Where are all the young people?

One of the most important debates in General Synod last week was on children and immature people in the Church of England—or rather, why they aren't. The paper nosotros were offered summarised the assay of where young people are in the Church based on church omnipresence returns, and built on a question asked at a previous Synod by Charlie Skrine who is on the staff of St Helen's Bishopsgate. The paper and its accompanying research tin exist read here online, and it is very sobering reading; it should be read by anyone in church leadership who is at all concerned with mission. Some of the headlines were summarised as follows:

1. We have many opportunities as a Church to engage with children and young people through schools, Messy Church, Toddler Groups and midweek youth and children's ministry. These activities oft happen exterior Sunday services and are picked up in Statistics for Mission in Worshipping Customs Statistics and October count mid-calendar week attendance. Nosotros have more limited information most activities that are not acts of worship or fresh expressions of church.
2. But we also demand to recognise that in 2022 nosotros reached a new stage where nationally Sun attendance for 0-16's dropped below 100,000 for the first time ever.
3. According to the unmarried church returns, 38% of these churches have no 0-sixteen'due south and 68% of them take 5 or fewer 0-16's.
4. The statistics prove that under 16'south are not distributed evenly beyond our Church building. In the 2022 Statistics for Mission, 903 returns reported having 25 or more 0-16's which equates to 41,540 under 16s. This ways that 44% of all of 0-16'south are to exist found in 6.4% of churches and parishes.
5. Decline among under 16's is much faster than decline among all other generations. The number of under 16'south reported in Average Child Sunday attendance has decreased by twenty% over the last 5 years compared to a 12% refuse in average developed Sunday omnipresence.
6. At that place is no room for complacency equally fifty-fifty amongst those churches and parishes with 25 or more 0-sixteen'southward, at that place is still a design of refuse. Of the 903 returns with 25 or more 0-sixteen's in 2018, only 394 (44%) had experienced growth in the final 5 years compared to 461 (51%) who had experienced refuse.
7. We need to recall that there is no one simple solution which will solve all the problems nosotros confront. There are some common themes which sally such as engaging with Youth & Children's ministry organisations such equally Messy Church or Open up the Book or developing relationships with Church of England schools but there is clearly no single way to practise children and youth ministry. (Of the 903 parishes with 25 or more 0-sixteen's 359 (forty%) had a strong link to an affiliated Church of England School.)

As I have been reflecting on the reality here, two issues accept surfaced for me. The first is the question of where all this began to go so desperately incorrect—when did we run across this dramatic failure to engage with immature people, where previously this had been an expanse of strength for the Church? The main grouping that is missing in church attendance, and which shapes our demographic more than whatsoever other, is those in their 30s and 40s, that is, half a generation younger than me. These are people who were teenagers and young people in the 1990s, during the massive cultural shift effected by Thatcherism and our embrace of neoliberalism and individualism as a gild. I wonder if, in these changes, we sought too much to exist moving with culture, in the name of being 'relevant'; it is striking now that those churches which are reaching immature people are more counter-cultural, offering contrasting values to the mainstream of society in many ways. And it is this group's children who are now, mostly, non coming to church building, demonstrating the importance of parental influence. On both of these questions, see further beneath.

Secondly, what is the value of the Church of England's interest in Didactics? How come we have then much contact with young people—and how come it is, by and large, having so little effect? Information technology is worth noting the annotate higher up, that some of the churches which are doing well have a strong link to a Church school, only links with schools are possible in other contexts, and information technology is striking that the Church school on its ain, without the ministry building of the local church, appears to accept piddling or no impact.

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The inquiry appendix fastened to the newspaper adds more particular, and includes some strong conclusions which many will have found uncomfortable.

2.two Parishes with large congregations are more probable to have children and young people than parishes with small congregations

2.3 Parishes with 25 or more than under 16s are likely to either employ a youth, children or families worker or have a stiff link to an affiliated Church of England Schoolhouse

2.half dozen Parishes in an urban setting are more likely to have children and young people that parishes in a rural setting

2.8 Parishes with 25 or more than under 16s are likely to take large ministry budgets

All these basically point to the dynamic that young people similar to be in larger groups, where there is a more heady and positive peer dynamic, and that larger churches offer the economies of scale which let the cosmos of a specialist youth focus to ministry. (My own anecdotal research suggests that, overall, larger churches don't have full general economies of scale, in the the ratio of paid ministry staff to church attendance is more than or less the same, regardless of size of church building. Simply in a large church building, ministry staff can specialise.)

2.5 A bulk of the churches and parishes with a large number of children and immature people are in the evangelical tradition

The bottom line hither is that churches that reach children and immature people are those who really believe that religion is important and makes a difference, and so is worth the endeavor.

2.9 Resource churches feature heavily within the listing of returns with 25 or more under 16s

This is an important observation. Although a number of resource churches have grown large in a brusk space of time, and many will be in the evangelical tradition, this nevertheless offers further confirmation of the value of resource churches and the church-planting strategy which is being supported by the Strategic Evolution Funding.

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The paper offered to Synod a fairly straightforward motion, only this was subject to a quite large number of quite detailed amendments, which you can read here. This meant that the debate was less focussed that it might have been; someone commented to me that it was marked by 'defensiveness and exceptionalism coupled with spreading the diminishing quantities of jam ever thinner and avoiding tough choices.' Ali Campbell, who has worked in youth ministry for many years, and at present acts as a consultant in this surface area, offered a disquisitional analysis of the newspaper before the debate, and reflections later. I reproduce what I recall are his near helpful observations here with permission. For me, the near crucial point is most the importance of parents and the abode.

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Debating Amendments. I get there is a process with motions being presented in papers and, if amendments are put frontwards, they need to exist discussed and voted on . . . but, this gives very little space for serious consideration nigh what is independent in the paper! I listened in and watched via Youtube – it was something approaching xc minutes before we got through the amendments and so – finally – Synod could consider the paper as a whole – for all of 15 minutes! At that place has to exist a ameliorate process for something so crucial!

• Either a newspaper like this needs a whole day of word and consideration or amendments tabled demand to fast tracked through by those presenting the paper (i.east. if, on reading the suggested amendments, it is acknowledged in that location might have been an oversight or something should have been included in the movement, say so at the outset. A few amendments seemed obvious additions – east.g. Growing Faith being integral, which was brought by Bishop Paul Butler – did it need a brusque talk nigh why? Only lob it in so we tin can crevice on with an actual debate!)

DYOs and CWAs. What are those I hear you weep? Well, in some Diocese' there are youth officers and children'due south advisers (or youth directorate and children's officers, take your pick). In that location is a brief mention of them in the acknowledgements and thank you at the end of GS 2161. In the debate (what there was of 1) I didn't hear them mentioned. What I did hear mentioned, more than than once, is how express the resources are "at the centre" and this was used information technology seemed to me, to justify the – misguided – program to invest resource in places that are already well resourced…

• There needs to exist a re-imagining of these roles nationally and every Diocese needs be encouraged to invest in the provision of this kind of support. Inside each Diocese where these posts exercise be, these servants of the church need the tools, resourcing, budget and profile that befits their vital function.

Theological Reflection. Dry bones anyone? I start with asking that question, a affect facetiously, because theological reflection seemed to be entirely absent from the GS 2161. Yous might call back the passage in Ezekiel 37, "Can these bones alive . . . " . . . "Oh Sovereign Lord, only y'all know." Then comes the instruction,

Prophesy to these bones and say to them, "Dry basic, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and yous will come to life."

What is dead can come to life! We need to rediscover our prophetic imagination. The desolate places need water, where the state is dry and parched of the laughter, the joy and the presence of children . . . we need to be there as the church, we need to be resourcing and investing in those places every bit a church. DYOs and CWAs can help – and do – resourcing from the centre is not what we need to make this happen! The initiative, "Every Twenty-four hours Faith" is not limiting it's endeavor to those places that "become it". Scripture is littered with the least and the concluding being called and equipped by God non the biggest, best and the greatest in number! You might recall the ground forces that was reduced in size (Gideon commanding, you know – one of the to the lowest degree and the final) 32,000 down to 300 so God would get the glory.

The approach beingness adopted to invest in the places that already have does not, in my view, represent the values of the Kingdom.

• A theological narrative needs to develop that brings inspiration and hope – we will run across life come from nothing! The same power that raised Jesus from the expressionless is in usa (Romans 8:11). We can, with the Spirit'due south help, exercise this. We also need to consider again what we mean by "ecclesia" – "Church" was repeatedly mentioned in the context of attendance on Sun morning, but this is just i facet of the community of the called out ones.

Parents and the Dwelling. I retrieve I mentioned this in my blog post of Tuesday, just in the 48 pages presented to Synod, parents were mentioned just the in one case. [IP: actually families were mentioned many more times…] I've written well-nigh this, talked near it, taught well-nigh – others have to – yet somehow the story doesn't alter.

Youth Groups / Youth Workers / Children'southward Workers . . . compartmentalised groups for children and young people will NOT solve our challenges. I'm afraid it is the pursuit of these things that have helped create the environs we are in. Not because they are not valuable – these roles are vital – but we continue to fail in our assessment of what makes the difference.

Headlines from the Church of England and Hope research a few years ago, "Talking Jesus" focused on only how open young people were to hearing most God (which is fantastic) but in the key things mentioned when the research was released not much was made of some of the starkest statistics – despite the way our civilisation has changed. Namely, the bear on of parents and the home surroundings on religion formation.

Of the top six influences for people becoming followers of Jesus, for both adults and young people – growing upwards in a Christian family unit was tiptop. Height I tell you, Height.

That is just one written report, one piece of research – but the impact of parents and their role in formation is central. For a wide ranging summary of 54 (yeah, 54 research projects and surveys and reports) so information technology is worth looking at the key findings from the Theos study, Passing on Faith

By means of an extensive report of the existing literature on this field of study, Passing on Faith reinforces that which has been advanced for years by those involved in children's ministry within the Christian tradition. The assimilation of research studies in this report confirms that:

• foundations for faith are laid in childhood;

• the role and responsibility of the family is fundamental in faith manual (a theological assertion as well as an observation of child development theory);

• enduring adolescent and developed believers are largely the product of caring, supportive, stable homes, where faith is seen, heard and experienced;

• modelling is key: parents need to 'exist' and 'exercise' what they want their kid to get.

It continues to stagger me that mission to and in and with the home is not front and heart for the NCIs (National Church Institutions), every Diocese and every parish. So, it was super frustrating to encounter merely a small-scale reference in GS 2161.

• The Household of Faith needs to be a priority for mission – to give confidence to parents every bit they seek to share their faith and live it out in front of their children, to encourage church communities to connect with the diversity of family life in our society today, to build connections with homes where in that location is express appointment with the church.

Growing Faith and Joined Upwardly Thinking. This connects with the previous signal nigh parents and the home. The Growing Organized religion initiative is the most exciting affair I've seen the Church invest in – probably within the last 20 years. Bringing together as it does the need to be holistic in mission to children and young people (hooray!) with Church building / Habitation and School all featuring. I'grand grateful to Bishop Paul Butler for ensuring this was mentioned in the motility through his amendment.

The fact that this had to be added is troubling. There needs to be far greater joined up thinking if the NCI (National Church Institutions) are going to bring forward initiatives and projects they accept to form function of a cohesive narrative. I have no idea to what extent the Department for Education were involved in putting together GS 2161 – if annihilation, the youth evangelism role (and the task grouping focused on youth evangelism) needs to sit inside and work within the parameters of Growing Religion.

There is something holistic about Growing Religion that is drawing strands together that have previously been running in carve up silos – the last thing we need, with Growing Religion having only been launched last twelvemonth – is to have intermission away initiatives that dilute the progress and bring confusing mixed messages most national priorities.

• Everything related to investing in ministry building with children, young people and families should sit within the Growing Faith initiative.

I retrieve Ali'south observations add together of import depth to an important report, and I promise that both will exist carried frontward as a priority in the Church's national strategy on reaching children and immature people—as well as shaping the approach of local churches in this area too. All these things have awarding at a local, every bit well as diocesan and national level.

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