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When Do Most People Accept Christ?
Jesus
said, "Let the little children come
to me…for the kingdom of Heaven belongs
to such as these." (Matthew 19:14,
NIV)
I
have recently come across an interesting
research study done by the Barna Research
Group out of California that really shows
how we need to keep on reaching kids!
The
company's nationwide surveys have
determined the probability of people
accepting Christ as their savior in
relation to a person's age.
The data show that if a person has
not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior
before the age of 14, the likelihood that
they ever will is extremely small.
Based
on a nationwide survey of more than 4200
young people and adults, the data show
that people from ages 5 through 13 have a
32% probability of accepting Christ as
their savior.
Young people from the ages of 14
through 18 have just a 4% likelihood of
doing so, while adults (ages 19 through
death) have only a 6% probability of
making that choice.
Other
studies by the Barna group have shown that
the majority of people give their lives to
Christ before the age of 18, but this is
the first study that has shown the
probabilities at various ages.
It also has shown that the
evangelistic impact is getting younger.
The
study points out that children and
adolescents are most impacted
evangelistically by family members, peers
and their youth group (e.g. Sunday school,
Kids Church, Royal Rangers, Missionettes,
VBS, etc ).
In fact, the years prior to age 12
are when a majority of children make their
decision as to whether or not they will
follow Christ.
George Barna, president of the firm that conducted the
research, analyzed the data.
Barna stated,
"The statistics are
eye-opening because they show how little
evangelistic impact we are having in
America upon teenagers and adults.
However, that does not mean that
teenagers and adults cannot be reached
with the gospel.
It simply challenges the approaches
currently used to reach those
individuals.”
The
study clearly notes, however, that the
greatest evangelistic window currently
available is among young children.
We
have a great opportunity and challenge
before.
Let’s do it!
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