Alarming Facts, Trends and Statistics

A Case for Reaching & Discipling Children through Kingdom Education

1. Children's beliefs and conduct are shaped by their parents, teachers, and the culture around them (Proverbs 22:6, Luke 6:39-40). Over the last 40 years, cultural and educational influences on our children and their worldview have experienced unprecedented spiritual and moral decay. In spite of these profound negative changes, our strategy for reaching and discipling children for Christ in most Southern Baptist churches remains essentially unchanged from the 1960s.

2. Reaching children and youth early with a Biblical worldview is critical since in most cases a person's beliefs are irrevocably formed when they are pre-teens. Research shows that what a child learns to believe by age 13, he is likely to die believing. (Barna Research, Proverbs 22:6)/

3. The negative impact of the secular culture and schooling on churches and Christian homes is staggering. Southern Baptist churches and homes are failing to reach our children. Six out of eight (75%) Southern Baptist children raised in our churches have not been won to Christ by age 19 and are "lost to the Kingdom". (Dr. Ed Young at SBC Pastors' Conference, June 2006).

4. 70% of born again parents did not mention leading their children to faith in Christ as a critical outcome of their parenting, but nearly 40% thought that getting a good education was an important parenting outcome. (Barna Research).

5. Very little discipleship of children and youth is going on in evangelical homes. Most pastors estimate fewer than 5% of their member families are doing anything to disciple their own children. (SBACS Informal Survey of Southern Baptist Pastors)

6. Fewer than 60% of born again parents taught their children that there are moral absolutes one should obey. (Barna Research).

7. Although Southern Baptists started around 1,700 churches last year, the SBC growth rate was less than 0.5%. America's birth rate was nearly three times that or 1.4%. Last year 10,000 out of 43,000 Southern Baptist churches did not baptize a single person. (NAMB Fact Sheet).

8. 17,000 out of 43,000 Southern Baptist churches (40%) did not baptize anyone below the age of 18 last year. (SBC Church Report figures)

9. Barna research shows that a typical Protestant church spends 88% of its ministry dollars on adults, while 40% of attendees in a typical week are children.

10. Despite a denomination-wide emphasis on church growth over the last 30 years, 70% of Southern Baptist churches are plateaued or in decline, a figure that has remained unchanged for two decades. (LifeWay and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Leavell Center studies)

11. Parents have dropped the baton in passing their Christian faith and values to the next generation. Barna Research reports that born again parents are virtually indistinguishable from non-Christian parents in a) the qualities they say effective parents must possess, b) the outcomes they hope to facilitate in their children's lives and c) the media monitoring they provide for their children. As a result, born again youth grow up to be just as involved in gambling, adultery, divorce, cohabitation, excessive drinking and other unbiblical behaviors as do the lost people around them.

12. Only two parents out of ten indicated that having a faith commitment and religious beliefs was an important ingredient for parental success. A scant 4% thought being a praying person was an important parenting factor and 1% felt that having integrity and good character were important for parenting success. (Barna Research).

13. Only about 9% of born-again adults and 5% of youth have a Biblical worldview. (Barna Research)

14. Having a Biblical world view has a radical impact on one's life. A person with a Biblical worldview is 31 times less likely to cohabitate, 18 times less likely to endorse drunkenness, 15 times less likely to condone gay sex, and 11 times less likely to condone adultery. (Barna Research)

15. Two-thirds of teens say they are very familiar with the major teachings of Christianity, yet 52% believe Jesus was a sinner; 67% do not believe Satan is a real being; and 60% believe a person's good deeds can earn salvation for him/her. (Barna Research)

16. Religion has enormous potential for lowering the risk of substance abuse. Teens who do not consider religious beliefs important are 300% more likely to binge drink and smoke, 400% likelier to use marijuana, and 700% likelier to use illicit drugs. (CASA 2002 Teen/Parent Drug Survey).

17. 70% of America's young adults, ages 18-29, believe that homosexuals should be allowed to marry or have civil unions. (CIRCLE Fact Sheet, Feb 2005)

18. It took Jesus 16,000 hours to train his 12 disciples, almost exactly the time a child spends in school from kindergarten through high school. During those 13 years, the same child spends about 1,200 to 1,800 hours in church. (NCES and SBACS estimates)

19. How did our children and young adults get these beliefs and ideas? What impact does 16,000 hours of secular schooling have on their beliefs and values? Why are most not becoming the "salt and light" God meant for them to be? (Luke 6:40).

20. 89% of America's 55 million schoolchildren attend public schools, receiving an education which by law must be completely secular. The other II% attend non-public schools: Catholic 4.7%, conservative Christian 1.5%, private and other religious 2%, and homeschool 1.8%. (NCES Statistics).

21. Among private schools, conservative Christian schools grew at the fastest rate, showing an increase from 11 % to 15% of the total non-public school population during the

last 15 years. (NCES Statistics).

22. Southern Baptists lag behind in their support for Christian schooling. There are 8,200 Catholic schools in America and 5,000 conservative Christian schools, which includes 700 Southern Baptist schools. Only about 1.7% of the 43,000 Southern Baptist churches nationwide have a Christian school. Less than 0.5% have a high school. However, the number of Southern Baptist schools is growing – up nearly 50% since 1990. (NCES and SBACS data files)

23. An average Southern Baptist school enrolls around 200- 250 students, about the size of an average Southern Baptist church. (SBACS data files).

24. Southern Baptist Christian schools have a profound influence on child and family evangelism. A growing number of pastors report that their Christian school is a substantial contributor to the growth of their church. Schools can reach families who are "church-averse" or "church-aloof' like those living in inner city or affluent neighborhoods. (SBACS anecdotal data)

25. National and state Baptist conventions invest heavily to educate adult students (Baptist colleges and seminaries) and providing substantial resources to start churches. By contrast, denominational support for churches with Christian schools and for starting Christian schools is virtually non-existent. (Cooperative Program budget)

26. Two state conventions, Florida Baptist Convention and Southern Baptists of Texas Convention have begun partnering with SBACS to provide their churches with information, training and resources about starting and supporting Southern Baptist Christian schools.

In light of these facts and trends... How would you answer these 3 questions?

1. Is the Body of Christ having the impact on lives and our culture that God expects us to have? (Matthew 16: 18)

2. What happens if we continue doing for the next 20 years what we have done for the last 20 years?

3. Albert Einstein defined INSANITY as doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. What must we do differently during the next 20 years to avoid spiritual insanity, to reverse these alarming trends and to reach our world for Christ?

What if...?

•         America's largest Protestant denomination (Southern Baptists) started thousands of Christian schools and homeschool networks, opening them to the public as we now do Sunday School and Vacation Bible School?

•         Baptist schools and homeschool networks were recognized as a powerful community outreach and funded in the same manner as other missions?

•         starting Christian schools and homeschool networks (National Mission Schools Project) to reach America's inner cities, suburbs and towns had the same support at every level of the denomination as we give to starting churches and sending missionaries?

•         there were a Christian Education Offering every August to help fund the National Mission Schools?

Then...!

•         millions of children would think and act from Biblical values instead of worldly ones!

•         our young people would stay in our churches to invigorate them as Kingdom workers and warriors!

•         our children would become the salt and light that secular schooling has not and cannot deliver.

•         WE COULD CHANGE THE WORLD FOR CHRIST IN ONE GENERATION!

Visit www.sbacs.org to register for a

Christian School 101 Workshop

Learn Why & How to Start a Christian School

[Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, P.O. Box 1204, Windermere, FL 34786; www.sbacs.org, 407-808-9100; edgamble@sbacs.org.]