Surveys

In 2005, Baylor University conducted a survey regarding religion in America. Nicknamed Wave 1, among other things, it found that children who grew up in the church were leaving the church after high school at a remarkable rate (on the order of 80% if memory serves). It was updated as Wave 2 in 2007. Awana followed up with their own survey, which reported that children who complete 10 years of Awana are more likely to remain in the church as adults (along the order of 98%). They followed that up with another survey called Children's Ministry in a New Reality and followed that up with a book called The Faith of Our Children. The surveys and results are fascinating. I encourage you to dig deeper in the links below.

• Baylor Religion Survey 2005 (wave 1) Survey / Results

• Updated 2007 (wave 2) Amazon: What Americans Really Believe Paperback – Illustrated, September 19, 2008, by Rodney Stark 

• Awana Alumni Survey Report 2007

• Children’s Ministry in a New Reality

• The Faith of our Children

• Barna Insights - Child Discipleship