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This link from the Barna Group website is definitely worth checking out. The study of their most recent research comes to some startling conclusions about teenagers and the Bible. Here’s a clip, but head there for the rest if you’re a youth worker!

2. A Majority of Teens Own a Bible and Read it Regularly
The positive reactions to seeing others reading the Bible in a public place means a fairly strong sense of familiarity among teens with not only the book itself, but also the practice of reading it. A solid majority—seven out of 10 teenagers (69%) —personally own a Bible. Forty-four percent of teens read the Bible at least three or four times a year, and one in four (25%) say they read the Bible at least once a week; this includes three percent who report daily Bible reading, 11 percent who report reading Scripture several times per week and 11 percent who read it once a week. One in 10 (9%) read the Bible once a month, and an additional 1 in 10 (10%) report reading the Bible three or four times a year. Just under two in five in ten teens (37%) say they never read the Bible. Not surprisingly, teens from non-Christian faith groups and those who say they are atheist or agnostic are most likely to say they never read the Bible (67%).

5. Teens Still Prefer to use a Hard Copy Bible in a Digital Age
When teens read the Bible, they are increasingly doing so digitally, but overall still prefer the old-fashioned hard copy version of the Bible. Among those considered Bible readers (read the Bible at least 3-4 times a year), the most common interactions with the Bible include hearing it read in a worship service or Mass (87%), reading on their own from a print version of the Bible (70%), or attending a small group Bible study (50%). When it comes to interaction with digital formats of the Bible, 46 percent of teens have used their cell phone or smartphone to search for Bible verses or Bible content, and about one third say they have downloaded or used a Bible app on a smartphone (33%) or used the Internet to read Bible content (35%). With the explosive growth of digital technology and mobile devices, usage of all of these digital formats has increased since 2015, with the most drastic being an increase in 13 percentage points in those that engaged with Scripture via their smartphone or cell phone (33% to 46%). One out of six teens (16%) report listening to an audio version of the Bible, and the same proportion (16%) listened to a podcast of Bible teaching.

JG