Between 1994 and 1998
the number of 12-19 year olds who stated
that they did not believe in God jumped
by 10 percentage points to reach 43%.
•
64% of the same age group
said that they had no religion at all.
•
A survey suggests that
320,000 12-14 year olds, more than 300,000
15-19 year olds and 100,000 20-25 year
olds attend church at least once a month.
•
1 in 4 churches have no
young people between 12 and 14 attending,
and 52% have 10 young people or less
in that age group.
Quotes:
‘It’s
choice, isn’t it? Whether you belong
to the RSPCA or you’re a member of the
Catholic Church. You’ve got to have
something important in life, some sort of
focus. People get it from different things,
and the Church isn’t necessarily the
first choice anymore.’ : 20 year old girl.
‘RE
should be optional at school because not everyone
believes. If you don’t it’s a
waste of time when you could be doing another
hour of English or Maths, which is more important.’ : 15 year old girl.
‘I
think people should believe in what they want
to believe. I don’t think they should
be told what to believe.’ : 13 year old girl.
‘Some
of my friends read a lot of books about spiritual
healing and things, and they do yoga or tai
chi. I think they gain some time for themselves,
time to reflect and I guess that is spiritual.
There are various ways you can find that consciousness.’
: 20 year old girl.
‘There’s
so much war and conflict. If there is a God
why doesn’t he just send someone down?’ : (Male, 18-24)
‘I
don’t think there is one God but I refuse
to believe that you are born, you live and
you die and that’s it.’ : (Male, 25-44)
‘I
don’t want to be waltzed into believing
something for the sake of like it’s
been there for a long time… If I am
going to believe in something I will pick
my favourite parts of different religions
or pick something that I have invented if
you like that I feel comfortable with…
Not what I’m expected to believe in.’ : (Female, 18-24)
Bible:
The Gospels only tell one story about
Jesus as he was growing up. Jesus’ family
have spent a few days in Jerusalem, and when
the time comes to head home, Jesus opts to
stay in the temple rather than leave with
his parents. Maybe it’s a story about
adolescent rebellion or childish disorganisation,
but more than that, it’s a story about
spiritual discovery. Those days in the temple,
with the teachers of the law and the intellectuals,
asking questions, having arguments, hearing
wisdom – those were key days in Jesus’
faith development, and they happened when
his parents weren’t around.
God organised the church to be a community,
a body, worshipping, working and praying together.
Some of what we learn about him we learn from
family, but much of it we learn from being
part of a bigger, wider, more exciting and
diverse community of people. And not only
do we learn about God, but we devise new ways
of worshipping him, and new ways of making
him known to our own generation.
Jesus needed those days away, and he needed
his parents to release him into things they
simply didn’t understand. So how can
we ensure that we are building and being church
that allows the youth generation to find and
express genuine spirituality without having
to conform to expectations and culture of
an older generation/era?
Prayer
ideas:
Dream Church
Get a large piece of paper and design your
perfect church. What would it look like? Who
would be there? What would happen there? Where
would it be? And which bits of God’s
character would it show up most clearly?
Dream Church Together
Create a large blank space (prayer wall perhaps),
and invite members of your church to draw
or write their dreams there. Ask them to dream
about what your church might look like in
the future, and what things they would love
to see happen in and through it.
Source
acknowledgement: Statistics and Quotes taken
from:
The Burden of Youth Report:
by The Henley Centre, commissioned by The
Salvation Army in 2001.
Beyond
Belief? Barriers and Bridges to Faith Today:
Nick Spencer of The London Institute of Contemporary
Christianity.
The Profile
of Youth Workers 2003:
a private report by Alison Gelder and Philip
Escott, commissioned by Churches Together
in England Coordination group for Youth Work.
Copyright Churches Together in England 2003.
