdom-laden ways of believing, are what the next generation really needs.” [10]
The best apologetic that the church in the United States can provide is one worth believing — one worthy of all acceptance (1 Timothy 1:15). Youth need an apologetic that argues for a whole Christianity for the whole person for the whole of life.
Youth in the United States enjoy much prosperity. Unfortunately, what has passed for apologetics for them often has been fragmented and truncated. Apologetics for youth must be true, logical, and compelling. For those indifferent to the claims of the Bible, they need to be shown the truth, goodness, and beauty of the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8), the redemption and eternal life offered in Jesus.
For those clouded in their own sin, indifferent to the Kingdom of God, my prayer is an apologetic such as this one will help them realize God will supply all their needs “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
About the Writer: Dr. Christopher Talbot is an assistant professor of ministry and apologetics at Welch College, where he also teaches courses in biblical and theological studies. This article is adapted from
a post published on Helwys Society Forum, January 2026: HelwysSocietyForum.com.
[1] This article summarizes a longer forthcoming chapter published by Langham Press.
[4] The average U.S. citizen, regardless of age group, possesses personal debt. The average debt across age groups is as follows: (1) Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $9,593, (2) Millennials (ages 24 to 39): $78,396, (3) Gen X (ages 40 to 55): $135,841, (4) Baby boomers (ages 56 to 74): $96,984, and (5) Silent generation (ages 75 and above): $40,925. Megan DeMatteo, The Average American Has $90,460 in Debt, CNBC.
[5] Francis A. Schaeffer. How Should We Then Live? in The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, 2nd ed., 5 vols. (Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1986), 5:211.
[6] Schaeffer. How Should We Then Live? 5:211.
[7] Richard Ross. Student Ministry and the Supremacy of Christ (Bloomington, IN: CrossBooks, 2009), 7.
[8] Kenda Creasy Dean. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 36.
[9] Dean. Almost Christian, 37.
[10] David Kinnaman.You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011), 202.
