Church of England reports on Youth Spirituality

It is just as I suspected.  I was never, myself, convinced by Christianity through appeals to the afterlife, divine punishment or "sin."   Christianity may be a language that we teach people to speak - and it just isn't being spoken by those immersed in contemporary culture.

Ruth Gledhill writes: 

THE Church of England has debunked the widely held view that young people are spiritual seekers on a journey to find transcendent truths to fill the “God-shaped hole” within them.  

 

A report published by the Church today indicates that young people are quite happy with a life without God and prefer car boot sales to church.  

If they think about church at all, the images young people come up with are “cardigans”, “sandals and socks”, “corrupt”, “traditionalist” and “stagnant”.

Alright.  We clearly need better fashion.

The authors began their work believing that even if the young had little knowledge of Christianity they would still have religious or spiritual yearnings. They were shocked to find that they did not.

Personally, the premise is pretty faulty.  I remember thinking more about girls than God.  And it was a lovely young violinist at Evensong that converted me to the mysteries of the church.   The music!  What kids are interested in is power. 

Nevertheless, young people do not feel disenchanted, lost or alienated in a meaningless world. “Instead, the data indicated that they found meaning and significance in the reality of everyday life, which the popular arts helped them to understand and imbibe.” Their creed could be defined as: “This world, and all life in it, is meaningful as it is,” translated as: “There is no need to posit ultimate significance elsewhere beyond the immediate experience of everyday life.” The goal in life of young people was happiness achieved primarily through the family.  

The researchers were also shocked to discover little sense of sin or fear of death. Nor did they find any Freudian guilt as a result of private sensual desires. The young people were, however, afraid of growing old.  

In their advice to the Church, the report’s authors say that the first thing to do is “avoid panic”. It recommends means of reconnecting with young people such as through alternative worship forms, traditional buildings, church schools and civic occasions where Anglican clergy often officiate.  

However, the authors also note the obvious contrast between the view of Generation Y that life is generally benign with the figures showing rises in eating disorders, substance abuse, teenage suicide, bullying and sexual abuse.  

The authors conclude: “We live in an instant culture, which c

ann

ot be reached by instant missionary tactics.” And the desire for happiness is valid and should not be criticised by clergy. “It can only be outclassed by a Christ-like way of life, for in him alone is true happiness to be found.

So what is at stake here?  What is God telling us through this study?  I think it is pretty clear that the traditional forms of evangelizing just won't cut it.  We'll have to spend a lot more time thinking about who we are in relationship to youth culture.

Of course, it is possible that youthfulness should not be idolized.  It is just one way of being fully alive.

Comments

[Art Deco]

What is God telling us through this study?

To carefully examine the methodology thereof.

[David Loving]

As they get older they will become more interested in the church - nothing like getting older to emphasize the fear of gettng older. Pop culture is not much help there.

[janinsanfran]

Christianity may be a language that we teach people to speak.

Yes. And, sadly, we don't speak it much. We speak too much "church" to be audible. We have to relearn that church is a by-product of Christian lives.

[Heidi]

This type of berating of our youth only serves to push them away. I think that the Church Of England needs to look at its self-fulfilling prophesy. How about saying, 'hey, you kids are fantastic - you kids with the young and eager faces, we are here to serve and guide, we are here to show you the love you have from your heavenly Father?'

We had a new Rector at our church, a cardinal church in AL. He followed a most beloved man. One of my daughters and I were at church together for his second sermon. I'll never forget it - it was titled - 'This Is Not a Good Thing To Get Used To." He talked of youth today and cited the same erroneous and unoriginal statistics of what teachers were worried about in the 50's (gum chewing) to what they worry about today (drugs, murder, violence and mayhem). He went on to summarize that kids today go to school, then go to Pizza Hut, then go home and watch tv and then play video games. My daughter was a junior in high school. When Eucharist was over she was red in the face, she demanded to know 'WHO WAS HE TALKING ABOUT? She said"I go to school all day, have soccer practive for three hours, followed by dinner and studying until 11:00pm or so.

To make a long story short, our church eventually threatened him with some cannon law (?) to resign after he would not on his own accord. But, my daughter has never really been thrilled about church since.

[Dave C.]

I must admit, I was flailing around a bit trying to figure out what a "car boot sale" could be. I've seen people trying to sell things out of their trunks before in the here in the US, but somehow I couldn't imagine why that would be so appealing in England (I even saw a guy once trying to sell frozen steaks from his trunk at a gas station!) But a quick check of wikipedia, and there was an entry explaining it is similar to what we would call in the US a garage sale but is where many people are selling, trading used household goods at a school ground or such, and they usually are held on weekend mornings.

Now that I know that Gledhill wasn't talking about some toothless guy in his rusty old Plymouth going, "psst, buddy. You wanna great deal?" it makes a lot more sense.

[Lynn Gazis-Sax]

OK, now I feel like a total fogey; it never occurred to me to associate church with cardigans, sandals and socks. I can remember the point in my childhood when it was first OK to wear pants to church.

[Caelius Spinator]

Heidi--

My grandfather used to say that all of his rector's sermons could be summed up as, "The Decadence of Youth and the Evils of Communism."

[bls]

Um, why is anybody surprised that people in their 20s don't go to Church, and don't really want to?

Has there ever been a time when it was otherwise?

[J. C. Fisher]

What David Loving said.

The researchers were also shocked to discover little sense of sin or fear of death. Nor did they find any Freudian guilt as a result of private sensual desires. The young people were, however, afraid of growing old.

The only thing "shocking" in the above, is that the researchers were shocked!

There's always that moment, when you realize that all the pop stars (or "American Idols" or whatever) are younger than you are, and EVER will be . . .

. . . and that's the moment when one's repressed-by-living-in-the-moment DOUBTS begin to become Real.

And then, virtually overnight, one desires a way-of-living which is NOT quite so in--, rather, of-the-moment.

Rather, something/some way/someONE tried, tested and TRUE.

May the Episcopal Church always be here for them in that Moment of Truth! :-D

[Hopefully not having p*ssed them off too much---ala Heidi's daughter---before then... ;-/]