Barna Study: Christian Teens Fear Sharing
As students across America are gearing up to head back to school, new research suggests many will leave their evangelical faith at home.
David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, summarizes some of the findings from a new study completed by his organization about teenagers and their faith.
“If you look at today’s teens, six out of every ten tell us that they’re engaged in some type of group spiritual activity in a typical week — that might include church, a youth group, a Sunday school, [or] some sort of Bible-related small group,” he reports. “But as we’ve been tracking spiritual activities, we’ve been noticing that there’s been a decline in the percentage of people who are born-again Christian teens who have shared their faith in Christ with others during the past year.”
He points out that that number has dropped from 63 percent in 1997 to 45 percent.
The Barna Group president adds that some other interesting trends with teens were also found — such as “they’re less likely to pray than they’ve ever been, [and] they’re less likely to have donated any of their money to a church, compared to a decade ago.”
Kinnaman thinks it important for youth leaders and parents to understand that a teenager’s spiritual growth is not based on just showing up at an event, but it is essential to “really look at their heart and understand whether they’re going to make a lasting, long-term commitment to their faith.”
(Source: OneNewsNow)
