Are you concerned about young children dropping out of church to adopt the secular-atheistic worldview by the time they grow up?
With the so-called new atheists aggressively advancing their atheistic worldview, a number of fine scholars on Christian apologetics have risen up to the challenge to counter them and to affirm the Christian worldview with evidence based on reason and science. The list of such Christian scholars has grown in recent years. Bible Colleges are beginning to take notice and have incorporated Christian apologetics into their curriculum. Churches are also offering such classes as part of their discipleship training program. However, there is one caveat: most of these classes are suitable for adults and older youths, not for young children. Here then is a dilemma: if we adhere to the view that the best time to teach the next generation about Christianity is when they are between the ages of 4 to 14, then such courses and many books on Christian apologetics are quite out of reach for many of these young children. But can we afford to wait until these children grow up before we teach them Christian apologetics, especially if we know that by the time they leave their adolescent years behind, some of them will also be leaving their Christian faith? Don't be surprised that some 12-year-old children are already learning from their peers and public-school teachers about "the multiverse," "evolution" and that "science has debunked God." I personally believe that by the time children reach their middle-teens, and if they have not yet been taught by that age that the Christian worldview is based on sound reasoning, some of them could be on the verge of believing that Christianity is irrational and outdated, and they could be waiting to drop out of church as soon as they are old enough.
However, this obstacle is not insurmountable. In recent years, I have (by the grace of God) made the effort to teach Christian apologetics to a group of children as young as 12 years old. As it turned out, all I needed was simply a "repackaging" of the abstract concepts of Christian apologetics into a format that could be easily grasped by young children (usually involving visual aids and animations on slides as I interacted with them). To my pleasant surprise, these children, young though they may be, clearly had no problem understanding the abstract concepts needed both to counter the atheistic worldview and to affirm the biblical one. So, if you are called to teach Christian apologetics to young children, great! I recommend teaching them as early as possible!
