Prime Helps Students Strengthen Their Faith For the Future
69% of young Christians will walk away from their faith by the end of four years in college.
PRIME helps strengthen the faith of students for the future by grounding them in Biblical Doctrine and equips parents and pastors to answer the complex set of questions facing students today with the Biblical worldview in mind.
The trend of young people leaving the church, if not their faith altogether is well documented:
76% of Christian parents are concerned their children will leave the faith.
Barna Study (March 2022)
67% of parents of preteens claim to have a Biblical Worldview, but in reality only 2% of them do. Church Leaders (2022)
Only 10% of Christian twenty-somethings (18-29 years old) have a resilient faith (defined as Christians who engage with their church, trust the Bible, believe in the sacrificial work of the cross, and express desire to transform society as a result of their faith)” Barna Study (2019)
The percentage of Gen Z that identifies as atheist is double than that of the U.S. adult population. Barna Study (2016)
More than one-third of Gen Z (37%) believes it is not possible to know for sure if God is real. Barna Study (2016)
More than half of all Americans, both teens (58%) and adults (62%), agree with the statement “Many religions can lead to eternal life; there is no ‘one true religion.’ Barna Study (2016)
More than half of Gen Z says church involvement is either “not too much” (27%) or “not at all” important (27%). Barna Study (2016)
You recognize the need to build resilience in young people’s faith, but need the tools to help students discover how the answers to life’s biggest questions can be found in their faith, which is why we created PRIME.
Want a systematic way to gather, disciple and mentor students
See a need for more biblical literacy and worldview training in your students
Want to solidify and help students articulate what they believe and why they believe it
Already have a lot of ministry on your plate and could use resources and tools for planning a structured internship
Feel challenged by student questions about faith, sexuality, identity, purpose, and many other big topics of the day
Want to equip students to embrace God’s truth and champion a
biblical worldview
Want to send students into college with the confidence to face opposing ideas and worldviews
Desire to effectively strengthen the current and future faith of your
youth students
Have students that would benefit from earning college credit
full of young people who are connected to God, serving the church and full of faith rather than joining the ranks of those leaving their faith and faith community behind.
Prime has four parts - PRIME01, PRIME02, PRIME03 and PRIME04. Each section of PRIME includes 18 lectures - 6 lectures on Biblical Doctrine, 6 lectures on Worldviews and 6 lectures on spiritual disciplines. There are a total of 72 lectures in the series and no topic is repeated. Students or groups do not need to start at the beginning of PRIME, but can step into any section of PRIME.
Yes. When you sign up for PRIME, credit is already included for your first five students. It is optional to take advantage of this, but it is also a great incentive for parents to buy in. Each section of PRIME is worth 1 semester credit. Students can get up to 4 credits if they attend all four sections of PRIME.
It is college level content, packaged in a way that is appropriate for the attention span of a high school student. The content is not exhaustive, but it is designed to spark a new curiosity regarding topics that go beyond what they are usually exposed to in Sunday school and Youth groups.
Highschool students, College students and young adults have all reported that the content and topics are extremely relevant to their current context. We think the ideal age is 16-24 year olds, but many adults, especially parents of young adults, find the topics very helpful. Students should have completed 8th grade as a minimum.
Yes. We will provide to you what we did and how we did it, but you are able to rearrange the components however they fit best for your group. We offered three lectures a week over 6 weeks. Some groups have done two lectures a week over 9 weeks during a Fall or Spring term.
Each section you sign up for will be available to access and use for four months. If you need an extension, please just email us at pbconline@portlandbiblecollege.org.