{"id":32190,"date":"2022-09-10T15:59:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/christians-more-likely-to-have-intergenerational-friendships\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:59:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:59:59","slug":"christians-more-likely-to-have-intergenerational-friendships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/christians-more-likely-to-have-intergenerational-friendships\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians More Likely to Have Intergenerational Friendships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John Moeses Bauan photo – Unsplash<\/div>\n

By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

When looking for a new friend outside of your generation, you might try starting in a church pew.<\/p>\n

A new study from Barna found Christians are more likely to have intergenerational friendships than non-Christians, and churchgoers are more likely than non-churchgoers.<\/p>\n

Overall, two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) say they have a close friend who is either 15 years older or younger\u2014a plurality (27 percent) say they have close friends who are both older and younger.<\/p>\n

Seeing as how they\u2019re younger, millennials are the most likely to say they have an older friend (39 percent), compared to Generation X (26 percent) and Boomers (13 percent).<\/p>\n

But millennials are also the most likely to say they don\u2019t have any close friends outside of their age group (38 percent versus 29 percent of Generation X and 32 percent of Boomers).<\/p>\n

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Americans are most often meeting their intergenerational friends at work (37 percent of those who have older friends and 37 percent of those who have younger friends).<\/p>\n

The other most likely means of making friends outside of one\u2019s generation is through a mutual friend, through a family member, in the neighborhood, and at church or a place of worship.<\/p>\n

Twenty-six percent of those who have an older friend and 18 percent who have a younger friend say they met them at church.<\/p>\n

Among Christians, 26 percent say they lack a friendship outside their age group, compared to 41 percent of non-Christians.<\/p>\n

For those who go to church at least monthly, 25 percent say they don\u2019t have an intergenerational friendship. Among the unchurched, that number jumps to 38 percent.<\/p>\n

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See also  17 Ministry Struggles Pastors Face<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cPastors and church leaders should be encouraged to see that Christians are more likely than average to have intergenerational friendships and to describe those as mentor\/mentee relationships,\u201d said Roxanne Stone, editor in chief of Barna Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, it\u2019s also worth noting that these relationships do not seem to be developing through formal programs\u2014fewer than one in 20 say they formed their intergenerational relationships through a mentor\/mentee program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Stone said, \u201cmost of these relationships are happening more organically, through shared activities and affinities. For churches who want to emphasize intergenerational community, this might signal more of a need to teach people how to develop and maintain these relationships rather than implement some kind of ministry for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Aaron Earls<\/h2>\n

@WardrobeDoor<\/p>\n

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Aaron is a writer for LifewayResearch.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n