Archive

Beyond the Offering Plate: Views on Volunteering

While many may think of “generosity” as synonymous with “financial giving,” it can also include nonmonetary giving, emotional support, hospitality and—the focus of our latest report—volunteering. Beyond the Offering Plate—created in partnership with VOMO and Gloo—explores how U.S. adults and Christians think about and give of their time and talent through volunteering, something we’ll take a closer look at in this article.

Doubt & Faith: Top Reasons People Question Christianity

Recent data show a majority in America is open to tapping more deeply into their spiritual life—yet this curiosity may naturally be accompanied by tough questions. Are churches making space for this reality? Today’s article, an excerpt from “What Do We Do with Doubt?”—the first release in Barna’s Spiritually Open study, available exclusively on Barna Access Plus—digs into the doubts that keep people away from the Christian Church.

How the Church Can Fuel Black Gen Z's Desire for Justice

New data on American Gen Z show that, when it comes to addressing injustices in society, racial injustice is a shared top concern among both teens (32%) and young adults (35%). When looking at the data segmented by race, Black, Hispanic and Asian Gen Z all clearly identify racial injustice as their top concern. With this in mind, Barna Group returned to data from our recent project The Open Generation: United States in an effort to see how racial or ethnic identity might connect to how young people in the U.S. see issues of injustice. As we observe Black History Month, this article also centers the responses of Black teens and young adults, highlighting their perceptions of injustices in society today, how they hope to address them and what might help along the way.

Rising Spiritual Openness in America

Barna has been tracking the state of Christianity for nearly four decades. Though the trajectory of Christian commitment in the U.S. has been on a downward slide and is in need of urgent interventions, our new data give Christian leaders cause for hope. Barna CEO David Kinnaman shares more in this new article.

What Impacts Christians’ Understanding of Conflict Resolution?

How do Christians approach conflict resolution in their daily lives? New Barna data collected in partnership with The Genius of One explores five factors of church community—unity, boundaries, spiritual gifts, conflict resolution and forgiveness—to assess how Christians and pastors perceive and practice each. When it comes to conflict resolution, at least, pastors and Christians seem to have complimentary approaches.

Pastors Say They Often Preach on Church Unity—Christians Disagree

What does unity really mean for Christians in today’s divided world? In the summer of 2022, Barna Group conducted a study with The Genius of One to explore Christian opinion on major faith topics, a key one being unity. In an election year and with holiday gatherings (and their related tensions) approaching, it may feel like unity is a hard thing to come by, even among Christians. This article explores recent data on both Christians’ and pastors’ perspectives of the subject.

Do Church Buildings Still Matter? How U.S. Adults Feel About Spiritual Spaces

Does sitting in a church building evoke a sense of transcendence or offer moments of calm in an often-chaotic world? How might our physical experiences of a church relate to our worship and understanding of God? As many pastors struggle with how best to retain members and grow them spiritually post-pandemic, new research from Making Space for Inspiration suggests opportunities for leaders to connect with current and new congregants, starting with a more intentional approach to the places they meet.

Global Teens Share Their Perceptions of Jesus, the Bible & Justice

How do today’s teens think about Jesus, the Bible and justice? The Open Generation, Barna’s largest global study created with the partnership of organizations—including Alpha, Biblica and World Vision, with additional support from Christian Vision, Bible Study Fellowship, Christ In Youth and the Association of Christian Schools International—offers responses from nearly 25,000 teens, ages 13–17, in 26 countries and speaking 17 different languages, to answer this question.

54% of Those Who Give Experienced Generosity Themselves

Fact or fiction? Those who give have been given to. Barna’s new report, Why Giving Is Good—the third volume in The State of Generosity series created with Gloo and a collective of partners—explores what leads U.S. adults and Christians to practice generosity in their own lives. For many, it is true that seeing kindness encourages them to extend kindness to others.

What Is a Tithe? New Data on Perceptions of the 10 Percent

What exactly are Christians’ prevailing views on matters of stewardship and generosity? And how is the local church shaping them? While pastors today note the tithe as being central both to their church’s funding and its practice of generosity, new data uncovered in Revisiting the Tithe and Offering—the latest release in The State of Generosity series, produced in partnership with Generis and Gloo—suggests a traditional tithe is not widely understood or practiced today.

The Deeply Personal Reasons People Give Financially

What motivates people to give? In Barna’s latest release, The Giving Landscape—the first of several journals created in partnership with Gloo and a collective of other partners as part of The State of Generosity series—brand new data highlights the reasons why U.S. adults and practicing Christians choose to give.

A New Chapter in Millennial Church Attendance

Patterns of attendance among younger generations can be especially important—and perplexing—for pastors to understand, in their own church and at large. Barna Group has studied the intersection of faith and culture for nearly four decades, with an emphasis on generational trends. This article explores recent data to help church leaders ground themselves in the present reality of church attendance across generations—especially Millennials—in 2022.

What Is Missions? Christians Share Their Perspectives

How do Christians define missions? Recent data published in The Great Disconnect, a Barna report produced in partnership with Mission India, show that Christians’ and pastors’ perceptions of missions—whether it’s a calling or a mandate—vary widely. This article goes deeper into the data, exploring exactly how Christians define the term “missions” and what actions they believe best fit this definition.

ChurchPulse Weekly Conversations: Bryan Loritts on Fatherhood & Race in the Church

ChurchPulse Weekly Conversations: Grant Skeldon & Luke LeFevre on Next Gen Discipleship

ChurchPulse Weekly Conversations: Aubrey Sampson on Discipleship

Ed Stetzer—author, speaker and professor—joins Carey Nieuwhof to discuss shifting trends in church attendance throughout the pandemic, engaging congregations in their local church’s mission and finding new ways to measure church success.

A Sneak Peek into Barna's Global Study of Teens

Amid a pandemic and with the partnership of a collective of organizations—including Alpha, Biblica and World Vision, with additional support from Christian Vision, Bible Study Fellowship, Christ in Youth and the Association of Christian Schools International—Barna Group has embarked on a unique global project, the largest study in its 38-year history, focused on teenagers.

Barna Takes: How the Church Can Serve Working Mothers Well