WILLOW Magazine, Volume 15, Issue 1 Strategic Trends Christian Parents Buy Media for Their Kids Despite Reservations What Christian parents say and what they do might be two different things when it comes to what they allow their children to be exposed to. According to a recent survey conducted by The Barna Group, although most Christian parents are uncomfortable with the content of most media-related products, they purchase those products for their children anyway. Those parents identifying themselves as “born again” are likely to spend more than a billion dollars on media products (CDs, DVDs, video games, etc.), despite their initial reservations and personal beliefs. Parents’ concerns about the content of the media jumped significantly higher when the products purchased were for teenagers. Parents had a hard time walking the fine line between purchasing morally appropriate content while being relevant to the age group. 78% of parents purchased DVDs for their teenagers 87% of parents purchased DVDs for their children under 13 33% of parents had concerns about the content of the discs they bought for their children 24% of parents were uncomfortable with the software they had purchased for their children Many Churches Still Not Screening Those Working With Children and Youth Despite the many reports of abuse, church cover-ups, and landmark lawsuits in the past few years, a study by The Barna Group finds that churches are still not thoroughly evaluating backgrounds and references of those working with kids. The startling statistics show that more than 70,000 Protestant congregations do not give sufficient attention to protecting young people. Most churches struggle with the screening process because they do not feel they have appropriate practice and procedures in place to evaluate the types of risk that are out there. Fewer than half of pastors said their church regularly evaluates safety procedures. 23% of pastors admitted their church has little or no protective measures in place for people working with kids 78% of churches with more than 250 attenders were more likely to evaluate workers carefully 49% of churches with less than 100 attenders were least likely to evaluate workers carefully Top