{"id":7987,"date":"2022-10-19T13:43:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T17:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=7987"},"modified":"2022-10-19T13:43:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T17:43:24","slug":"new-survey-offers-hopeful-insights-on-teens-and-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2022\/10\/new-survey-offers-hopeful-insights-on-teens-and-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"New Survey Offers Hopeful Insights on Teens and Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7990\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7990\" style=\"width: 723px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2022\/10\/pray-2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7990\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2022\/10\/pray-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"723\" height=\"539\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7990\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A recently released global survey from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/research\/open-generation-perceptions\/\">Barna Group<\/a> showed some encouraging statistics on what teenagers think about Jesus. The survey is a collaboration from several Christian organizations, including World Vision, Christ in Youth, Biblica and others. Barna interviewed over 24,500 teens from the ages of 13 to 17 from 26 different countries. The study is part of Barna\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/the-open-generation\/\">\u201cOpen Generation,\u201d<\/a> a three-part journal divided into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/the-open-generation\/open-to-jesus\/\">\u201cHow Teens Around the World Relate to Jesus,\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/the-open-generation\/open-to-the-bible\/\">\u201cHow Teens Around the World View the Bible,\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/the-open-generation\/open-to-justice\/\">\u201cHow Teens Around the World Can Make an Impact.\u201d<\/a> In looking at views on Jesus, 46% of respondents stated that \u201cHe offers hope to people\u201d and 43% stated that \u201cHe cares about people.\u201d In looking at negative traits of Jesus, only 10% stated that \u201cHe is known for things He is against\u201d and only 7% stated \u201cHe is judgmental.\u201d 20% responded \u201cnone of the above\u201d to negative traits.<\/p>\n<p>The survey also found that 90% of self-identified committed Christians were either \u201cvery\u201d or \u201csomewhat\u201d motivated to continue learning about Jesus Christ while 88% of nominal Christians and 78% of all others were as well. A teen\u2019s Bible engagement also impacted the way he or she viewed Jesus. The study divided respondents into three groups: \u201cBible engaged\u201d (teens who believe the Bible is God\u2019s inspired Word), \u201cBible open\u201d (teens who held a neutral view of Scripture but read it more than 3 or 4 times a year), and \u201cBible unengaged\u201d (teens that did not fall into either of the other two categories.) Of the Bible engaged, 84% said the Bible teaches about \u201cLiving a meaningful life\u201d and \u201cUnderstanding my purpose in life.\u201d 80% stated it taught about \u201cLiving wisely in today\u2019s society.\u201d Only 38% of Bible open respondents stated the Bible teaches about \u201cLiving a meaningful life\u201d with only 36% agreeing it gave purpose and 34% agreeing it gave wisdom. Bible unengaged were even lower with 25%, 23%, and 22% agreeing respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Barn also identified \u201cjustice-motivated teens,\u201d noting that, \u201cJustice-motivated teens are motivated by the Bible not only to do good work, but to grow in their faith and relationship to Jesus. Far more than their Christian peers, justice-motivated Christian teens say the Bible motivates them to stand up against the wrongdoings of others (66% vs. 36%), promote fairness and justice (73% vs. 42%), make a positive impact on others\u2019 lives (73% vs. 42%) and take care of people who need help (75% vs. 44%).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most concerning statistic comes with comparing teens who identify with being Christian and what percent of those teens have made a commitment to Christ. According to the study, 52% of respondents identified as Christian, yet only 22% stated they had made a personal commitment to Christ. Barna stated that the statistic is in line with previous research and also noted the importance of pushing for that commitment to Jesus, stating, \u201cThough personal commitment to follow Jesus may not be the norm among today\u2019s teens, general curiosity about Jesus is high. Among Christian teens, the desire to learn about Jesus is widespread and only deepens as they grow in their relationship to him. Nearly all Christian teens with a personal commitment to follow Jesus want to grow in their knowledge of him throughout their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recently released global survey from the Barna Group showed some encouraging statistics on what teenagers think about Jesus. The survey is a collaboration from several Christian organizations, including World Vision, Christ in Youth, Biblica and others. Barna interviewed over 24,500 teens from the ages of 13 to 17 from 26 different countries. The study&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":7990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Survey Offers Hopeful Insights on Teens and Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent global survey from the Barna Group showed hopeful results of what teens think about Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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