How to avoid a mid-life faith crisis

Recently I talked with a nice, Christian lady, in her mid-30s, who confided in me that--even though she's been a Christian her entire life--she started having doubts about her faith. When confronted with intellectual challenges she had never considered before, she began to wonder if her Christian belief had been based on blind faith--without any solid reasons to believe it's true. She felt like her world was crumbling around her.This lady is not alone. The other day I came across an apologetics blog written by  another Christian lady, named Alisa Childers, with a similar experience. Read her story. She, too, was in her mid-30s when she encountered questions she didn't know how to answer and had a crisis of faith.And last weekend, my husband, who is a pastor, gave a talk about evidence for the resurrection to some of the third- through sixth-grade-aged children at our church. After the talk, a high school student, who had been in the room listening, told my husband, "I wish someone had told me about that evidence when I was their age."Why do I share these stories? Because there is a pressing need for Christians to know that there are sound reasons to believe that the claims of Christianity are true. And I also share these stories because I'm passionately concerned that God's people have a robust theology, sound Bible interpretation, and skills in contending for the Christian faith that "was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). My critiques of the New Apostolic Reformation are an outworking of my love for those things.Thankfully, both of the Christian ladies I mentioned began to seek out books and other resources to help them investigate their faith intellectually. That's great, but they're not alone in their need for sound apologetics material. These ladies knew they had a need, but how many more don't? Lifelong churchgoers shouldn't have to wait until their mid-30s to discover apologetics. It ought to be taught at a church level.One thing our church does to address this need is to host an annual apologetics conference. Organizations like Biola University's Apologetics Program partner with churches and help them host "Biola on the Road" events.Other things churches can do is offer Sunday School classes in apologetics. And small groups of parents can gather to study books that teach them how to answer their kids' difficult questions, like the two books written by apologist and parenting blogger Natasha Crain.One great apologetics website that can get you started is Greg Koukl's Stand to Reason.But the main point is that to avoid a mid-life crisis of faith for ourselves, our churches, and our kids we must be proactive and start the training now, before the challenge hits. So, what is your church doing?---------Holly Pivec is the co-author of A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement and God's Super-Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement. She has a master's degree in Christian apologetics from Biola University.