Answers for Life

Introduction

Designed to meet the needs of your small group, this kit will provide members with a strong knowledge of Christianity, challenge them on the inerrancy of Scripture, and strengthen their trust in the Bible.

Answers in Genesis has recently published a unique six-lesson (six-week) course called Answers for Life, designed for a small group study (e.g., a home group Bible study) to teach participants the basics of the Christian faith. It’s unique because it uses a “creation evangelism” approach.

This course was developed by AiG–U.S. President Ken Ham’s brother, Stephen, in Australia. He had seen God bless the creation evangelism approach in reaching and teaching people about Christianity. Stephen has seen a number of dramatic conversions as a result of the course.

In this guest article, Stephen gives the background of how and why he developed this powerful Bible study course, and the exciting results he has seen.

Practical Creation Evangelism

Our home has opened many times to people looking for real answers to life’s questions. In fact, in the past couple of years we have witnessed the Lord save seven of our friends (ranging in age from 21 to 75).

It all started with my good friend, Terry. He was searching for answers and battling with a fragile marriage and a purposeless life. Terry couldn’t respect the authority of God’s Word when it came to marriage or life principles. He couldn’t understand his need for salvation. It was then that the Lord led me to design an approach that would help Terry to see the relevance of the Bible and how it related to the real world. We met (with his wife, Julie, as well) for six evenings and matched evidence to biblical history to understand, science, origins, biblical relevance, God’s self-witness, death and suffering, and the wonderful evidence supporting Jesus Christ’s divinity, miracles, and teachings. Terry and Julie obtained a fresh understanding of their position before a Holy Creator and they obtained Christ’s free gift of salvation.

It was after this that Terry was so excited for others to know the answers they now had. So, together, we ran it again for others. This time God brought a single mother (a teacher), a retired couple, and a dear man dying from cancer. The cancer victim (Ken) had never heard these Bible-upholding answers before. He was stunned to see that the evidence he had only ever previously heard in relation to “evolution” was actually the same evidence that better suited the historical accuracy of the Bible. Ken (and the others in the course) gave their lives to Jesus. Ken, already in his 70s witnessed to his family and friends as if he was playing catch up. He boldly proclaimed the truth of the Bible and Christ’s miracle of salvation in his life. He went beaming into the hands of His Lord three months later.

The Lord then brought others, and we decided to offer the course through Answers in Genesis for everyone to use and have called it Answers for Life.

People at my church who had not seen real conversions happen as we had been witnessing came and asked how it could be. Well, while salvation is in reality from God, I believe there are some truths that shine through our inabilities when it comes to evangelism in our community.

The Story of the Numbers

Have you ever read statistics such as the following? The Barna Research Group surveys demonstrate that American children ages 5 to 13 have a 32% probability of accepting Christ, but youth or teens aged 14 to 18 have only a 4% probability of doing so. Adults age 19 and over have just a 6% probability of becoming Christians.

While Barna and other groups provide helpful statistical information, we should all be very careful in our individual interpretations. I have heard this statistic repeatedly used by churches as the reason to focus on programs to reach those with the highest probability of receiving Christ: the age range of 4 to 14. While it is vital we reach our children for Jesus (for one, most of them are being evolutionized in schools and through the media and thus doubt the Bible in Genesis), I wonder if we really asked ourselves some tough questions—and whether we might get another message from this statistic.

• Do young children receive Jesus because they are simply more accepting and have fewer questions?
• Could this statistic just as easily apply to any religion?
• Is the church trying to find out why adults are less open to the Christian message?
• Is the church even placing any emphasis on training adults to reach adults?
• Is the church aware of the real stumbling blocks keeping the adult population from being interested in Christ’s message of salvation?
• Apart from being aware of their questions, does the church even know how to answer them?
• How many people in our congregations can truly defend their faith let alone be prepared to do so?

Test it out. If you listen to your friends in real conversations about Christianity you will find that they have questions about our world—specifically in areas of science, life’s origins, death and suffering, and the relevance of the Bible. Instead of placing focus and training on these foundational questions on the frontline, the church has relegated these issues to being “controversial side issues.” The questions for many remain unanswered, the Bible is not defended, and the adult world remains disengaged with our most important message—the Cross.

Answers for Life has been specifically created for this need. It’s been designed to empower the modern church for evangelism by giving real answers to a real adult world. I encourage you to give it a real go. AiG is offering a special Answers for Life pack so you can begin creation evangelism in your home, church, college, school, etc.