I’ve been spending a lot of time researching the subject of worldviews lately. One of the books I’ve been reading is ‘Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child's Heart, Mind and Soul’ by Dr. George Barna. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! It is such an important book for all Christians to read. You can check it out HERE.
For those who aren’t familiar, Dr. Barna is one of the top researchers in the world on the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans and the intersection of faith and culture. According to his website, he has authored or co-authored 60 books addressing social and religious trends, worldview, leadership, spiritual development, church dynamics, and cultural transformation. He is currently a Professor at Arizona Christian University and Director of Research at its Cultural Research Center, focusing on worldview assessment and development, and cultural transformation. He is also the Sr. Research Fellow at Family Research Council for Biblical Worldview. Check out his website HERE.
I’ve been following Dr. Barna’s research for many years so I’m very aware of his troubling findings regarding how poorly Christians are doing with developing and living out biblical worldviews. However, I was still shocked by his latest findings. Some of the results of his latest research included in his new book are the following: (The below was taken from HERE and HERE so check out these links for further details)
- A person’s worldview starts developing in the second year of life (15 to 18 months) and is largely in place by the age of 13. That’s the prime window of opportunity for discipleship.
- Parents have the primary responsibility for the spiritual development and discipleship of their children. Despite this responsibility, the research shows that fewer than 10% of parents today have any kind of spiritual development plan for their children. On top of that, many lack the equipping they need for the task. Consider these findings:
- Only 2% of parents with children under 13 possess a biblical worldview. Instead, the worldview of 94% of those parents is Syncretism, a hodge-podge mixture of competing and often conflicting worldviews.
- Just 1 out of every 5 (22%) parents of preteens is a born-again Christian, and of those, only 8% have a biblical worldview.
- Just 6 out of 10 born-again Christians (58%) believe that they, as parents, have the primary responsibility for the development of their children.
- About 1 out of 4 (23%) assign that responsibility to churches, which the research shows are increasingly unreliable sources of biblical worldview training.
- The research identified “outsourcing” as a troubling new trend among today’s parenting, as parents are increasingly delegating key child-rearing tasks to others. Parents have stepped back and handed over the worldview development process to experts, who may or may not share their worldview and values. On top of that, most parents have no plan for how they will raise their children or how they will help their child develop spiritually.
- The approaches today's parents are taking in their children's spiritual development are not working. One of the most troubling findings of the Raising Spiritual Champions research is that only 1% of preteen children possess a biblical worldview. The research finds serious deficiencies that will have dramatic implications in the lives of these preteens. Here are just a few of the findings:
- Barely one-third of newly minted teens (36%) believe that God exists and is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe.
- Closer to half are Don'ts-meaning they don't know if there is a God, don't believe in His existence, or don't care one way or the other.
- A majority of the youngest teens (61%) either believe Jesus Christ sinned while He was on Earth or hold open the possibility He did.
- Not even half (45%) believe that God created the universe.
- And an overwhelming majority believe that there are no absolute, objective truths. Only 10% reject the idea that moral truth is always relative to the individual and their circumstances.
- Nearly twice as many believe in the possibility of reincarnation than those who believe (21%) that they will live with God in eternity after having confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And the research on pastors is just as shocking…
- A majority of pastors lack a biblical worldview. In fact, just slightly more than a third (37%) possess a biblical worldview and the majority—62%—hold a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism.
- According to this latest report, the level of biblical worldview varies by the pastoral position held. Among Senior Pastors, for instance, 41% hold a biblical worldview—the highest incidence among any of the five pastoral positions studied. Next highest was the 28% among Associate Pastors.
- One of the more concerning revelations emerging from the research is the worldview of pastors who work with young people, Barna noted. The study found that only 12% of Children’s and Youth Pastors hold a biblical worldview. And among Teaching Pastors, the level of biblical worldview is a mere 13%.
While it's easy to become very demoralized by the current terrible state of things, I am choosing to double down on making a difference in this area. I pray many other Christians will join me in educating themselves on this crisis, focusing more time on developing a biblical worldview, and discipling their families and others to do the same. In this regard, there is some helpful information in the book. Dr. Barna identifies seven particular beliefs that dramatically increase the likelihood of a person developing a biblical worldview. The seven beliefs, labeled the “Seven Cornerstones of a Biblical Worldview,” are not a complete biblical worldview but represent a very strong foundation for developing that philosophy of life. Check out the book for full details on this. Again, you can check it out HERE.
Dr. Barna's organization offers a free worldview assessment. It can be found HERE. In order to learn more about this assessment, you can check out the article titled, 'How Do We Know the Arizona Christian University Worldview Assessment Accurately and Consistently Measures Your Worldview?' by clicking HERE. And check out the free Biblical Worldview Series on the website of the Family Research Council Center for Biblical Worldview by clicking HERE.
Lastly, one of the reasons I started Apologetics Hub was to provide a website that pulls together all of the best resources for developing and defending a biblical worldview and refuting other worldviews. Please make sure to check out and utilize all of the great resources on the website - podcasts, YouTube channels, Facebook pages, books, curriculums, online learning programs, college programs, conferences, camps, and clubs.