The Next Generation

Christianity, like all faiths, exists one generation away from extinction. We pass our faith on to the next generation or the next generation will not know about Jesus Christ. A recent survey by the Barna Group of households identifying themselves as Christians who have young children in the home found,

When asked to identify their biggest personal challenges related to faith or spirituality, the most common response related to raising moral children or youngsters with a strong faith. In total, one out of every seven parents (14%) who identified themselves as Christian listed this as their spiritual challenge. Only one other response - the need to personally invest more time in religious activities, such as reading the Bible or praying - was mentioned by at least one out of every ten parents (10%).

More than one hundred different responses were provided by survey respondents, reflecting the breadth of spiritual issues that Americans struggle with. Other categories of concerns mentioned included the desire to more consistently exhibit faith-driven behavior (8%); the need to be more involved in a church (7%); effectively dealing with the declining moral values and inappropriate media content in our society (6%); handling various lifestyle challenges that weaken their faith (5%); confidently coping with health matters (4%); and having a deeper or more substantive faith (4%).

When asked to rate eight specific challenges, the survey found:

One out of every three parents (34%) said having enough time to devote to their faith was a major challenge. Almost as many (30%) said helping their children to become more spiritual was a major challenge.

About two out of every ten parents listed each of the other six possibilities as major challenges. Those included enabling their spouse to be more spiritual (23%); growing spiritually, personally (21%); understanding what’s in the Bible (20%); finding a church or faith community that’s right for them (19%); getting a sense of direction from God (18%); and practicing the faith principles they had learned (18%).

If you wonder whether the report is accurate, it should be noted that a higher concern for the spirituality of children was noted in the southern region.

In his conclusion to the report summary, George Barna wrote,

Our studies show that the faith principles and practices that a child absorbs by age thirteen boldly shapes their spirituality for the duration of their life. Parents have a greater impact on that process than anyone else.

The full text is online here: Americans are not concerned about their spiritual nature.

In the archives you will find information on Making room for children in church and religion columns Teach your children well and Recapture child-like faith.