Early Years Critical in Believers' Spiritual Development, Researcher Says

by Jody Brown
November 18, 2003

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(AgapePress) - A prominent Christian researcher says he is convinced that the most important segment of the population toward which churches should focus their energies and resources is children.

Before they reach their teenage years, children have pretty much developed their lifelong behaviors and views, says social researcher George Barna. He says a person's moral foundations are generally in place by age nine; that the majority of people come to a lasting determination of the significance of Christ's death and resurrection by age 12; that in most cases, people's spiritual beliefs are "irrevocably formed" when in the pre-teen years -- and that 80% of adult church leaders today had "serious involvement" in church life and training before they turned 13.

"In essence, what you believe by the time you are 13 is what you will die believing," Barna says. While he does not discount belief-altering, life-changing experiences among individuals beyond that age, he claims his research indicates that "most people's minds are made up and they believe they know what they need to know spiritually" by the time they become an official teenager.

Barna documents his findings in a new book titled Transforming Your Children Into Spiritual Champions -- and admits that the research that went into the book helped to clarify why churches today struggle to offer significance in the culture.

"Adults essentially carry out the beliefs they embraced when they were young," he explains, adding that may explain why the world does not see any difference between the lives of believers and non-believers. When those Christians were young, he says, they were not "sufficiently challenged" to think and behave differently based on spiritual perspectives.

"Simply getting people to go to church regularly is not the key to becoming a mature Christian," the researcher/author says. Instead, he says, it has to do one's worldview. "Spiritual transformation requires a more extensive investment in one's ability to interpret all life situations in spiritual terms."

According to Barna, that spiritual transformation needs to begin early in life -- and that's where parents play a vital role, he says.

"In situations where children became mature Christians, we usually found a symbiotic partnership between their parents and their church," he says. The church encouraged parents to make spiritual development a high priority, and parents raised their children in the security, spiritual and moral education, and accountability of a faith-based community.

"Neither the parents nor the church could have done it alone," Barna says.

But the research findings offered an interesting dichotomy when it came to church ministry resources. More than 40% of the people ministered to during the typical week are children -- but 87% of church finances are spent on adults. Barna says while spending money on children's programs will not guarantee great results, the more important resource is the extent to which adults in the church are committed to the spiritual wholeness of the children in their care.

"The most important resource, we believe, was the amazing amount of prayer for children and parents that was evident at the most effective ministries to children," he says.

The researcher says he is hopeful his group's findings will cause churches to place a greater emphasis on children. He believes that "such a shift in priorities could well bring about the spiritual renaissance that many church leaders have long been praying for."