Ministry Lead
Clearly the decline in Church attendance is going to have an impact on the number of children and young people who come into contact with the Christian faith outside of an RE class. However, we know that’s only part of the story which is driven by a desire for people to distance themselves from absolute truth, mistrust of a Church which doesn’t always live up to its own teaching and the often pernicious impact of social media.
Whilst the goalposts may have moved it’s important to remember “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8
The Youthscape Centre for Research recently published “The Feel Good News Report” exploring young people’s understanding of Christian belief and faith. This builds on the trend report that the BB commissioned in 2023, looking at how young people’s lives had changed over the last decade. The new research identifies
‘Five big stories’:
Reflection
In the light of this research, here are some suggestions on how you can continue to share faith in an effective way, even when the goalposts seem to be moving at an alarming rate.
We need to meet young people where they are at, not where we wish they were at. This may mean that we need to start at the shallow end or even on dry land. This is not ‘dumbing down’ – meeting people where they are is very much an approach modelled by Jesus. We may need to help young people understand why the why of the Christian faith is important before we can effectively move onto the how. For example, one simple way into faith discussions might be to have a “Question of the week”, perhaps displayed on a board that young people can discuss, write responses to or vote on. Examples might be “How does it make you feel when you realise how big the universe is and how small we are?”, “Have you ever felt that there is someone or something watching over us?”.
The journey of faith has been described as a “long walk in the same direction”. Walking with young people over the long term – which the BB excels at – builds relationships and presents opportunities for ‘warm apathy’ to be turned into something more positive. Even when it’s hard, don’t give up. If we see relationship as a bridge, the stronger that the ‘bridge’ is built the more you can send over by way of challenging attitudes and beliefs and addressing apathy.
Our recent Faith Focus webinar considered how we help young people see themselves not just as physical beings but as spiritual beings and understand that everyone not only has a soul but is a soul. We thought about how we could stir up spiritual longings through, for example, our innate desire for justice. Where does the belief that the world should be a kind and fair place (which it so obviously isn’t) come from if we are just physical beings and it’s survival of the fittest? We have also run sessions on engaging children and young people with the Bible and prayer. Committing to equipping ourselves to respond as best we can is one way to ensure we don’t become overwhelmed. Also, having the opportunity to share with others and learn from their success and failures is very valuable. Faith Focus webinars run monthly in term time and are advertised in e-newsletters and on the events page of the BB website.
One of the ways we are equipping facilitators in our Spaces groups, is to help them think about the individual faith journey of each of their young people and pray specifically for their needs. Within the busyness of the BB programme this type of intentionality can be a challenge but the more we seek to see our young people as individuals the more opportunity there will be to present faith in a way that is relevant to them. Occasionally creating space in your programme for children and young people to discuss faith issues or ask questions can be beneficial, as can offering the opportunity for reflection as part of your devotions. Recognising the time pressures within your regular meetings, maybe consider starting a Spaces group for your over 11s.