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Children’s understanding of Bible questioned

Initial results from a New Zealand survey that investigated children’s understanding of the Bible shows they are lagging behind their contemporaries in the United Kingdom.

Although 84 percent of New Zealand children said they had heard or read passages from the Bible, only 69 percent were able to name five Bible characters correctly compared with 88 percent of UK respondents.

When asked to name one story or passage from the Bible, only 54 percent of Kiwi kids were able to do so compared with 91 percent of UK children.

Jill Kayser of the Presbyterian Kids Friendly initiative points to the dramatic reduction in the number of schools welcoming Biblein-school programmes. She believes this is a significant contributor to Kiwi kids’ lack of understanding of the Bible.

“School boards and principals have become hyper-sensitive to offering anything religious or Christian in their school programme for fear of rocking the boat,” she says. The Kids Friendly programme, which aims to encourage and assist churches to intentionally minister to children and families, can recommend resources for Christian families to share the Bible with their children.

Jill believes it is also important for us to take a look at ourselves to help improve our kids’ understanding of the Bible. She highlights the Church Life Survey (2004) finding that only 21 percent of members of denominations (excluding Brethren) read the Bible daily.

Commenting on the children’s understanding of the Bible survey results, chief New Zealand Bible Society executive of The Bible Society in New Zealand, Colin Reed, says if we wait until “tomorrow” to try and reverse the trend it may be too late.

He says that the overall message of the survey seemed to be that the Bible is important to our children, especially if they have some kind of religious upbringing. “But,” he says, “the survey tells us that the Bible is not something that our children read very much or live their life by.

“It raises some key issues concerning our young people’s understanding and acceptance of the Bible that those of us involved in providing and teaching Bible in schools and within churches will have to take very seriously. A Biblically illiterate young generation today is an inevitable forerunner of an increasingly secular society tomorrow.”

The Bible Society in New Zealand, along with the Churches Education Commission, Scripture Union, the Presbyterian Church and Children’s Bible Ministries, supported the survey. Thirteen New Zealand schools participated in the survey – nine primary and four secondary – with 419 pupils completing the questionnaire.