How should Christians respond to a world increasingly hostile toward Christians and the values they proclaim?

This pressing question was explored during a panel discussion at Family Research Council’s 2025 Pray Vote Stand Summit over the weekend, where thousands of believers gathered for two days of worship, learning, and equipping to stand resolute in their faith. The panelists offered a multifaceted approach to engaging a hostile culture with compassion, conviction, and biblical grounding. Here are five key insights from their discussion.

1. Winning Hearts or Winning Debates?

Engaging a hostile world begins with rejecting its combative tone. “[W]e’re to speak the truth in love,” said FRC President Tony Perkins. And yet, “oftentimes when we get into these discussions, we want to win a debate as opposed to winning a heart” — a perspective that usually only deepens the divide. That’s when Mike Winger, founder of BibleThinker, chimed in, stating that “biblically speaking, you actually care about the other person.”

Speaking with someone we’re at odds with can be challenging, but as Winger further explained, “[W]e can be passionate … about where the country is or where our churches are at. But am I passionate about that individual and them changing their mind or getting at least a seed planted?” Anyone can change their mind later “down the road,” but “the agenda is transformation on the other side, not just a victory.”

How do you view the person you’re talking to? This, as Perkins noted, is a fundamental question to ask yourself when navigating these kinds of conversations. If you see them as a sinner in need of saving and blinded by darkness, chances are, you may find yourself far more compassionate and loving toward them than you thought possible.

2. The “Theology of Losing Friends”

Founder and President of Them Before Us Katy Faust put it bluntly. If Christians are to share truth in an age that cancels truth tellers, then we must “develop a theology of losing friends.” She encouraged believers to prioritize relationships and initiate connections with those who disagree, but to set biblical boundaries. “[Y]ou need to think ahead of time,” she said, “and you need to think biblically.” What are you not willing to do simply to keep the relationship? Are you willing to lose a friend if it means not compromising?

Scripture is clear that the world will hate Christians because it first hates and rejects Christ (John 15:18). As such, for believers willing to stand firm, losing friendships is an inevitable reality. But as Faust emphasized, when you lose that friendship, you should be able to say, “[I’ve] lost the relationship. Not because I was a jerk … unprepared … uninformed, or I was doing too much truth telling and not enough grace giving. [I] lost the relationship because the only way for me to keep it was to compromise on what I believe.” This, Faust urged, is not only “an acceptable reason to lose a friend,” but it’s also “what honoring your Lord looks like in … a hostile culture.”

3. Care about What the Bible Cares about

Christians must engage with all issues the Bible addresses, even those deemed “secondary.” Winger explained how Jesus Himself spoke on taxes and divorce, even if what He said was not accepted. Of course, sharing the gospel is crucial for Christians, but it’s a “narrow view of the gospel” to think that Christians can not or should not address other conversations within culture.

Winger went further: “[W]e’ve underestimated how much these secondary issues are actually our neighbor’s primary issues.” For many, issues concerning life, gender, identity, and more sit at the “center of their worldview. … And when you leave that alone, you’re leaving the stronghold center of their worldview alone” — the very aspect “that’s making them resistant to the gospel of Christ.” There are plenty of people who struggle with homosexuality, unchallenged by the truth of Scripture, who may agree to go to church. Yet, Winger noted, “when [their sin] finally gets confronted, they just bail.”

Christians can’t “abandon central issues our people are dealing with,” Winger stressed, because then “we leave them alone without any guidance from the light of the world on these issues that are destroying their souls.”

4. Be Engaged by Finding Your Identity in Christ, Not in Politics

Political engagement can spark spiritual revival, as Faust observed: “[P]olitical conservatism has led to a spiritual revival” when Christians speak with “sanity and evidence.” Natasha Crain, author of “When Culture Hates You,” chimed in, remarking, “There’s always the risk that we can conflate our identity. … We need to identify the risks” to avoid “conflating our Christian identity with any kind of political identity.”

However, Crain argued, “My concern is sometimes, when we’re talking about those risks, we never get past the risk.” Christians often spend a lot of time warning other Christians of the negative consequences of getting wrapped up in politics that they forget to address what it should look like — how Christians can faithfully engage in a way that sparks positive change. From Crain’s observation, “A lot of that pressure [Christian’s face] to hide because of … hostility comes from within the church.”

There are many “leaders within the church,” she emphasized, “a lot of pastors who are doing so much of the warning … that it makes us shrink back and go, ‘Oh, I guess I shouldn’t want to impose my values on others,’ or, ‘I guess I shouldn’t be seeking the power to do things right.’ We hear all of these kind of mantras in the church.” Yet, “When you pull them back, you realize that they’re really not logically consistent. They’re not biblically consistent. We are called to be salt and light” and “follow Jesus’s commands … to love God [and] others. … [P]art of loving others … is caring about their lives in the context of the societies in which they live.”

Ultimately, it’s an identity found in Christ alone that allows Christians to engage in politics without making an identity out of it. And when you are criticized for voicing God’s truth, Winger encouraged believers to “ignore them and keep moving forward.” And if you’re scared to speak up at all and are concerned you aren’t equipped, Winger added, “I would rather stumble forward and kind of mess up a little along the way and try to change the world than to just sit back. … I’m not worried about my identity. My identity is in Christ.” But “do I have the guts and the courage and the fortitude to stand up and continue to defend the truth against even this in-crowd that we’re talking about? That’s the test.”

5. God’s Word: The Anchor in the Cultural Storm

Above all, Perkins asserted, “We’ve got to be in the word of God, and we need to be in churches that are preaching the word of God” — especially “if we’re going to have the confidence to stand in this increasingly hostile culture.”

Furthermore, by being grounded in the word, Christians can better understand how the biblical worldview is not invalid. As Winger put it, “[W]e need to relearn how to be utterly unashamed of our Christian grounding … worldview … purposes, and reasons, and then explore the borders.” And if you’re accused of “trying to force your values on people,” he added, you can say, “Yes, I am. … Everyone’s trying to force values. I’m trying to force good values that are grounded in truth and God. … [Y]ou’re trying to force values that you see as valuable, you see as good, but they’re not grounded in truth, in God.”

 “We’re in a moment,” Perkins observed. “How do we make the most of this?”

The panelists called Christians to action: mobilize, as Winger urged, by actively engaging culture; immerse yourself in Scripture, as Crain advocated, to ground your worldview; and embrace justice, as Faust emphasized, to protect the vulnerable. In a constitutional republic, Christians have the freedom to share their values boldly, and by anchoring themselves in God’s word, speaking truth with love, and standing firm without compromising, Christians can navigate a hostile world with grace, courage, and transformative impact.