Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 11:12:31 -0600
> From: "Bobi's YA email" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: 14 AND UNDER - THE TARGET
>
>
>
> The Probability of Accepting Christ Is Highest Among Kids Under 14
> >
> > The following article was written by the The Barna Research Group. The
> > Barna Research Group, Ltd. is an independent marketing research company
> > located in Ventura, California. Since 1984 it has been studying
cultural
> > trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. This
research
> > was funded solely by Barna Research as part of its regular tracking of
> > attitudes, values and behavior. Future data releases of this nature may
be
> > obtained for free by subscribing to The Barna Update, a free bi-weekly
> > e-mailing of new data drawn from Barna Research Group studies. To
> > subscribe, enter your e-mail address in the Barna Update subscription
> > field. Visit their website at www.barna.org.
> >
> >
> > (Ventura, CA) Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me…for
> > the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14, NIV)
His
> > words are being fulfilled in American society according to new data
from
> > the Barna Research Group of Ventura, California. The company's
nationwide
> > surveys have determined the probability of people accepting Christ as
> > their savior in relation to a person's age. The data show that if a
> > person does not accept Jesus Christ as savior before the age of 14, the
> > likelihood of ever doing so is slim.
> >
> > Based on a nationwide representative sampling of more than 4200
> > young people and adults, the survey data show that people from ages 5
> > through 13 have a 32% probability of accepting Christ as their savior.
> > Young people from the ages of 14 through 18 have just a 4% likelihood
of
> > doing so, while adults (ages 19 through death) have only a 6%
probability
> > of making that choice.
> >
> > While this information is consistent with other Barna studies over
> > the years that have shown that a large majority of Christians accept
Jesus
> > Christ as their savior before they reach the age of 18, this is the
first
> > study that has calculated people's probability of accepting Christ at
> > different life stages. The data also challenges the widely-held belief
> > that the teenage years are prime years for evangelistic activity.
> >
> > The study points out that children and adolescents are most impacted
> > evangelistically by family members, peers and their youth group (e.g.
> > Sunday school, mid-week faith-based youth activities). In fact, the
years
> > prior to age 12 are when a majority of children make their decision as
to
> > whether or not they will follow Christ.
> >
> > The data were analyzed by George Barna, president of the firm that
> > conducted the research. He indicated that the information must be
> > carefully interpreted. "The statistics are eye-opening because they
show
> > how little evangelistic impact we are having in America upon teenagers
and
> > adults. However, that does not mean that teenagers and adults cannot
be
> > reached with the gospel. It simply challenges the approaches currently
> > used to reach those individuals. Consider that churches spend the bulk
of
> > their evangelism-specific resources on adults,largely through events
and
> > collateral materials. However, the most effective evangelistic
strategies
> > tend to be intensely relational and are less frequently emphasized by
> > churches. It could well be that if churches upgraded their
evangelistic
> > strategies and reallocated their resources, the probability of
teenagers
> > and adults embracing Christ as their savior would rise."
> >
> > The study clearly notes, however, that the greatest evangelistic
> > window currently available is among young children, which led Barna to
> > discuss other possibilities for churches to consider.
> >
> > Among the potential shifts mentioned were:
> >
> > * refocusing teen ministries from an evangelistic thrust to a
> > discipleship emphasis;
> > * better preparing parents for family-based evangelism;
> > * investing greater resources for child and adolescent ministry;
> > * establishing closer partnerships between churches and parachurch
> > ministries geared to child evangelism;
> > * implementing more effective evangelistic strategies among teenagers;
> >
> > * and encouraging and equipping young people who have accepted Christ
> > as their savior to share their faith with peers.
> >
> > Barna also mentioned that his firm's research "has consistently shown
that
> > between the ages of 18 and 24 we lose a very large percentage of young
> > people who had been regulars at church. Recognizing the phases of
faith
> > maturity that kids go through and developing the content of our
ministry
> > to kids in light of those stages might improve the ability of churches
to
> > retain young people, rather than to have to win them back once they
enter
> > parenthood."
> >
> > Survey Methodology
> >
> > The research was based upon three separate surveys among adults, each
> > involving more than 1000 interviews, plus two separate surveys among
> > people 18 and under, both involving over 600 youths. The estimated
> > sampling error for each of the adult surveys is +3 percentage points at
> > the 95% confidence level. The estimated sampling error for each of the
> > youth surveys is +4 percentage points at the 95% confidence interval.
The
> > aggregate database for this research thus includes more than 4200
> > completed interviews, providing data with an estimated sampling error
of
> > less than two percentage points at the 95% confidence interval.
> >
> > Accepting Jesus Christ as one's savior was determined by asking
> > survey respondents if they have ever made a personal commitment to
Jesus
> > Christ that is still important in their life today. If they indicated
> > they had done so, then they were asked a follow-up question regarding
what
> > would happen to them after they died physically. Among the seven
options
> > provided was "when I die I will go to Heaven because I have confessed
my
> > sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior." Respondents who
> > selected that option from the seven alternatives were included in the
> > category of those who have accepted Christ as their savior.
> >
> > All of the interviews were conducted from the Barna Research Group
> > telephone interviewing facility. People in the 48 continental states
were
> > eligible to be interviewed and the distribution of interviews coincided
> > with the geographic dispersion of the U.S. adult population. Multiple
> > callbacks were used to increase the probability of including a reliable
> > distribution of respondents.
>
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