Most American teens ‘very motivated’ to know about Jesus: Barna

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Sunday, February 09, 2025

Though spiritual affiliation and church attendance are on the decline, greater than half of American youngsters say they’re “very motivated” to know extra about Jesus, and simply over 75% say they’re not less than “considerably motivated” to study in regards to the centerpiece of Christianity, in line with Barna Analysis.

Citing knowledge from Barna’s Gen Z Vol. 3 analysis, which additionally highlights an openness and curiosity about religious issues amongst youngsters and younger adults, researchers famous that the findings characterize a possibility for Christian leaders to have interaction them.

“This era tends to consider there’s one thing on the market extra highly effective than them. Nonetheless, many stay hesitant to embrace faith or churchgoing,” researchers mentioned. “Church leaders ought to acknowledge that teenagers’ openness to studying about Jesus represents a major alternative for significant engagement.”

The info present that 77% of teenagers are not less than motivated to study Jesus, with 52% being “very motivated” and 25% saying they’re “considerably motivated.” Lower than 20% of youngsters mentioned they have been unmotivated to study Jesus, whereas 7% mentioned they have been uncertain.

“Whereas teenagers specific curiosity in Jesus, they might method religion otherwise than earlier generations. Moreover, authenticity and relevance are key. Be ready to handle troublesome questions actually and display how Jesus and the Bible relate to the world we reside in at the moment,” Barna suggested church leaders.

One other survey of two,000 U.S. adults carried out in October 2022 by the Evangelical polling group confirmed that 77% of respondents expressed perception in the next energy, and 74% mentioned they wish to develop spiritually.

The findings are much like Pew Analysis knowledge printed in 2018, which confirmed that though 80% of People say they consider in God, solely a slim majority of the nation’s roughly 327 million folks have been discovered to consider in God as described within the Bible.

Barna CEO David Kinnaman mentioned on the time that this discovering, too, was hopeful information for Christian leaders.

“Although spiritual affiliation and church attendance proceed to say no, religious openness and curiosity are on the rise. Throughout each era, in truth, we see an unprecedented need to develop spiritually, a perception in a religious/supernatural dimension and a perception in God or the next energy,” Kinnaman famous.

The Barna CEO mentioned one of the inspiring options of this openness for him relies on findings from The Open Era examine, which present that “younger folks could also be fueling this rise in religious starvation.”

“Overwhelmingly, Christian teenagers at the moment say that Jesus nonetheless issues to them; 76% say ‘Jesus speaks to me in a means that’s related to my life,'” Kinnaman mentioned. “In a tradition that has typically downgraded the status of Christians and relegated Sunday worship and different church-related actions to the sidelines of society, teenagers stay refreshingly open to Jesus as an affect of their lives.”

Kinnaman additionally highlighted that whereas youngsters are open to Christian witness, they’re additionally open to different faiths.

“They’re open to completely different faiths, together with Christianity, they usually’re open to mates, causes and concepts,” Kinnaman mentioned. “Although dad and mom, educators and others who mentor younger folks have a tall job to supply smart steering to rising adults, at the moment’s teenagers are confronting the church with one thing that I believe we’ve not seen earlier than — a type of clean slate; an opportunity to think about a unique future.”