In 2021 and 2022, amid a pandemic and with the partnership of a collective of organizations including Alpha, Biblica, and World Vision, Barna Group conducted a major global study of teenagers ages 13 to 17, collecting over 25,000 interviews spanning across 26 countries.
Our goal was to advance the understanding of teens globally — their identity, values, and views — and to offer a picture of the global Church’s relationship to a rising generation.
As we explored the profile that emerged from the aggregated data, we used words like “optimistic,” “engaged,” “malleable,” “curious,” “authentic,” “inclusive,” and “collaborative.” The data continuously highlighted the openness of today’s young people.
From a global vantage point, there is a lightness of being among today’s teens that is less common among young adults even just a few years ahead of them. This is just one reason why we refer to them as “the open generation."
Duration: 2 min 2 sec
