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November 5, 2001
(Ventura, CA) One of the most-quoted Bible verses by Christian parents
and educators is "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is
old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). A new nationwide survey
provides some statistical support for that notion, showing that adults who
regularly attended church as children are much more likely than their
unchurched peers to be involved in church-based and personal spiritual
activities.
The study, conducted by the Barna Research Group of Ventura,
California, found that roughly seven out of ten Americans adults (71%) had
a period of time during their childhood when they regularly attended a
Christian church. Apparently, old habits die hard: a majority of those who
attended church as a youngster still attend regularly today (61%), while a
large majority of those who were not church-goers as children are still
absent from churches today (78%).
Young Adults Avoiding Church
Church attendance is declining by generation, regardless of childhood
church experience. However, the decline is steeper among adults who did
not go to church as a child. Among adults 55 and older who attended church
regularly as a child, two-thirds still attend regularly (68%). That
proportion drops to just half of adults under 35 who were churched when
young (53%). However, among adults who now attend a Christian church even
though they did not do so as a youngster, more than one-third of the
35-and-over segment presently attends a Christian church, compared to only
16% among those under 35 years of age.
Church growth experts have long held that one of the major reasons why
unchurched people return to a church is to give their children meaningful
religious experiences. While there is clearly merit to that argument, the
research suggests that this benefit may not be as substantial as in the
past. Overall, just less than two out of three adults (63%) who were
churched as children take their own children to a church. That's double
the proportion among adults who were not churched and who now have kids of
their own (33%).
"Attending a church appears to be more a function of one's personal
experience when young than a sense of responsibility to one's own
children," explained George Barna, president of the research company that
conducted the study. "There is no difference in the likelihood of
attending a church these days among those who were churched as a child,
regardless of whether they presently have children of their own or not."
Types of Churches Preferred
Denominational loyalty has remained unexpectedly strong among those who
were attending church during their early years. None of the seven
Christian denominational groups studied experienced a statistically
significant change in attendance among people who attended church when
they were young. However, the church preferences of the adults who did not
attend a Christian congregation when young were somewhat different than
those of their churched-as-children peers. The unchurched-as-children
adults who now attend a church are relatively less likely to attend
Catholic, Methodist and any mainline Protestant church than are their
churched-as-children peers, and comparatively more likely to attend
Baptist churches. Adults under 35 who had been unchurched when young
reflected a particular disinclination to attend mainline Protestant
churches: only 9% currently attend such religious bodies, compared to 21%
of the adults who were church-going children.
Barna's research also noted that adults who are new to church
attendance are more likely than adults who were churched as kids to
associate with churches of less than 100 adults. Whereas just one-quarter
of the churched-as-children crowd affiliates with one of the nation's
340,000 Protestant or Catholic congregations that claims less than 100
adults, one-third of the unchurched-as-a-child group does so. People under
35 and women were among those most inclined to attend such congregations.
Religious Practices Affected
Attending church over the course of years appears to have affected the
religious practices of people, too. The survey discovered that adults who
attended church as a child are twice as likely to read the Bible during a
typical week as are those who avoided churches when young; twice as likely
to attend a church worship service in a typical week; and nearly 50% more
likely to pray to God during a typical week. Once again, the generation
gap was evident: adults under 35 who were unchurched children were
relatively less likely to engage in any of these common religious
activities than were their churched-as-children adult counterparts.
Barna stated that he was not surprised by the generational divergence.
"We have been tracking the religious behaviors and inclination of
teenagers for two decades and have seen a pronounced growth in the notion
among young people that involvement in organized religious activity is
optional and, in many cases, of no personal value." The researcher
recalled that in his newly-released book, Real Teens, church
leaders are warned that the high levels of current religious involvement
among teens in misleading. "Millions of teenagers are involved in
church-related activities each week, but their motivation is relational
rather than spiritual. Once their relational networks change upon
graduation from high school and college, we expect a continued decline in
church attendance among the emerging generation unless churches revamp
their ministries to reflect the unique cultural customs and expectations
of the new breed of young people."
Beliefs Not Influenced As Anticipated
Perhaps the most shocking outcome of the research was the limited
affect long-term church attendance has had on the theological beliefs of
Americans. The survey revealed that adults from both the
churched-as-children and unchurched-as-children segments held similar
views - often at odds with biblical teaching - regarding the existence of
the Holy Spirit, the reality of Satan, the means to eternal salvation, the
perceived accuracy of the Bible, and the holiness of Jesus Christ. "People
who were churched as youths were much more likely to state that their
religious faith is very important in their life today, but there was not
much evidence that such faith had made much of an impact on their belief
structure," indicated Barna.
While churched-as-children individuals were twice as likely as the
unchurched-as-children niche to be born again Christians (44% versus 24%,
respectively), and significantly more likely to hold an orthodox view of
God's nature (74% versus 54%), a minority of both groups believe in the
existence of the Holy Spirit and of Satan, and a majority believe that
eternal salvation can be achieved by doing enough good deeds. Also, only a
minority of both camps strongly believed that the Bible is totally
accurate in all that it teaches.
Survey Methodology
The data on which this report is based are from telephone interviews
with a nationwide random sample of 1003 adults conducted in May 2001. The
maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample is
±3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The survey population
included 711 adults who had attended a Christian church as a child for
some period of time, and 292 who did not. The maximum sampling error
associated with these segments is (4 percentage points and (5 percentage
points, respectively, based on the 95% confidence level.
All of the survey interviews were conducted from the Barna Research
Group telephone interviewing facility in Ventura, CA. Adults in the 48
continental states were eligible to be interviewed and the distribution
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 adults.
"Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who
said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still
important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that
when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins
and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not
asked to describe themselves as "born again" or if they considered
themselves to be "born again."
The Barna Research Group, Ltd. is an independent marketing research
company located in southern 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 the social, religious and political state of the nation.
If you would like to receive a bi-weekly update on the latest research
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