In his book Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture (2024) Aaron Renn helpfully divides recent history into three periods with regard to the relationship between Christianity and the broader culture: the positive world (1964-1994), the neutral world (1994-2014), and the negative world (2014-present). In the positive world Christianity was viewed positively by the culture in general. It was economically advantageous for your community to know you attended church. For politicians, some religious affiliation was basically required to get elected. In the neutral world Christianity became just one of many options. You could be a Christian, a Buddhist, or an atheist—it really made no difference to the culture at large. In the negative world in which we now find ourselves, the broader culture is actually skeptical of Christians. For the first time in the history of the United States, being a Christian may actually be economically disadvantageous. All of our elite cultural institutions, from higher education to government to the largest corporations, are increasingly anti-Christian. Renn helps us to think through a number of implications for life in this new world, and I highly recommend his book. In this article, however, I want to specifically think through some implications for parenting. Below are a few steps that I believe we should take as Christian parents living in the negative world.

Catechize your kids

Throughout much of Christian history, churches and families have used catechisms as a tool to learn the basics of the faith. Unfortunately catechesis has become something of a lost treasure in much of evangelical Christianity today. We need to recover this boon as we trudge onward into the negative world. A catechism is a list of questions-and-answers that summarize what we believe as Christians. Here are the opening questions of two of the most well-known catechisms:

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong, with body and soul, in life and death, to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.

Most catechisms walk through questions on major categories like God, the Bible, humanity, sin, Jesus, and salvation, and then many will walk through the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. Catechisms are not a supplement to the Bible but a summary of the Bible. As biblical literacy and doctrinal clarity in the United States continue to nosedive, it will become increasingly important to know not only that we believe the Bible but also what we believe about the Bible. As Colin Hansen put it, "Someone will catechize your children. So don’t outsource it."

Counter-catechize your kids

We should also take the initiative in what I refer to as counter-catechesis. By counter-catechesis I mean explicitly identifying unbiblical currents in our culture and teaching our kids why we do not believe them. Our catechisms teach us the answers to questions like "What is God?" or "What is sin?" or "What is prayer?" They do not (directly) teach us the answers to questions like "Can a person be born with the wrong gender?" or "Can I believe in God and evolution?" or "Is society made up of oppressors and the oppressed?" The former are foundational truths for our children to know, but the latter are also important ideas with which they will have to engage. In addition to catechizing our kids in the truths of the faith, we should also be counter-catechizing them against the lies of the world. Think of catechesis as playing offense and counter-catechesis as playing defense. Or to borrow a metaphor from C. S. Lewis, catechesis is irrigating deserts while counter-catechesis is tearing down jungles. Both are important in cultivating a flourishing garden.

As a starting point, consider the need to counter-catechize your kids against the following:

• naturalism – the belief that God and the supernatural do not exist or do not impact our lives
• moral relativism – the belief that there is no absolute standard of truth
• cultural marxism – the belief that society is made up of oppressors and the oppressed
• self-helpism – the belief that our greatest need is to believe in ourselves
• individualism – the belief that we each have the authority to determine what is right for us

Forge a counter-culture

Christians are now, as it were, a moral minority, even if a sizable one. This means changing to act like one.
  – Life in the Negative World, p. 47

This is a subtly significant observation. Christians in the United States will need to increasingly think like a minority culture. Minority cultures have to intentionally preserve their identity within a majority culture to avoid being lost in the melting pot. This is the reason that ethnic enclaves like Greektown or Chinatown exist. If ethnic minorities do not intentionally preserve aspects of their heritage—food, clothing, languages, traditions—then these cultural distinctives will be lost within the tide of majority culture.

Christians are now a minority culture within the United States. If we do not intentionally preserve our minority values, they will be lost. For decades the cultural conversation for Christians has been about maintaining our values as the cultural default or even the law. This is a positive world option that is no longer available to us. In the positive world—as a cultural majority—Christians sought to ensure that our values would be upheld or even legally enforced within the larger culture. In the negative world—as a cultural minority—we need to shift our focus to ensuring that our values are upheld within the church.

Consider a Christian ethic of marriage. No-fault divorce, same-sex marriage, and cohabitation have become the norms in the larger culture. Polyamory and "open marriages" are next. As a minority culture we will have very little influence over this. But if we do not guard our own subculture it will also become the norm within the church. Lest you think that this could never happen, remember Paul's rebuke of the church in Corinth:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans (1 Cor 5:1)

If a minority culture does not work to preserve its values within its own people, the values will be lost in the overwhelming force of the majority culture. How can we preserve these values? By doing the same things that Christians have always done. We have to prioritize the church. Corporate worship on Sunday mornings is a time for the church of Christ to break from the world entirely and gather together to worship the one true God. Baptism is a symbol that reminds us of our death to the world and our union with Christ. The Lord's Supper is a symbol that reminds us that we gather at the Lord's table as His people, fundamentally different from the world around us.

We also have to prioritize the family. Consider a second generation Korean American grade-schooler. When she is at school (in the majority culture) she speaks English. She eats hamburgers in the cafeteria. She wears school uniforms. She follows the school calendar, including holidays like Thanksgiving and Memorial Day. When she comes home, she enters an entirely different culture. She speaks Korean. She eats Kimchi. She dresses in Korean clothing and observes Korean holidays. The culture in her home is markedly different from the culture outside the home. The same must be true of Christians. The family should be a place where Christian values are intentionally upheld. Eat together as a family. Pray together as a family. Read the Bible together as a family. Engage in family worship together. Find creative ways to reiterate your beliefs. Make it the norm in your home to talk about everyday events from the perspective of one who truly believes that the Lord is in control of them.

Counter-cultures do not just happen on their own. If your home looks like the world around it, then your children will look like the world around them. We must be intentionally in forging a counter-culture within the larger culture around us.

Pursue excellence, for the right reasons

This is not to say that we should hide ourselves in a bunker and refuse to engage with the world. We are exiles, but like the Israelites in Babylon we are exiles called to live within a larger culture. We should steward this time well, pursuing excellence in all that we do. In many cases the results of our pursuit of excellence may look no different than the world's. We want our kids to know how to use the quadratic equation and solve for an integral. We want them to be physically fit and perform well in athletics. We want them to be able to play Chopin as well as the next pianist. We want them to be well-spoken in public. We want them to be able to read or speak multiple languages. On paper these may look no different than the accomplishments of your secular neighbor's kids. But we pursue excellence for a different purpose. Rather than seeking earthly fame or wealth, we pursue excellence to glorify the God who made us in His image and provides us with the talents we possess. We want our kids to pursue excellence so that they will be equipped to disciple the next generation. By God's sovereign grace their accomplishments may even open doors for evangelism that otherwise would never have been opened.

Be prepared for your kids to be hated

Family discipleship is not a way to raise popular kids... Let this sink in: if God graciously saves your child, many in the culture will be repulsed by your child. At the very least, discipled kids will be considered "weird."
  – Family Discipleship, Matt Chandler & Adam Griffin, p. 32

We cannot forget that much of the world will hate us simply because we are Christians and refuse to compromise on our beliefs. Jesus is pretty clear on this:

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:18-20)

My daughter just finished kindergarten at a local public school. She did extremely well academically and had no behavior issues, but the best compliment we received from her teachers was that she is a natural leader whom other kids look up to and want to be around. This means the world to me, and I am incredibly proud of her for it. But I know that it will not last. Many of the same 6 year olds who look up to her now will mock or despise her when they are 16 year olds and she refuses to go along with their ideologies around gender, cultural marxism, sexual ethic, or entertainment. We are exiles in this world, and this will become increasingly apparent in America. If we try to raise our kids to be popular, we will undermine everything else we work to cultivate. "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matt 6:24). You cannot serve God and popularity. Not even for your kids. We must be mentally and emotionally prepared for this, and we must prepare our kids for it as well.

Trust in the Lord

If our hope was built on being wealthy, popular, or successful in this life then this would be a hopeless time. But our hope is, and always has been, in Christ alone, who will never leave us or forsake us. Our cause for hope has not changed. Our source of peace has not changed. Our anchor in heaven has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)