“There’s not much of a difference between the way young adults who are in the church think about the world and young adults who are not in the church think about the world,” Dr. Jeff Myers told The Stream. Young adults in the church are not opposed to socialism. “They’re onboard with it. You might think that if you understood that God is real, that there would be such a thing as absolute truth that could be discovered. And young adults in the church are not onboard with that idea.”

Faith and Culture

Myers, President of Summit Ministries in Colorado, is an expert in youth leadership development. Summit Ministries is an organization that equips and supports “rising generations to embrace God’s truth and champion a biblical worldview.” He and his colleagues at Summit work with over 40,000 young people each year, training them to reflect Christ in the culture. Summit offers conferences and classes to fulfill that mission. Myers has written 14 books and textbooks on faith and culture.

We’ve Already Lost

 “Comprehensive studies of evangelical youth reveal 69% who attend church do not believe in absolute truth, and agree that if your beliefs offend someone, your beliefs are wrong. Young Christians are also five times as likely as their older peers to embrace Marxist ideas,” Myers recently wrote in a Washington Times article. “My fellow evangelicals are so focused on winning this [presidential] election, they don’t realize that the data shows we’ve already lost all elections after this one.” He added, 

Polls show that a permanent anti-religious, socialist majority through the vehicle of the Democratic Party is emerging in the United States, a majority that will be dominant by 2024, and locked in place by 2030.

Can the Tide be Turned?

Myers said conservatives need to think long term. “This means investing in training young adults in a biblical worldview.” Christians need to understand that just because they go to church, their children won’t automatically become pro-life, pro-family or pro-liberty. “Only 19% of church-going, born-again Christians have a biblical worldview.”

A Barna poll found that “young Christians with a biblical worldview were supportive of capitalism (83%), conservative social policies (91%), opposed to abortion (89%) and supported the view that government for be small and limited in scope (83%).”

Since a person’s worldview is in place by about 13 years old, according to Myers, it’s up to parents of younger children to “train up a child in the way he should go.” Parents haven’t always been aware of their children’s worldview. Myers believes that a few events have created the space for parents and children to talk and get to know each other better. COVID-19, the death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, among other events have changed how families communicate. “It’s in a time of crisis where things get real in family conversations, if they’re going to.

“I think [when] we look back at March or April of this year, we see parents who started talking to their kids about these issues realize they don’t share common assumptions. They may have been in church all of their lives … but their thinking about the issues of our world was shaped by what was happening in their school, not what happened at church.” Parents are finding out that they can’t just sit out the worldview issue. Culture is coming to them.

What Parents Can Do

So, what can parents do? They need a plan. Parents need to know what their children are facing and then give them good questions and provide facts. Then they can apply those questions during discussions with others. “I teach students [to] lead with questions. When somebody says, ‘Oh, well, you know, anybody who opposes black lives matter, isn’t even worth talking to.’ ‘Oh, really? So, when you say black lives matter, what is it that you really are you referring to? An organization, or are you referring to a mindset? Help me understand that. What do you mean by that? How did you arrive at that conclusion? How do you know that is true?'” Myers believes those are the kinds of questions that move people beyond just clichés.

Then parents need to equip their children with facts. That’s where an organization like PragerU comes in. “They really bring it down to the bottom shelf and say, ‘You thought you knew what the truth is on this issue, but here’s an expert explaining it in an undeniably compelling way. We should be thinking differently about it.'”

Resources are available for parents through organizations like Turning Point USA, PragerU and Summit Ministries. Summit Ministries works with kids from 5 years old to 25 years old. They support them to embrace God’s truth in Scripture and champion a biblical worldview through their programs and curriculum for Christian schools and homeschooling families.

Knowing the Truth

The good news is that once a child’s worldview is formed, during those early teen years, it generally sticks. “What they believe at age 13 is pretty much what they will go to their grave believing.” As much as parents want their child to have sound questions and facts, they don’t want their child to be aggressive — or avoid the topics, either. “You know, when somebody says, ‘Well, who am I to judge? You have your truth. I have my truth.’ Instead, we want them to transcend that and become an advocate where you’re fighting for the ideas that you’re sharing, but you’re also fighting for the other person, because their knowing the truth is the point — not your being right.”

Nancy Flory is an associate editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.