New Barna Research has discovered that a person’s lifelong behaviors and views are generally developed when they are young – usually prior to reaching teen years. The research showed 4 critical outcomes. First, a person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time they reach 9. Their fundamental perspectives on truth, integrity, meaning, justice, morality, and ethics are formed early in life. Second, responses to the meaning and personal value of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is usually determined before age 18. Third, most spiritual beliefs are irrevocably formed by the pre-teens. “In essence,” George Barna notes, “what you believe by the time you are 13 is what you will die believing.”
Finally, the research revealed adult church leaders usually have serious involvement in church life and training when they are young. Churches experiencing
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