Summary of Barna Research's Report on how Church Attendance When Young affects Church Attendance When Older.

Read the full report at Barna's website.

A new nationwide survey (November 2001) indicates that adults who regularly attended church as children are much more likely than their unchurched peers to be involved in church-based and personal spiritual activities.

...roughly seven out of ten Americans adults (71%) had a period of time during their childhood when they regularly attended a Christian church. Apparently, old habits die hard: a majority of those who attended church as a youngster still attend regularly today (61%), while a large majority of those who were not church-goers as children are still absent from churches today (78%).

Church attendance is declining by generation, regardless of childhood church experience. However, the decline is steeper among adults who did not go to church as a child.

Denominational loyalty has remained unexpectedly strong among those who were attending church during their early years.

"Millions of teenagers are involved in church-related activities each week, but their motivation is relational rather than spiritual. Once their relational networks change upon graduation from high school and college, we expect a continued decline in church attendance among the emerging generation unless churches revamp their ministries to reflect the unique cultural customs and expectations of the new breed of young people."

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