Parents who are raising pre-teens feel "spiritual distress" over how the allegiance to Christianity is being eroded by contemporary culture.
Data from a recent study reveals that pre-teen parents and those who are raising children younger than 13 are experiencing a "state of spiritual distress" because of America's decreasing adherence to biblical Christianity. The report warned that a "tragic crash" is coming soon as a result of the situation.
According to the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University and the American Worldview Inventory 2022, there has been "warning signs" they described as "identifiable and unmistakable" on how parents and their support systems such as extended families and churches have become "too distracted or disinterested to acknowledge and address the parenting crisis," the CRC's director of research George Barna explained.
Christian Research Center Calls Out Parents for Failing to Lead Their Children to Christ
Barna argued that as written in Scripture, the Bible "assigns the primary responsibility for shaping the worldview of their children" to parents, the Christian Post reported. These parents are called to ensure that their children have what they need to "grow up in relationship with and service to God." This requires the "intentional and consistent development of a biblical worldview" in their children's hearts and minds, as a child's worldview begins to take shape as young as two years old.
However, Barna lamented that parents are "not devoted to biblical worldview development in their children" because they sometimes do not have the same biblical worldview to pass on to the young. Now, CRC research found that only 2% of parents of pre-teens, who are kids in the worldview development stage, have a biblical worldview.
Barna blames syncretism or the ideology of merging otherwise incompatible beliefs into a "made-to-order worldview" that incorporates some biblical elements that's enough to appear Christian. He also criticized the American Church for "[lowering] the entry bar" that makes it hard to identify beliefs that disqualifies one from claiming that he or she is a true Christian. Such examples are these pre-teen parents who are experiencing a "state of spiritual distress."
Christian Research Center Leader Says the Church is "Measuring the Wrong Indicators of Faith"
Barna argued further that church attendance and participation in prayer should not be the only indicators and quantifiers of faith. Instead, he urged the faithful to look at the "quantity rather than quality of spiritual activity" and an "overt participation rather than core developmental efforts." The research director added that Church leaders failed to address the crisis of faith in the Christian community because church attendance, Bible sales and donations have made them feel "reassured."
This crisis is visible in the "disinterest" and "disrespect" that many children show to their elders. It is indicative of the lack of "authenticity" and "integrity" that they observe while being in the presence of parents, teachers, pastors, and other cultural leaders.
In addition, ACU's research in 2021 showed that among an estimated 176 million American adults who identify as Christian, only 6% or 15 million actually hold a biblical worldview.
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