New research has found that Christians who grew up in homes where Christianity was incorrectly modelled and those who didn’t have their faith formed by relatives in their home are more likely to have stronger “theological convictions” than Christians who say their faith was “passed down” to them.
Barna Group – a leading evangelical research organisation focused on the intersection of faith and culture – released the results of a study conducted in partnership with the Lutheran Hour Ministries that aims to inform Christian families about what it means to live in a “spiritually vibrant” household.
Titled Households of Faith, the new report is based on an extensive survey conducted last April of as many as 2,400 practising Christian adults and teens in the United States.
The term ‘practicing Christian’ is defined as people who attend church at least once per month, call themselves Christian and say their faith is very important in their life.
While Barna is known for researching trends within churches and congregations, the new study is different in the sense that it focuses on the conversations, relationships and rituals occurring inside the home.
The survey asked the question:
“Would you say you are a Christian as a result of a person you grew up with in your household?”
Of the 1,116 practising Christian adults who responded to that question, 59 percent said that “someone passed their faith down to me.”
Meanwhile, 23 percent said they are a Christian “despite the sort of Christianity I saw in my household growing up,” and 15 percent said they are Christians as an adult not because of a person in their childhood household.
“What is interesting is that those who answered the second two options … actually showed stronger theological convictions than those who did not,” Barna President David Kinnaman said during a launch event for the study held at Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
It was interesting because having a passed-down faith is almost as though they hadn’t really evaluated some of the orthodoxy, some of the beliefs.
So, those who have struggled with their faith actually had a richer orthodoxy,” he continued. “At the same time, those who had a passed-down faith — part of that 59 percent — were more likely to prioritize traditions.”
Although those with a passed-down faith were less likely to have stronger theological convictions, Barna found that they did have more emotional connections to Christianity and had a warmer emotional climate within their home than other respondents.
“There was this interesting balance,” Kinnaman said. “There were some positives and negatives on each side of the ledger and there are some important implications for us.”
One of the implications the data show, according to Kinnaman, is that wrestling [with] faith “is a catalyst for people’s faith development.”
“These folks who I mentioned, the 23 percent who struggled despite growing in a Christian household that maybe wasn’t a good model or the 15 percent who said they weren’t a Christian growing up but kind of came to faith, for them … [faith] is not an heirloom,” Kinnaman, the son of a pastor, argued. “It is an anchor to them. That is a really cool part of our church and recognizing some of the contributions some of those individuals can make.”
The study also found that there are benefits to growing up in what is considered a “spiritually vibrant home.”
Spiritually vibrant homes are defined by Barna as households that engage in spiritual practices (praying every one to two days and reading the Bible weekly together), spiritual conversations (talking about God and faith together at least once per week) and hospitality (welcoming non-family guests into the home several times a month.)
Through the study, Barna discovered that faith formation is deeply connected to and increases with hospitality, that spiritually vibrant households are characterized by fun and quality time, and that “faith heritage” impacts Christians’ beliefs and practices in the long run.
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