Embedded Files
Why Religion Went Obsolete:
Why Religion Went Obsolete:
The Demise of Traditional Faith in America
The Demise of Traditional Faith in America
📘 Christian Smith 📅 2025 📍United States
#generationalfaith #parenting #churchfuture #missiology
Why do so many Millennials see religion as “good,” but not necessary? In his latest work, sociologist Christian Smith unpacks findings from his Millennial Zeitgeist survey, exploring how younger generations, especially today’s parents, understand and value faith.
Drawing on national survey data and more than 200 in-depth interviews, Smith finds that Millennials tend to view religion as a tool for moral teaching, emotional support, and social harmony—a means to “be good, feel good, and get along.” Yet this pragmatic approach makes faith fragile: when religion fails to “work” or live up to its moral claims, it quickly loses credibility.
Five Big Takeaways
1. Faith as Function, Not Formation - Millennials value religion for what it does—teaching goodness, stability, and well-being—more than for what it is.
2. The Rise of Therapeutic Individualism - Faith is often treated as self-help, with God seen as a distant helper rather than an active Lord.
3. Strong Cultural Headwinds - Consumerism, expressive individualism, and delayed adulthood have left faith seeming irrelevant to modern life.
4. The Church’s Credibility Crisis - Moralizing messages and public scandals have weakened trust, making sincerity and integrity essential for renewal.
5. A Call to Recover the Sacred - Smith urges a return to transcendent, authentic faith—one that confronts, not just comforts, and invites true encounter with God.
What You Can Do with This Research
What You Can Do with This Research
For OneHope, Smith’s insights offer a critical lens on today’s parents—the primary disciplers of the next generation. His findings reveal that while Millennials often approach faith pragmatically, they remain deeply hungry for meaning, belonging, and transcendence.
This calls for ministry that models faith as transformative rather than merely therapeutic. By understanding the “spirit of the age,” OneHope can better serve emerging generations shaped by expressive individualism and institutional distrust. Our task is to help parents and young people alike see faith not as a tool for good living, but as the path to abundant life in Christ.
Check out our longer summary here.
Mapping Global Bible Attitudes for a New Era
Mapping Global Bible Attitudes for a New Era
🌐 Patmos Initiative 📅 2025 📍Global
#bibleengagement #globalchurch #partnerresearch
The new Patmos World Bible Attitudes Survey, led by the British and Foreign Bible Society with Gallup, offers a comprehensive look at how people worldwide think and feel about the Bible. Drawing insights from over 91,000 people in 85 nations, the study reveals a striking picture of global faith today: even as access to Scripture has never been greater, engagement and relevance vary widely across cultures.
Using seven “missiological clusters,” Patmos maps how communities around the world approach the Bible, from Africa’s confident, Scripture-centered faith to Asia’s vast regions of unawareness. Each cluster highlights distinct needs and opportunities for engagement, helping ministries like OneHope see where faith is vibrant, fading, or newly curious.
Takeaways for Global Mission
Across continents, the research finds that religion still matters almost everywhere, and “Bible vibrancy” persists even amid secularization. Notably, most people worldwide, regardless of belief, agree that “it’s good for children to know Bible stories,” offering a bridge for ministry to young audiences. The report also reveals that 11% of non-Christians, around 250 million people, say they’re open to learning more about the Bible, underscoring untapped potential for dialogue and storytelling.
The greatest challenges? Indifference in the secular West and ignorance in regions where the Bible is simply unknown. Recognizing these barriers can spark new approaches to creative, contextual engagement.
What can you do with this research?
What can you do with this research?
For OneHope, Patmos is more than a data project—it’s a global mirror for ministry design. The findings affirm our story-based approach and invite us to think in terms of clusters, curiosity, and connection. Whether through child-centered storytelling, context-sensitive discipleship, or new audience mapping tools, Patmos gives us a way to listen deeply and serve wisely.
As future reports explore generational and regional trends, this research will continue helping us see and reach the world with clearer eyes and renewed hope. Check out our longer summary here.
Insights from the Field:
Insights from the Field:
Africa Parent Expression
Africa Parent Expression
🌍 OneHope 📅 2025 📍Africa
#parents #durablenetworks #surveys
In Fall 2024, OneHope launched a new research initiative at the request of the Affect Destiny team to help inform the development of our emerging Parent Expression. This represents a significant milestone—until now, we had no Africa-based research specifically focused on Christian parents or their discipleship realities.
We completed projects across all five regions of Africa, producing a set of reports that highlight the support, advocacy, and resources parents need to more effectively guide their families in their faith journey.
About the Research
About the Research
👩🏾🍼2,356 parents surveyed
💻 20 countries
📃 5 regional reports
Top Insights
Top Insights
Personal spiritual disciplines are low in several regions, limiting parents’ ability to model or discuss faith with their children.
Job responsibilities and limited time are major hindrances to meaningful conversations at home.
Many parents need more knowledge and confidence for faith-related interactions.
The top topic parents want help with: sharing and discussing Christian beliefs with their children.
Most parents are not part of a parenting group but would like to be; they identify parenting classes and support/chat groups as most helpful.
Field Response
Field Response
Regions are already putting the findings to work—launching focus groups, preparing pilots for 2025–2026, and embedding insights into the Value Development Scale. A dedicated parent workgroup is now shaping clear pathways to help parents grow and lead with confidence.
Check out all five reports here.
Going Global with Gen Alpha
Going Global with Gen Alpha
🌏 OneHope 📅 2025 📍Australia, Canada, Brazil
After kicking off our Gen Alpha research with the U.S. study in 2024, we couldn't stop there!
This generation is growing up connected across borders, so we took the research global, exploring how Gen Alpha navigates faith, family, digital life, and mental health in three different corners of the world.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, we've released focused reports on Gen Alpha in Australia, Canada, and Brazil. Each report surveys internet-connected 11-13 year olds and follows the same structure, making it easy to spot both patterns and unique cultural differences shaping this generation.
What we found across all four countries:
Spiritually open: Most Gen Alpha preteens say their faith beliefs, religion, or spiritual journey are an important part of their identity. Many non-Christians would be open to attending church if invited by a friend.
Influenced by their parents: Family remains the primary source for guidance on life's big questions, even for sensitive topics like sex and gender. Preteens are twice as likely to read the Bible, pray, and share their faith if they see their parents doing the same.
Digitally connected: Young people spend much of their free time online, though screen time varies dramatically by region. Gen Alpha is constantly connected, often not realizing the impact it's having on them.
Vulnerable: Gen Alpha is young and yet they are already struggling more than we would hope, with mental health challenges like loneliness, high anxiety, and depression emerging across all countries.
But each region has its own story:
Australia: Just 39% identify as Christian in an increasingly secular context. Australian Gen Alphas spend the least time online of all countries surveyed, averaging 2 hours 52 minutes daily.
Canada: Nearly split between Christian (49%) and non-Christian (51%), Canadian preteens show the lowest engagement with alternative spiritual practices despite their balanced religious landscape.
Brazil: The most Christian context surveyed, with 76% identifying as Christian (53% Catholic, 24% Evangelical). Brazilian Gen Alphas have the highest rate of Emerging Committed Christians of the countries surveyed at 31%.
Explore the full Gen Alpha series:
These reports are available on the Gen Alpha Hub. Whether you’re working in one of these regions or simply exploring how culture shapes this generation, they offer valuable context for ministry and next-gen engagement.
Watch out for: Gen Alpha in Singapore, France, Kenya and South Africa coming soon!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
That's it for this edition of the Research Radar! If you have any questions about the research featured here contact us at research@onehope.net
Know of an interesting research study, article, or book we should be reading? Send it our way! We would love to take a look for a future edition of the radar.
In this edition:
In this edition:
Good research always cites its sources, and so do we! Here are the articles and authors featured in this edition of the Research Radar:
British and Foreign Bible Society. The Patmos World Bible Attitudes Survey. Oxford: British and Foreign Bible Society, 2025. https://patmos.bfbs.org/launch
Smith, Christian. Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025.
Page updated
Report abuse