More Barna - what

Gleanings from Barna's latest book:-
In chapter two he lays out what his research has found to be the conditions for success. He works from a model of a coach and offers 5 tips from his research.

• The depth of the relationship forged with your child will determine your impact.
• Parents needed to completely embrace the outcomes they desire in their child.
• Impact happens "in the moment."
• Great coaches communicate well.
• Coaches need to have plan to reach the goal.

Summing up I would say that it doesn't just happen but is a parent-led identified process going somewhere !

A reminder - you can find two copies of this book in the Adulyt Library at FAC.

What to do ?

Barna suggests there are two knee-jerk reactions - one is to deny the statistics are really that bad - we're all good at denial aren't we ? And the other is to push the problem onto others - Government, schools or maybe even churches.

He concludes that neither of those reflect effective parenting. He points to "Revolutionary Parenting" and goes on to discuss this in his book.

In the meantime KIDSZONE will continue to partner with parents to help Enable and Equip them to raise Spiritual Champions.

As mentioned below following on from FEAST (Families Eating And Sharing Together) we're enabling and equipping parents through "Taking it Home sessions" where parents come to their child's KIDSZONE class on Sunday morning - to meet their KIDSZONE team (KIDSZONE teacher and Pastor), receive and "practice" with a resource that KIDSZONE will give to them as well as working on a related craft together.
If you have any questions Pastor Dave will be more than willing to talk with you.

Barna's Answer

When it comes to measuring, obviously - God measures our love for him in all aspects as per the greatest commandment. And he finds we're not doing too well (That's an understatement !) Although these are American statistics, even if Canadian children are a bit higher than their American counterparts percentage-wise there is still cause for concern.

• Most of our children are biblically illiterate, which will become clear as you read on. Their ignorance of Bible teachings corresponds to the fact that only one-third (36 percent) of our adolescents fully believe that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
• Few of our children are motivated to share their faith in Christ with others. Less than one out of every five (19 percent) contend that they have a responsibility to evangelize their peers.
• Not even half of our young people (46 percent) state that their religious faith is very important in their lives.
• Few of our children take Satan seriously. Only one-fourth of them (28 percent) completely dismiss the idea that Satan is symbolic, instead believing that the devil is real.
• Salvation baffles most of our young ones. Only two out of every ten reject the idea that good people can earn their way into heaven.
• And only three out of every ten dismiss the belief that everyone experiences the same postdeath outcome, regardless of their beliefs. In fact, only two out of every ten adolescents (21 percent) strongly disagree with the statement that people cannot know for sure what will happen to them after they die.
• Most of our kids are willing to entertain the idea that Jesus Christ sinned while He lived on earth. Only 44 percent outright dismiss the idea.
• The majority live for things other than loving God with all their hearts, minds, strength, and souls. Specifically, only four out of ten live with that purpose in mind.
• Three out of four young people reject the notion that there is no such thing as God. However, not only is that lower than expected based upon adult surveys, but we found that fewer young people today—only 58 percent— believe that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe who still rules His creation. That result is lower than any we have seen in the last quarter century of survey work. A similar percentage (about six out of every ten) believes that God originally created the universe.
• Only one-third of America’s adolescents ardently contend that Jesus Christ returned to physical life after His crucifixion and death on the cross.
• By their own admission, our children are confused theologically.
  Based on their reaction to statements like “It doesn’t matter what religious faith I follow because they all teach similar lessons,” it’s clear that they do not know what to think about competing worldviews and belief systems.
• Add to this last fact that our national surveys of thirteenyear-olds reveal that most of them think they already know everything of signifi cance in the Bible (hence, they are no longer revolutionary parenting open to learning or actively studying the Scriptures). Also, most of them have no intention of continuing to attend a church when they are in their twenties and living on their own.

more on Revolutionary Parenting

How many times have you picked up a "how to book" only to wonder did this person really do this - or is this really going to work ? I've done too many times.
Barna finds that most parenting books is based on personal observations, experiences or assumptions. So he reluctantly published his book because he wanted to share his objective and projectable research on parenting. His book comes out of years of seeing evidence and objectively examining what contributes to parents being able to raise Spiritual Champions.
Wouldn't you want to learn from someone who has researched the veidence rather than just observations? I think I would ... let's go further ...

Barna Speaks

For those who don't know who George Barna is - He has dedicated his life for the last couple of decades of researching faith-development and its contributions and detractors. He's been issuing wake up calls for the last few years to the church in particular to parents of kids and youth as well as church leaders.
He's just hesitatingly published another book to add to all those out there already. he feels it's necessary because there none that address the whole picture.
He distinguishes three different models of parenting. The first is "parenting by default" - just letting society and culture dictate how we raise our children. The second is "experimental parenting" - where we raise children on a trial and error basis - learning on the go.
The third approach he suggests is one of "Revolutionary Parenting." where God's Word provides the basis for how we raise our children.
His book is big challenge to me and I'm going to share some of my reflections as a parent and children's pastor as I process and learn from his book.
If you'd like to sample his book you can find the first chapter here. as a pdf file.