With church and school closures due to COVID-19, adults are leaning on technology to help with in-home learning, and parents have an unprecedented opportunity to tap technology to help children engage spiritually.
A new study—Guiding Children to Discover the Bible, Navigate Technology & Follow Jesus—by Barna Group, produced in partnership with OneHope, reveals that even though tech is pervasive for kids, most parents and churches aren’t leveraging it for Bible engagement for children.
“This is clearly seen in our findings that show a substantial dip in Bible engagement for 10–12-year-olds,” says Rob Hoskins, President of OneHope. “Right as they enter an age where they are ready for more, we’re giving them less.”
According to data in the Guiding Children study, six in 10 (58%) highly engaged Christian parents choose a church based on the children’s programming. “Regular church engagement, though important for growing a consistent faith life, doesn’t appear to have as significant an effect as regularly interacting with scripture,” says Brooke Hempell, Senior Vice President of Research at Barna.
“We feel called to reach children wherever they are,” explains Hoskins. “If they are in the digital realm, then tech is where we are going to meet them. We hope parents will commit to using whatever means necessary to develop spiritual formation and faith development tools to feed our kids from the richness of God’s word.”
