Helping Doubters Experience Confident Faith
Recently I met with a group of youth pastors. I asked if our ministries were safe for doubters. The overwhelming response was, “I hope so.” We want our ministries to support students who are doubting, but somewhere along the line, 27% of church-going teens got the impression that church isn’t a safe place to express doubt.(1)
For many Christians, the main method in preparing for doubt is just to hope we never have doubts at all. So, when doubt arises for more than half of all Christians, we don’t know what to do. When I had serious doubts about Christianity while youth pastoring, my own strategy was to shove them down and hope they didn’t pop up again. It didn’t work.
My own journey through doubt led me to create a video series with Truth Snack called “Faith, Doubt, and Everything in Between.” The three-week series is designed to spark healthy conversations about doubt in youth ministries like yours!
But, when I say healthy, what does that really mean? What I mean is conversations that are characterized by love, wisdom, and patience. Each of these characteristics is a brick laid in a foundation that supports doubters.
Having Love for Doubters
When I was a teen, I had a small accident with my parents’ car. I was terrified to tell them because I didn’t know how they would react.
I think sometimes those wrestling with doubt can feel the same way about expressing their doubt to God. Will he be angry? Disappointed? Will we be punished? Ultimately, the church can only be a safe place to express doubt if it is first safe to express those doubts to God.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus encounters many doubters. Shockingly, he is willing to grant their requests, welcome them into the Kingdom of God, and, in the case of Thomas, invite him to put his hands in his wounds. Ouch! But if that’s what Thomas needs to believe, Jesus was willing to give it.
The way youth ministries welcome or reject those who doubt will inform those students’ perceptions about how God will receive them. When our youth ministries reveal and reflect the love of Jesus, students will feel safe to express their doubt.
Offering Wisdom to Doubters
We don’t often think of John the Baptist as someone who doubted Jesus. After all, he heard the voice of God affirm Jesus from heaven and saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus in the form of a dove. But in Matthew 11, John asks Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?”
Like many, John expected Jesus to overthrow the Roman Empire and restore the Kingdom of Israel. But Jesus isn’t acting like the Messiah John expected. Jesus dines with “sinners” while John sits in prison. Things are not going as planned. So, he can’t help but wonder, “Do I have this all wrong? Is Jesus really the Messiah?”
It is not a lack of evidence that causes John to doubt; he has good evidence. It is unfulfilled expectations that are sparking his questions. Since that’s the case, it’s not surprising that Jesus quotes Isaiah to help John’s understanding of the Messianic mission deepen: “The deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” In other words, Jesus tries to help John’s beliefs mature.
We all need to undergo a transformation like John’s. We all have unspoken expectations about our faith. For example, we might wonder why the Bible has long lists of weird names, why God can seem angry in the Old Testament, or why God didn’t reveal more scientific knowledge to the writers of the Bible. Those kinds of thoughts reveal our assumptions about what we think should and shouldn’t be in the Bible. When our expectations aren’t fulfilled, we, like John, can wonder if our beliefs are wrong. Identifying our false expectations and replacing them with a biblical worldview requires wisdom and discernment.
When our youth ministries teach rich theology and help doubters mature in their beliefs about God, Jesus, and the Bible, students will be able to understand and overcome their doubts.
Having Patience with Doubters
Many doubters desperately want their doubts to go away as quickly as possible. But overcoming doubt is usually a process that takes time. My struggle with doubt lasted 7 years, went through different phases, and I still have questions! I realized that some of my doubts were intellectual while others were related to past trauma, and they didn’t all require the same kind of growth. I needed time to explore questions and heal, and I needed people to patiently support me through the process.
For doubters who stay active in attending church, 81% say that the ultimate result of their doubt was that their faith actually became stronger.(2) That’s a really hopeful statistic, revealing that lovingly, wisely, and patiently supporting doubters is central in helping them experience confident faith.
What Now?
If you’re a minister looking for a resource to help you journey with doubters, you can start by using the Truth Snack series, “Faith, Doubt, and Everything in Between.” Each episode explores a core question for those in a crisis of faith:
Is God Mad That I’m Doubting?
Why Am I Doubting?
How Do I Overcome Doubt?
The series is built to help doubting Christians express, understand, and overcome their doubt, while empowering leaders like you to journey with them. You can download all three episodes along with discussion questions at the link above.
So, is your ministry a safe place for Christians to express doubt? Taking time at youth group to discuss doubt from a Biblical perspective does a lot to move your answer from “I hope so!” to “I know so!”
Editor’s note: For more, check out YPT’s Recommended Apologetics Resources. We’ve also addressed various aspects of doubt and reasons for faith in the YPT Podcast.
(1) https://www.barna.com/research/atheism-doubles-among-generation-z/
(2) https://www.barna.com/research/atheism-doubles-among-generation-z/