Survey: Faith Means Little to Teens
by Stuart Shepard, staff writer

A new national survey shows many teens identify themselves as religious, but express a lack of commitment.

The contradictions are striking: While 80 percent of today's teens describe themselves as "Christian," only 26 percent claim to be "absolutely committed to the "Christian faith."

A new study by Barna Research also shows that seven of 10 teens are engaged in church-related activities each week, but only one in three plans to stay involved as an adult.

"It's not enough just to get them to attend; there has to be something substantial that occurs at your youth group or at the event that you're producing or involved with," said Kevin Shive, with Youth For Christ.

According to Shive, event-oriented youth programs may have value as far as bringing kids in the door, but he stresses the importance of helping them develop depth as well.

"The future of where we're going with Christian faith and the church is going to be based upon how well we train up our kids," he said.

When teens rated 19 possible future outcomes in their lives, the highest of three religious outcomes - "having a close personal relationship with God" - came in eighth.

"I think more and more we're living in a post-Christian culture," said Jeff Caylor, producer of Focus on the Family's youth-oriented "Life On The Edge" radio program. He said young people need strong Christian role models if they are to grow deep in the faith.

"Teens are seeing Christianity as a thing to be called rather than a thing to do or a thing to be," Caylor said.

The study's author says it's not too late to persuade teens to include church in their future.

The study also reveals that teens desire to be portrayed as religious -- yet invest little of themselves in spiritual pursuits.