The Apologetics Fellowship of Southwest Ohio meets on the second Saturday of each month for fellowship, training in apologetics ministry, and to discuss apologetics strategies for southwest Ohio and the surrounding area.
A Fellowship Group Above All
From in-person classes to conferences and high-level training seminars, God has accomplished some amazing things through our people. We love seeing Him do that. But this group is called a “fellowship” for a reason. Our first purpose is to be there for people who want someone to talk with about matters of the Christian mind. Some of us feel pretty alone when it comes to that in our churches.
This group is for anyone interested in apologetics. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you’ve studied, we have a home for you. We’re also here to help each other grow in our knowledge of Christian truth and how to minister to our local churches and communities through apologetics.
The group’s basic format is to meet monthly with a short (10-15 minute) starter talk. The emphasis of these talks is to learn from one another. In other words, meetings won’t be lectures or classes. We can get those online, but we can’t interact with each other that way.
Coordinating Big Events
In September 2021, we hosted Alisa Childers at our Fellowship’s first conference. Since then, together with our sibling organization, Dayton Apologetics, we have continued to invite some of the most dynamic speakers in the apologetics world to southwest Ohio. These big events are invaluable for the training and encouragement they bring to our region.
It takes a lot of resources and volunteers to plan and host events like these. But we think the payoff is worth it. Nationally recognized platform speakers and trainers motivate attendees to take their faith seriously and articulate it in the public square. Our philosophy is that big events don’t automatically make that happen. It takes a dedicated effort done in community with others who share our passion for apologetics. The Apologetics Fellowship also has a vision for addressing this issue.
After the Conference
Our experience tells us that conferences and similar events are fantastic for igniting a passion in people to apply what they have learned. But the reality is that the means and methods of taking action have been a missing ingredient. We buy our books and talk to like-minded folks, then retreat into the enclaves from which we came.
The Apologetics Fellowship views significant events, such as conferences, as catalysts for transforming the motivation we all experience at these events into action.
Pastors, Christian school faculty and staff, and parachurch ministry leaders are busy running their organizations. And though they may recognize the importance of what they learn at a conference, they usually don’t have the bandwidth to implement it. We aim to establish relationships with Christian leaders like these by assuring them we have the knowledge, competence, and trustworthiness to serve alongside them. Our sole goal in such relationships is to identify and defend the truth of what C. S. Lewis called “Mere Christianity” with clarity and grace to a culture that seems to need it more and more every day.
Our leaders adhere to this statement of belief; however, we do not require it of those who attend our Saturday morning fellowships. We welcome anyone who wishes to join in, keeping in mind that this is a fellowship group, not a debate group, although we may occasionally host debates.