Significantly, Millennial and Gen Z men are more likely to indicate a commitment to Christ than their female counterparts.

“I am super thrilled that we’re seeing a change, especially in young men,” Keys for Kids’ Greg Yoder says.

“If we’re expecting men to lead our families, we need to make sure that men not only know Jesus but how to disciple kids and their families.”

According to Barna’s 2019 study, parents are the primary spiritual influencers in a child’s life, more than church leaders or youth pastors. The 2019 study also found that kids who engage in conversations about God at home are much more likely to remain active in faith as adults.

(Photo courtesy Keys For Kids)

“We all, as followers of Jesus, want to lead our kids and have quiet time with the Lord. But you know, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start,” Yoder says.

“Keys for Kids Ministries makes it easy. You don’t have to plan. You get a free devotional, and you can either open it up and read it with your kids or get the app and have conversations with your kids as they listen to the audio.”

For some parents, incorporating devotional time into an existing routine is the quickest way to start.

“Many moms put it in their cars and listen to it on their way to school, so their commute to school is all about Jesus. Some families take the devotional, and they pass it around. Each kid gets a turn to read,” Yoder says.

“Having devotions with your kids is not the end all, but it certainly is a great place to start.”

Request a kids or teen devotional from Keys for Kids here.

“We’re the Mission Network News media partner this month, where you can sign up and get Keys for Kids and Unlocked. It’s absolutely free, and we’ll get those out as soon as possible,” Yoder says.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Ben White/Unsplash.

Discussing the impact of AI in education, David Durance with TeachBeyond says kids turn to AI as their first resource with homework. “That’s exciting and sobering,” he notes.

“If [AI] is now the first resource kids are using, what are the underlying resources that they’re actually being supplied by? Secondly, how do we continue to make sure that our kids are able to think through things independently?”

TeachBeyond also sees the usefulness of AI. Durance says AI can provide new opportunities to share a large amount of information that is usually accurate to areas without access to textbooks.

Currently, TeachBeyond and other ministries are discussing collaborations to make an AI platform that reflects Christian core values in its answers.

According to Barna’s research into AI and the Church, many Christians have concerns with AI’s integration into the Church’s ministry. While some think AI can assist churches with administrative tasks, the majority of Christians prefer a human for spiritual and relational ministry.

Although the development of AI is creating new dilemmas in the Church, the work in ministry remains the same.

“If it was just about knowledge, our work would be done in missions,” Durance says. “We could have the Gospel proclaimed everywhere around the world via radio or by Internet and say, ‘Let’s wrap it up.’”

However, he says, “Mission is always done through relationships. So, nothing has changed in that respect. Yes, [AI] is a tool in the toolbox. It is a brilliant tool in some ways that is going to help [ministries] be more effective.”

Pray for wisdom for Teach Beyond and other ministries as they make decisions regarding AI and their ministries. Pray for wisdom for the teachers in the classroom as they encounter new challenges and opportunities with AI.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Gerd Altmann/Pixabay.

“The fact that management came to the top is spot on,” Army veteran Steve Prince says. Prince leads Warriors Set Free, a division of Set Free Ministries.

“We are put in leadership from day one. You get off the bus for basic training, they pick one guy and say, ‘Make sure everybody’s where they need to be.’”

Transitioning these gifts from the military to the civilian world isn’t always easy. “Sometimes it can be challenging,” Prince says.

“My first job as a stinger gunner in the military was shooting down airplanes. There’s not much of a demand for that in peacetime.”

While some veterans struggle to find the right job, others carry additional baggage in the form of trauma. Veterans have some of the highest suicide, divorce, alcohol, and drug abuse rates nationwide.

75% of post-9/11 veterans self-identify as having PTSD.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Warriors Set Free)

“A big part of life is getting to a point where you know you’ve got stuff you need to deal with; you got to unpack what you’ve been through. For those of us who saw combat, that’s a lot to unpack,” Prince says.

Warriors Set Free helps veterans grow in their faith to heal from the past and win life’s battles. More about that here. “We don’t give them advice. We show them what Scripture says,” Prince says.

“We only want to give them solid truth.”

Your support can help a veteran find healing in Christ.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of danielhadmanphotography/Pixabay.

More than one-in-four adults in the United States – including Christians – have experienced a traumatic event. But many churches aren’t a place of healing.

“I think our churches have to start teaching and preaching on this, and how to use faith to combat the fear and lies that the enemy is using to subjugate people,” Dean Vander Mey of Set Free Ministries says.

“Jesus is saying, ‘I’ve come to heal you,’ but the Church has to be prepared to be agents of healing as well.”

Freedom and healing

Often, but not always, traumatic experiences leave people “trapped” in cycles of anger, anxiety, depression, fear, or shame. Jesus offers an escape from these bonds.
(Photo courtesy of RODNAE Productions/Pexels)

Trauma awareness has come a long way in the past decade. Some churches do an excellent job teaching about the healing Christ offers. Others struggle to address trauma and don’t know where to start.

Set Free Ministries exists to help people find freedom and healing through Christ. Often, but not always, traumatic experiences leave people “trapped” in cycles of anger, anxiety, depression, fear, or shame. Jesus offers an escape from these bonds.

“The mission statement of Jesus is Luke 4:18: ‘The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, open the eyes of the blind, and set captives free,’” Vander Mey says.

“Anyone who has been traumatized [and is reading this story], know that [this verse captures] the true heart of God.”

Connect with Set Free here if you need help dealing with trauma.

“We’re helping people from all over the USA. You can go to our website, put in your application for ministry; we do Zoom calls,” Vander Mey says.

If you’re blessed to have good connections in your local church, “call someone you can trust who’s a godly man or woman and say, ‘I have some junk in my trunk I have to get out, and I want to obey the Word,’” Vander Mey says.

“Jesus, in John 14 through 17, kept saying, ‘If you love Me, you will obey Me.’ Obedience to the Word is freedom; ‘you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.’”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Susan Wilkinson/Unsplash.

TWR’s Jon Fugler is a member of the Alliance for the Unreached. Instead of criticism, he describes the feedback as a catalyst for change. “Methods are going to change over time, over seasons. The key is [to] enter this with the right heart to be used by God, how He wants us to be used, instead of saying, ‘No, you are wrong. Now, this is the right way to do it,’” Fugler says.

“The younger generation is challenging us to think a little bit more creatively and contextually, and that’s good. I think the younger generation set the bar higher for us.”

Fugler invites believers young and old into a new approach to an existing mission. Under a new banner, the Alliance for the Unreached is making the Gospel accessible to all.

Seeing the third

Roughly three billion people, or a third of the world’s population, lack access to the Gospel in a language they understand. It’s not just about Bible translation; some communities have no Christian presence. Physical location isolates others, while government oppression stops outreach in many countries.

(Photo courtesy Alliance for the Unreached)

“The heart should break for those who have no hope of eternity because they don’t know about Jesus. That’s an injustice,” Fugler notes.

“Let’s get specific about that. Let’s make that real for the next generation instead of talking in generalities.”

Members of the Alliance for the Unreached do whatever it takes to reach these unreached communities. TWR, for example, uses media to make Christ known to the nations. Other groups do so through Bible translation, church planting, teaching, community development, and more.

Learn more here. Then, ask the Lord how He wants you to respond now that you know.

“Have the courage to find out who these individuals are around the world who don’t know Jesus. They have names; they have families; they live somewhere,” Fugler says.

Joshua Project organizes data according to people group and language on its website. You can also read stories about the unreached here. “These days, there’s no excuse not to find out who these people are. Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day online seeking to know more,” Fugler says.

“Ask God to break your heart for those who have no access [or] little access to the Gospel, and then have the courage to say, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do about it?’”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of mostafa meraji via Unsplash.

Is it your imagination? Not entirely. Between last week’s brouhaha involving President Donald Trump’s tweets and rally and France’s National Assembly taking Facebook to task, the issue of internet civility is raising concerns.

(Photo by Jay Wennington on Unsplash)

The Data

A Barna Group study released on July 16 reveals that 70%  of U.S. adults believe hate speech and hate crimes have increased in the past five years. 22% say they have stayed the same, and just 3% believe it has declined. Barna’s researchers defined hate speech/crime as “speech or crimes that are motivated by racial, sexual or other prejudice.”

When asked about causes behind the perceived increase, two of the top four responses related to the internet and social media. 

The breakdown is as follows:

•    65%-“Politicians are encouraging or feeding it”

•    62%-“Social media and the internet have amplified and encouraged it”

•    61%-“America is more divided as a country”

•    57%-“The internet has provided a forum for hate groups to multiply and grow”

Some observations

Many parents, when presented with this information, struggle with how to protect their children while at the same time helping them learn to defend themselves. Keys For Kids’ executive director Greg Yoder says this is a timely discussion for families. First, he observes that people THINK hate speech is on the increase because there are more accusations of racism, homophobia, and bigotry. Many times it is merely a different political view. 

However, he adds, “One thing that I think is increasing is hate speech against Christians. I think here the United States especially, we’re seeing more and more people who view our Judeo Christian ethic as being intolerant.  I think, in their minds, I think that’s hateful.” That perspective doesn’t improve when Christians go on the defensive in a conversation and wind up sounding militant as a result. “They’re wanting to stand their ground. They’re saying Truth, but they’re not necessarily doing it in love, as Christ would have done.”

When asked how followers of Christ can be part of the solution, he responded, “What does Jesus say? ‘Love your enemies.’ We need to talk to our Christian kids about how to defend our beliefs and becoming more of apologists and asking questions, rather than flinging Christian insults at people or preaching at them or quoting a Bible verse out of context or something.”

(Image courtesy of Keys For Kids)

Be part of the solution 

Get familiar with what the Bible says, suggests Yoder, because that directs worldview. “The bottom line is that we’re pointing young people and families to Christ through His Word. And, frankly, that is the only way you’re going to build a foundation, ready to answer some of the world’s questions, especially in light of the hate that is present out there. God isn’t one of those gods of hate. He is a God of love…He’s a God of judgment, but He is (also) a God of love. And we need to tell people about that.”

Keys For Kids offers tools to help families develop the discipline of studying God’s Word together. They offer devotional booklets (print and electronic), audio programming (via internet radio and mp3 players), Keys For Camps devotionals, Unlocked (for teens) and the new Storyteller ministry. 

These tools support parents as they teach their children about their faith, Yoder adds. “It’s pointing to real life, anecdotal situations, that tell kids about the Scripture that kind of goes behind that, and then how to apply it to your life.” 

(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash)

Moving forward

The point: to ignite a passion for Christ and a natural outgrowth of ‘what would Jesus Do?’ Then, confrontation has the potential to become an exchange of ideas and Truth rather than the polarization we see now. “Once you can apply biblical principles to your life, and then begin practicing them, that’s when you get grounded. And that’s when you realize there’s more to this faith than just reading a story and reading the Word. It’s actually practicing what you’re reading and understanding it that way, and then sharing it.”

Is it really that simple? Well, nothing is ‘simple’ when it comes to a world without hope. However, being part of the solution starts with one heart at a time.

Yoder concludes with this thought: “If you’re struggling– you don’t know what to say to people when they ask these tough questions–maybe you should start reading the Word and digging in. YouVersion has some great ways for you to begin digging into the Word.”

Headline photo courtesy William Iven on Unsplash.

The study further revealed that even when presented with a list of passages, 37-percent didn’t recognize which well-known passage typically goes by this name. (Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus says:“Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”)

Since then, church leaders have been parsing through the data, wondering what it might also reveal about the nature of sermon teaching, biblical literacy and engagement or Christian missions today. Barna is now releasing a study It also begged a question:  Where do we go from here?

(Image courtesy of Unsplash)

Greg Yoder, Executive Director at Keys For Kids, says there are two ways to look at the new information. Firstly, realize that this result could be reflective of the changing nature of communication with a different generation.

“I think that there’s been more of an updating of their language about what things are. So while they probably can’t say the Great Commission is ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel’, they probably still know that concept. The Bible does teach it, of course.”

When you look at how the description of ‘missions’ has changed into ‘ministry’, ‘outreach’ or ‘Gospel work’ to keep a church/donor audience engaged, Barna’s results look slightly different.

“I’m not as convinced with the Barna research that the Church doesn’t know what it is; I just don’t think that they call it that anymore. I think they call it something different.”

Recognizing Truth, learning in stories

But secondly, what is undeniable is the issue of biblical illiteracy.

In 2015, a LifeWay Research study found that while Christians claim to believe the Bible is God’s Word, 45-percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. (Click here to read results from a 2017 LifeWay study) Over 40-percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they never read the Bible—essentially the same number who read it every day.

Given that, Yoder says Barna’s results are no surprise. “There are a lot of people, Christians included, that can’t tell you specific areas of the Bible where some of these most popular Bible stories are. You hear story after story after story where you talk about Noah and the flood, Jonah and the whale, and they don’t know where those things are. So I think there’s a case to state that there is a lack of biblical literacy within our churches today.”

(Image courtesy of Keys For Kids)

(Image courtesy of Keys For Kids)

Building discipline, together

That trend will continue unless something changes, and it starts with changes at home. Yoder says Keys For Kids is trying encourage parents to lead by example through daily time spent in God’s Word. For the many times parents have tried and failed to keep the interest vibrant in daily devotionals, he offers the Keys For Kids devotional as a resource.

“Because we know that there’s a biblical literacy issue, we’re putting a challenge out there for 2019: Take the 40-Day Challenge.  Say ‘I’m going to commit to doing this for 40 days.’ I think as you begin reading stories, as you begin reading the Bible with your families, your kids start loving it because they’re spending quality time with you. You start doing it for 40-days, you start developing a habit.”

Each day’s offering is a story about an issue, with a biblical application point and some Scripture that applies to that day’s subject.  What’s more, “Kids come to Christ because even as a part of the Keys For Kids devotional, even though we know that we’re probably talking to a lot of believers, we know that there are lot of kids who don’t know Christ. So, they begin reading the stories and seeing that, ‘Hey! Some these stories that we are reading are about me!’”

So, the first step is to commit. “Say ‘I’m going to do this for 40 days’, and see what happens to your family life; see what happens to your kids.”

The second is to clear the space for it. “We have a responsibility to one, turn off the television; (two), turn off our smart devices; and (three) spend some time with our kids in the Word.”

The final step is to figure out which of the Keys For Kids resources you can use.  Most of the resources are free, plus, says Yoder, ”You can use your smart device to do that, in fact, that’s why Keys For Kids has developed an app, and developed our printed devotional (for a Kindle device), so that you can use the technology, but kind of redeeming the technology so you can teach your kids about the Word.”

Header image of globe courtesy Wikipedia.

“One of them is a sense of biblical illiteracy and people growing up in churches that are more in tune with the culture than they are with the principles of engagement that God has laid out in His Word,” says George Durance of TeachBeyond.

Change in the Church, No Change in Society

“It seems to me that maybe 20-30 years ago, we made a decision as evangelicals that we needed to become more relevant and more in touch with our culture as we saw our ideas and our subculture being moved to the margins and basically no longer respected.”

(Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash)

Durance points out evangelical churches began to get rid of pipe organs and became more relaxed in their dress codes. Music has since become more upbeat and sermons have felt more conversational.

Patheos released an article about the Church’s and ministries’ efforts to “engage the culture” by moving toward secularism in order to bring more people in.

“There was a real effort right across the evangelical Church to make some really clear statements to our culture that we still felt like we had something that we had to say and wanted to be loving our neighbor and in touch with our neighbor and this seemed to be the way to go.”

However, Durance says that a serious problem remains in the Church and it’s one of disrespect and marginalization. The Patheos article says this advancement of engaging the culture has failed because Christianity has been a sign of low status.

Further, despite the Church’s efforts to become more culturally progressive, movies, media, society, etc. continue to see and portray the Church in a negative light. Durance shares he recently watched a show that portrayed followers of Christ as unintelligent and unloving.

“Christians watch this and they’re horrified and their reaction is I really need to set the record straight. I need to dress better. I need to look cooler. And there’s a whole series of things that result when they see something like that,” Durance says.

And, he says, miracles have been purged from society. Retellings of miraculous historical events no longer include Christ.

“Anything that has to do with Christianity or faith is being carefully removed from the story, from the narrative, and again, after all the efforts that the evangelical Church has made, there’s still this marginalization. And so, is it because our attempt to engage has failed or is it because there is something else going on in the wider world?”

Durance says as an organization, he thinks TeachBeyond needs to be more careful, prayerful, and strategic in what they need to do and where they need to do it.

Four Elements to be Emphasized

Looking at individuals and in local schools, he says there are four elements that need to be emphasized.

“The first one is that I think our learners need to be introduced or have fostered in them, a sense of destiny, a sense of being called by God that He has a plan for them and that in that plan is going to be a way in which they uniquely contribute to this Great Commission… in the world that we live in.”

(Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond via Facebook)

The second idea to be emphasized is encouraging reflective thinking, healthy doubt, and skepticism about worldly beliefs. The third is nurturing a love for God’s Word and His world.

“The fourth thing has to do with a realism about what it means to be a follower of Christ. There’s going to be a time when we are ostracized. Somebody has said that 70 percent of the world, Christians around the world are in a form of persecution, and that’s the normal Christian experience all through the generations. And for us to think that we’re always going to be privileged, respected, appreciated is pretty naïve,” Durance says.

“We’re called to be faithful, but we’re not called to be respected as much as lies within us… Our need is to be walking faithfully before the Lord.”

Durance isn’t discouraged by the statistics Barna Research has released. Instead, he says there has never been a time before when the Church has seen youths with clear ideas and godly passion.

Pray students and young people in the Church will be aware where the line between culture and the Church is. Pray also that the Church would stand out from society, not blend into it.

Come alongside TeachBeyond as a financial partner while they minister to students worldwide.

“People are not reading and living the Bible well. Many, many people have access to the Bible, but don’t know what to do with it,” says Biblica’s Glenn Paauw.
(Image courtesy marynbtol via Flickr)

USA (MNN) — San Francisco, California and Waterloo, Iowa are taking their place among the least Bible-minded U.S. cities, according to the latest research from Barna Research Group.

Glenn Pauuw of Biblica says a broader trend is grabbing their attention.

“The biggest challenge, especially here in America, is engagement,” says Paauw. “People are not reading and living the Bible well. Many, many people have access to the Bible but don’t know what to do with it. So, we’re going to go after that issue.”

Biblica’s new Institute for Bible Reading is tackling the engagement challenge by answering two fundamental questions: “What is the Bible?” and “What are we supposed to do with it?”

“We think if you have good answers to those two questions, automatically your connection, your engagement, your absorption of the Bible into your life and living it out–that’s going to be a better thing to do,” Paauw states.

According to a 2008 REVEAL study, 9 in 10 churchgoers say they want help understanding the Bible, yet only 1 in 5 say their church provides in-depth Bible study. Unless this trend is reversed, by 2040, two-thirds of all Americans will have no meaningful relationship with the Bible.

“This current situation is increasingly unacceptable,” says Paauw. “It’s just not right that the Church has a Book that we say is so important to us, but we don’t engage with well. We just can’t keep doing that.”

The new think tank will conduct research, convene forums, provide educational opportunities for churches and ministries, and develop new content and resources for individuals.

“The whole point is that people will connect deeply with the Scriptures. And if that’s not happening, we have to rethink what we’re doing. And, that’s really what this institute is about,” explains Paauw.

“We don’t want to just put another Bible on their shelf. We want to get people deeply into it, and that’s what we’re going to start going after in a big way.”

Biblica has already begun pursuing that goal. Last month, the Biblica Institute for Bible Reading convened its first forum, attended by more than 20 leading scholars in Chicago. Paauw says the leaders gathered to discuss key questions.

“What kind of book is the Bible? What does it mean to say the Bible is the Word of God? How is it the Word of God?” Paauw lists as examples.

Currently, Biblica is processing the leaders’ answers to those questions. Then, the Institute for Bible Reading will use the answers to develop new programs that help churches engage their congregations in Scripture.

“We want to help the Church do a better job of introducing their people into deep and rich Bible experiences,” notes Paauw. “Pray that we would find the right answers to these questions so that we can give real help to the Church.”

To learn how you can get involved in Biblica’s Institute for Bible Reading, contact Biblica and ask to speak with Paauw.

“Anybody who’s vitally interested in that topic, we’d love to hear from them because we’re all ears,” Paauw says.