Archive

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

Pastors See Missions as a Mandate, But Christians Aren't So Sure

The Great Disconnect: Reclaiming the Heart of the Great Commission in Your Church, Barna’s newest study conducted in partnership with Mission India, reveals misconceptions and inconsistencies in how U.S. churches perceive and approach missionary work. This article zooms in on Christians' and pastors' beliefs about who bears responsibility for the Great Commission and how it should be carried out.

Barna Takes: Living Out the Great Commission with a Global Perspective

How Concerned Are Christian Parents About Their Children’s Faith Formation?

Recent Barna data collected in 2021 show that most parents, regardless of religious identity or faith practice, want their children to have a healthy relationship with spirituality. This article explores parents’ responses around two key questions about their children’s spiritual development, taking a closer look at Christian parents and offering data on how children's relationships with peers can support their faith formation journey.

56% of Christians Feel Their Spiritual Life Is Entirely Private

What is the role of friendship in discipleship community? Historically (see 1 Thessalonians 2:8) and currently, U.S. Christian adults see friendships as foundational to healthy discipleship. Disciplemaking involves actively helping someone else grow closer to Christ, requiring those involved to look outside themselves. This article shares recent data from Growing Together—created in partnership with The Navigators—to explore what percentage of Christian adults view their spiritual lives as entirely private and how friendships with other Christians can support discipleship.

Behind the Numbers: A Closer Look at the ChurchPulse Assessment

New Metrics for Measuring What Matters: Flourishing People & Thriving Churches

Even before the pandemic, traditional metrics of church health were becoming less concrete, thanks to growing dropout rates and trends like “worship shifting.” That's why Barna and our partners at Gloo have been building the The State of Your Church project to provide pastors and church leaders with a more holistic framework for understanding the health of their congregations.

Guest Column: What Is the Mission of the Church?

Guest Column: Reading the Bible Through Racial Lenses

Most Christians Assume Diverse Community Will Improve Race Relations

What can one person do to help address racial injustice in America? Beyond Diversity, a recent Barna study created in partnership with the Racial Justice and Unity center, offers trends on Americans’ fluctuating motivation to address racial injustice and highlights ways congregants, as well as whole congregations, can pursue justice in their communities.

Excerpt: Better Questions & Disciplines for Digital Church Innovation

This article is an excerpt from Benjamin Windle's latest work, Digital Church in a Lonely World, published as the first Barna Ideas release. Barna Ideas is a series committed to exploring new models, new methods and new mindsets for the future of the Church. Windle's full work, which explores the seven ingredients necessary for church community in an increasingly digital and lonely world, is available both in Barna's online store and on Barna Access Plus.

Two in Five Christians Are Not Engaged in Discipleship

What barriers keep Christians from being part of a discipleship community? For the new book Growing Together: A Three-Part Guide for Following Jesus and Bringing Friends on the Journey, Barna partnered with The Navigators to study how Christians can be and make disciples today. While the majority of Christians experiences some form of relational investment in spiritual growth, two in five (39%) aren’t engaged in discipleship at all.

ChurchPulse Weekly Conversations: DK Kim & Abby Burley on Hybrid Worship Gatherings During Christmas

ChurchPulse Weekly Conversations: Amy Gannett & Justin Kendrick on Church Planting and Discipleship

ChurchPulse Weekly Conversations: Keri Ladouceur and Katie Matsumoto Moore on Serving Locally