Customer Reviews

Revolutionary Parenting: What the Research Shows Really Works

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This is one of the few books every Christian parent must read!

Although I have always valued Barna's statistics, I have not always agreed with his suggested plan of action because it was untested.

This time around, Barna wised up. He sorted through many families to find young adult children who turned out to be spiritually solid and worked backwards (to see if he could develop commonalities in how they were reared). And he did! Rather than diagnosing a problem and suggesting a solution, he has discovered what actually and really works (at least most of the time).

First, Barna begins by identifying the kind of young adults (from Christian homes) he considered "spiritual champions." Next, his group interviewed massive numbers of parents, some of who produced spiritual champions, some of who produced kids that were like everyone else's (not committed to Christ).

The test is when kids grow up and are in their 20's. While many twenty-somethings raised in Christian homes have forsaken the Lord, the spiritual champions clearly surface.

The differences were clear and striking. In the families producing spiritual champions, there was no doubt who was in charge; the children were taught how to think as Christians; parents did not give in to all the trends; they were proactive and limited what kids saw on TV and were selective about what kind of friends they had; they prayed together as a family and went to the Word (rather than feelings) when it came time to make decisions. They were more concerned about producing godly adults than pleasing their children in the moment. These parents are in control with their "hands on" and struggle when to take their hands off, whereas typical parents are "hands off" and struggle about when to put their hands on. He calls these sorts of parents "Revolutionary Parents."

Christian parents and counselors need to study this book.

Missing were charts and statistics. Barna also avoided the "home school/public school" issue. Although I know some Revolutionary Parents who send their kids to public school, these "Revolutionary Parents" seem to be the rule among home schooling families, in my observation. I suspect he is silent about this because he wants to encourage a broad readership (since it is possible to be a Revolutionary Parent and public school).

Great book!!! Wish it had been around years ago! If you are a new parent or even if your kids are already teens-- you need this book. It is short: a fast, easy, but meaningful read.

This book is amazing! Barna doesn't present his own ideas for how to raise spiritual kids, he just interviewed thousands of parents who have actually accomplished it. All their advice is coallated and summarized into a list of principles that have been *proven* to be effective. He does an excellent job reminding parents that there is no more important responsibility than to raise their children to be faithful to God. (This priority has to come before work, hobbies, etc.) The scope and depth of the material is daunting, and it will be a major worldview shift for most GenX parents. The book is short, but its impact is long.

Trend watcher Barna provides the church here in USA with excellent snapshot of where Christian parenting is among us. Surveying the 20-something children of Christian families, Barna searches for the factors which kept them active in their faith.

This will not reveal many of the excellent finds which this survey provides in this book form, but will only highlight several of the more important to this reader.

Above all it shows that American children of Christian homes are theologically impaired, at least the vast majority of them. What separates the active in their faith from the inactive in their early adult life center impressively around the Bible Study activity of the parents. This is something I've always strongly believed in and preached to anyone who would listen, and here is some data to support that, limited that it might be. This parent Bible Study permeates itself in the entire family climate and parenting skills, as the Bible has prominence in home life, family devotions, parenting, etc.

Fascinating and suprising results in some areas pop up, e.g. parents had individual parenting strategies for each individual, and they did not have a common discipline practice, as this varied greatly with the exception that they did practice some form of discipline and were consistent among other valuable correlation.

The only concern I had with this due to my theological differences with such evangelicals is the focus on believer's baptism/decision theology and somewhat emphasis on sanctification versus justification distinguishment.

The obvious problem identified at the outset is significant: most American parents have worthy goals and standards for their parenting, but they are not God's, they are not Biblical.

Read this, use it. Your children and their children will be blessed.

George Barna is a researcher. From the outset his book takes the humble stance of a reporter of information. He claims not to be an expert on children and clearly states his hesitation in writing the book. His humility has the genuine feel of anyone who has been a parent and honestly evaluates their performance in light of Scripture.

What makes Barna's book different is his approach. Rather than drawing from his own personal experience or exegesis of the Bible, he attempts to seek out successes in effective child rearing and work backwards. He identifies a standard of success from Scripture, labeling these individuals "spiritual champions" and researches how they became that way. Barna defines a spiritual champion as "individuals who have embraced Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord; accept the Bible as truth and as the guide for life; and seek to live in obedience to its principles and in search of ways to continually deepen their relationship with God. Spiritual champions live in ways that are noticeably different from the norm--even when compared to the average churchgoer."

Revolutionary Parenting's strength lies not in its step by step guide for parents, but rather in its distilling and presentation of the research data. While Barna does draw conclusions and offer suggestions throughout the book, the real power comes from evidence gleamed from families that have produced successful results. One can not help but evaluate their current parenting practices, methods, and thinking in light of those whose principals and actions are proven.

A common theme throughout the book seems to be that revolutionary parents possess a confidence in the Bible, its message, and use in their child rearing in the face of the current winds of culture. The author is clearly challenged by this point. He repeatedly references with admiration parents who have been proactive in personally obeying the Bible's teachings, while holding and teaching their children to do the same.

Each chapter ends with recap of the key data covered and a series of challenging questions that if applied cannot help but ignite life change. The recap section could provide the time challenged parent means to quickly reference his findings and then turn back in the chapter to gather more of his analysis. While nearly all the questions appropriately challenge the reader, at least one strangely leads in contradiction to the content of the chapter he just covered. Perhaps the odd question was compiled by an editor?

Overall the book maintained a voice of a fellow traveler on the path to becoming a revolutionary parent. George Barna's book is a valued asset to provide perspective on the many methods and opinions in today's marketplace. Late in his book he remarks an important reminder to all parents; "The trajectory of the spiritual war depends on what I--and other parents--do to raise spiritual champions among our children. From a macro ministry perspective, it's actually the little things that count the most. Rather than looking for the big bang that will revolutionize our world, true revolution will come from a series of significant microlevel changes. The little contributions add up to make a big difference." It is a call for each of us to take seriously our part in changing the world. It is worth your time to check out and be challenged to become a revolutionary parent!

This book is a must for every Christian parent. I have read many books of theory on parenting but this book gives a huge amount of hope and encouragement on what really works. Some of the findings are a real challenge given the expectation of our culture e.g. single income families had greater success in passing their faith on to the next generation. You can not afford to be without this book!

It might sound like a cliche, but Mr. Barna has written a masterpiece. It is both an instruction as a big encouragement to parents who want to raise their children according to the Bible.

Mr. Barna covers every - really every - area of parenting which takes this book way beyond other parenting books. To me, this book lays out all the the 'whats', which gives you an 'aha' at every area he covers. The book also gives the 'hows' but not too much indepth, since the 'how' differs per family.

I loved his previous book (raising spiritual giants) too, but since I'm not a native English speaker, I found the use of language of that book quite hard. This book is much more of an easy read to me (probably my English improved a little too...)

It's a nice short book that sums up all you knew - and not yet know - about parenting the right way.

- Great to base your parenting plan/helping parents plan off of.
- Also for those who aren't 'into' research (like me)
- Has a fresh, different feel to it compared with his previous books - although they're good too (this books seems to be very personal to both the reader and the author)
- Great for anyone working on raising children or helping those who do so.

Any parent or potential young parent or Sunday School teacher / instructor need to read this book on raising children - Gets to the basic of developing rock solid Christian faith - moral values - in kids - parents must develop guidelines/rules in raising their children - the parents are the key - the parents are incharge of their kids - not church or school - the parents are in charge!

This is one of my top 5 books for parenting. I appreciate George Barna's research - this is not just another person's opinions about how to raise our children to know and love God. He researched "spiritual champions" and their parents and presented us with the common denominators. It is NOT a instruction manual but rather a book that helps parents look at being intentional about raising children to love God and be more than nominal Christians. I read this book and now I am leading a book discussion for a group of moms. Everyone has found this book to be excellent in helping them look at their own parenting. It has challenged us individually about our own faith. I think every Christian parent and Church leader needs to read this!

This book is an important wake-up call to all parents to make the most of the brief time we have with our kids. Great arguments about priorities, time spent with your kids, and the immeasurable value of setting a good example and building the character of your kids.

This book details the research done by the Barna Group in the area of parenting. The research was based upon talking with parents who had raised "Spiritual Champions" and with the "Spiritual Champion." The research indicated a great need for parents to be a part of their children's lives in all facets. It also included parents helping their children to make the right choices and choose the right friends. Finally, the book focused on the parents responsibility to raise their children in this world. The parents did not and would not abdicate their role as the parent for anyone else to take on. The parents took charge in the reas of moral character and spiritual growth.

This book is very challenging for parents and delivers on many great points. Barna has created a primer for parents to read who want to raise children that serve God and serve other people. Too often parents exchange their role of being a parent for other items in their lives such as a successful career or successful social life. This book directs parents that they need to abandon that thought pattern and seek to serve God by taking the utmost interest in their children. This part of the book especially challenged me in the areas of taking a greater interest in my children then in my profession. The greatest change I can make in this world will not equal raising godly children.

The one weakness of the book was the lack of instruction on the proper years in which to discuss certain topics. It would have been good to include a timeline of when certain subjects such as sex, drugs, and alcohol need to be discussed. It has been my experience that parents stall in discussing these subjects until it is too late.

This is a very good book for parents to read and understand. I highly recommend it.