Barna’s take on parenting

Revolutionary Parenting George Barna. Tyndale, 2007. 192 pages.

What does it take to lodge truth and character deeply in the hearts of the next generation? George Barna sets out to answer this question in his exceptional book, Revolutionary Parenting. Using sophisticated survey methodology and thousands of personal interviews with both young adults and their parents, he looks for the “spiritual champions” – those who embrace Jesus as their Saviour, accept the Bible as truth, and seek to live in obedience to its principles to deepen their relationship with God.

Barna seeks to uncover common denominators to parenting success. The result is a challenging approach to cultivate life-giving faith that’s miles ahead of yet another self-help list or guilt-driven parenting seminar.

The problem with most parenting strategies, Barna argues, is that left to our own, we tend to raise our kids by default, by cultural norms, by autopilot or by proxy. But the question of knowing what we are aiming for – so crucial in other areas of our lives – often gets overlooked in the question of faith development and parenting.

As a parent, I appreciated Barna’s challenge to have clear goals and mutually understood plans for developing values and biblical competencies in the lives of my children. That process begins with your own spiritual life, says Barna. He asks probing personal questions such as “if your children were asked to honestly assess your personal commitment to growing deeper in your faith, what kind of rating would they give?”

As a pastor, I also appreciated Barna’s perspective that the spiritual development of the next generation can’t be outsourced to religious professionals. He advocates strongly that parents “use your local church as a support system, not as the primary leader of your children’s spiritual development journey.”

Through its practical approach and sound biblical roots, Barna provides parents, grandparents, pastors, and educators with solid, research-based insights into consistent practices to engender vibrant faith transmission across all age spectrums. I highly recommend this resource.

Brad Sumner is pastor at Jericho Ridge Community Church, Langley, B.C.