USA (MNN) — A majority of teens in the U.S. and internationally have positive views of Jesus.
Survey
This comes from a Barna Group survey of 25,000 teens between 13 and 17. This age range falls within Generation Z. It’s the most extensive survey Barna has ever conducted.
Participants described Jesus as wise and loving and wanted to know more about Him. About half said they trusted church leadership.
But the research also showed a lack of belief in the crucifixion or resurrection as a historical event. A third of the teens described Christians around them as hypocritical.
Hannah Howe with Keys for Kids Ministries says, “From where I’m sitting, I see teens who are hungry to know more about Jesus, who want to know what’s true about Him and want to grow in their relationship with Him. It’s nice seeing that reflected in the data. We see teenagers curious about Christianity and want to make it their own.”
Teen devotional
Howe is the Editor of Unlocked, The teen devotional from Keys for Kids. The publication comes out quarterly, featuring stories, reflections, and poems about God’s love.
Howe says teens want to find trustworthy sources, ‘Who can help answer their questions. I have a couple of quotes from our survey. People say, ‘I liked the Unlocked devotional because I can relate some of my experiences in almost every story. I love them because I get to know about the writers.”
“’Sometimes it also makes me feel good knowing that I’m not the only one dealing with specific problems.’”
Howe says Unlocked wants to talk about hypocrisy in the Church. “Why would I listen to the church if I see people doing terrible things? People who are Christians might misrepresent God. And that is not okay. What do we do? We call out injustice. We find trusted Christians who we can process our experiences with. If we’re in an unsafe situation, we get out.”
Pray teens will find answers to deep questions and learn more about Jesus through Unlocked.
(Header photo courtesy of by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay)
