Recently, three families—one Muslim, one Roman Catholic, and one Ukrainian Orthodox—filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery, Maryland, school district. Back in March, the district had shifted its policy, announcing that parents would no longer be notified of LGBT content and parents could not opt-out their students.
This is just one example of how deeply worldviews can collide, in just one of many cultural arenas. Who is fundamentally responsible for cultivating the health, well-being, and beliefs of children? Parents or the state? What is acceptable behavior when it comes to sex, and at what ages should we expect them to think about such matters? Are we fundamentally defined by sexual urges and inner feelings, or by something (or Someone) else? Here, three couples who diverge wildly on religious matters agree that certain cultural narratives are undermining their ability to raise their children and imposing a secular worldview on them instead.
It is because of this very real collision of worldviews, and the consequences of them, that the Colson Center seeks to equip Christians to understand the public implications of Christian truth, including how to live out that truth in this difficult cultural moment. There are plenty of wonderful resources to learn and study the Bible and Christian theology, and there are different organizations dedicated to discussing and analyzing cultural issues. Seeing the challenges of our cultural moment through the light of Scriptural truth is, however, something else, as is seeing our presence in this cultural moment as a calling of God. Our daily Breakpoint commentaries and What Would You Say? videos are timely, but not merely reactive, offering a grounded way of thinking about tough issues and hard questions through the lens of Christian truth.
The Upstream and Strong Women podcasts engage a variety of thoughtful Christian voices who are pointing us both upstream and downstream, how to think and how to live. The Colson Fellows program trains and equips leaders in every sphere of culture and every walk of life, to live redemptively where God has placed them. The Colson Educators Collective equips teachers to teach from a Christian worldview, and the Colson Center National Conference is an annual time of learning and formation, not to mention quite a “family reunion” for us.
Breakpoint listener Lexi, who just graduated high school, wrote to tell us how the Colson Center was helping her live out her faith:
My junior and senior years of high school I began to discover a love for worldview study that I had not known. . . . I discovered Breakpoint, then read more Nancy Pearcey, C.S. Lewis, Schaeffer, watched Dobbs unfold, and realized there were more Colson Center podcasts and started listening to Upstream and Strong Women too.
The Colson Center and the concepts you discuss have played such a huge part in this watershed. It has shaped my understanding of the world I live in, and consequently who I’ve become, where I am going to college, my desire both primarily to be a mother and secondarily to pursue law. In short, the Colson Center has been very instrumental in my life.
Another Breakpoint listener, a mother, shared how God used Colson Center resources to bolster her faith and love her family through the upheaval of the last few years:
Both of my kids graduated in 2020; one from high school and the other from college. Navigating these major life transitions during a pandemic was very challenging for them, to say the least. With COVID also brought confusing messages from our families, Christian friends, health and political “authorities,” and even our beloved church. . . . George Floyd. . . . and a course in “Ethnic Studies” had our daughter buying into Critical Race Theory and deconstructing her faith.
Enter the Colson Center. I had somehow gotten on your email list and subsequently subscribed to your Breakpoint podcast. Then came along your online conferences and short courses, the Strong Women podcast and Upstream with Shane [Morris]. Your articles and programs grabbed a hold of me and helped me—a Christian of over 30 years—keep my eyes on Jesus during a very confusing time. They helped me speak truth in love to my kids, friends, family, and church.
The Colson Center equips Christians to live out their faith with clarity, confidence, and courage in this cultural moment. If Colson Center products and programs have helped you as a parent, grandparent, youth, student, citizen, employee, leader, or neighbor, would you prayerfully consider partnering with us through a fiscal-year-end gift? Any gift given by Friday, June 30, will help us continue equipping Christians to live as agents of restoration in this time and place.
To give, please go to colsoncenter.org/fye23.
This Breakpoint was co-authored by Michaela Estruth. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.
Publication date: June 8, 2023
Photo courtesy: Taylor Wilcox/Unsplash
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
