Older Christians may be comfortable with "winning souls" for Christ, but a new study by Barna suggests their younger counterparts could be squirming at such words.

That's because Barna's latest research reveals that Millennials and Gen Z are more sensitive about the terminology used by Christians - popularly known as 'Christianese'. 

Its report, The Future of Missions, found that nearly a third of young adults (31%) and teens (30%) object to the term "winning souls". 

They're even less a fan of "convert", too, with 35% of young adults and 38% of teens finding the word objectionable. 

Older Christians were less fazed, with 44% of those aged 35+ saying that they were not troubled by "convert", "winning souls" and other terms like "making disciples", "witnessing" and "missions". 

When it comes to evangelism, most young adults (59%) and teens (65%) prefer to say "sharing faith". 

But their aversion to more traditional terminology should not be confused with an aversion to participating in missions or evangelism, the Barna report suggests. 

"Their objections don't inevitably lead to disengagement from missions altogether," the report said.

"In fact, young adults who may squirm at the use of 'convert' or 'winning souls,' for instance, are more likely than others to personally know a missionary (83% vs. 77%) and to have been on an international missions trip (41 vs. 29%)."