The Age of Decision

I recently heard a variation of the common statistical claim that "nine our of ten Christians accept Jesus as their Savior before the age of 18." This statistic is often brought out as justification for youth ministry. Youth ministry, of course, is of great value, with or without this statistical support. But I am always interesting in reality, so taking a closer look at statistics is a bit of an interest. In this case, it reminded me of a Barna report worth recalling from October 11, 2004 -- "Evangelism is Most Effective Among Kids".

Couple of things to note here:

If that statistic was accurate in the past, it no longer depicts U.S. society. The current Barna study indicates that nearly half of all Americans who accept Jesus Christ as their savior do so before reaching the age of 13 (43%), and that two out of three born again Christians (64%) made that commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday.

That suggests the number is significantly lower (i.e. 2 out of 3, not 9 out of 10). But also of interest is that 43% accept Christ by the age of 13. This leaves only 21% receiving Christ during the traditional "youth ministry" years of 13-18.

Also of interest (to me) are these stats:

Among people who accepted Christ when they were age 13 through 21, the process was much more diverse. One out of five credited a friend with bringing them to Christ, and a similar proportion said their parents were responsible for their decision. One-fifth also recalled an event as the trigger for their commitment. One-sixth of the people saved as teens (16%) listed a relative other than their parent as the primary influencer. Ministers were cited by one out of every ten Christians who accepted Christ during the 13-to-21-age bracket, while media and special personal situations were listed by only 1%.

Among the adults, I find it interesting that natural relationships account for about 40%: parents (8%); relatives (13%) and friends (19%).

What are the implications of all this outreach? What stands out to you?