'Despite the common stereotype, intellectual questions are not always merely a smokescreen for spiritual or moral problems. To be effective in equipping young people and professionals to face the challenges of a highly secular society, the church needs to redefine the mission of pastors and youth pastors to include training in apologetics and worldview. We must refuse to dismiss objections to faith as mere spiritual subterfuge, but instead prepare ourselves to give what Schaeffer called "honest answers to honest questions."
When America was a young nation, the clergy were often the most highly enducated members of the community. The congregation looked up to them and respected their intellectual expertise. But today those sitting in the pews are often as highly educated as the pastor; among the general population the clergy may even be looked down as narrowly trained functionaries. In this climate, it is imperative for seminaries to broaden the education of pastors to include courses on intellectual history, training future pastors to critique the dominant ideologies of our day. Pastors must once again provide intellectual leadership for their congregations, teaching apologetics from the pulpit. Every time a minister introduces bible teaching, he should also instruct the congregation in ways to defend it against major objections they are likely to encounter. A religion that avoids the intellectual task and retreats to the therapuetic realm of personal relationships and feelings will not survive in today's spiritual battlefield.'
Nany Pearcey, Total Truth, p.127.
