‘Feel-Good’ News
Young people are missing from the church and missed.
We cherish the children and young people we have, but we are painfully aware that many, if not most, young people are growing up with few encounters with Christian faith. Jesus’ challenge to his disciples in Matthew 16 was to read the signs of the times. To listen, to learn and better understand. And to understand in order to discern the missional environment.
In response to that challenge, The Youthscape Centre for Research, and Scripture Union, have partnered to listen to how young people across the UK respond to the Christian message in the largest and most comprehensive work done in this field in this century.
What young people told us was extraordinary and enlightening.
The research
A representative sample of 1,000 12–17-year olds from across the UK completed the online survey, and the data was analysed according to young people’s ‘faith orientation’. Six groups were identified within the overall sample:
Practising Christians (19.8%)
Identify as Christian and believe there’s a God and practise faith.
Nominal Christians (21.8%)
Identify as Christian + believe in God + don’t practise faith.
God - None (17.8%)
No religion and don’t believe in, or not bothered about, God/gods + don’t believe in, or not bothered about a higher power.
God + None (15.7%)
No religion and believe there is a God/gods or not sure but would like to think so.
Higher power + None (6.5%)
No religion and don’t believe in, or not bothered about, God/gods and believe there is a higher power or not sure but would like to think so.
Practising other major religion (10.8%)
Identify as either Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim or Sikh and believe there is a God/gods and practise faith.
Five theological statements were written, that aimed to express something of the ‘good news’ of the gospel on the themes of love, life, community, hope and justice – drawing on findings from previous phases of the wider project. Young people completing the survey were asked to score, highlight, and comment on each of these five themes.
To find out more about the research and how it was conducted…
Five big stories in the data
1. We’re dealing with warm apathy
Most young people were not very interested in our ideas about God and life, and not very curious about finding out more. While a small group of young people were clearly negative about the idea of God, a much larger group seemed either disinterested or benignly positive – displaying a kind of warm apathy. Where once our challenge was overcoming negative views of God and Christianity, we are now more likely to be engaging with a sense of disinterested positivity – ‘you do you’.
2. The idea of a loving God appears to have been rehabilitated
Lots of young people in our survey accepted the idea that God was loving. They seemed most positive about God being a loving force ‘out there’, and this fits with other research that suggests they see God more positively than negatively. Perhaps God has been culturally rehabilitated, to some degree, in the public imagination?
3. An incarnate, self-sacrificing, resurrected, and indwelling God? Not so much
However, the more specific the story gets, the more divisive, confusing, and interesting it gets. Many young people are ok with the idea of a loving God who created us and doesn’t give up on us when we make mistakes. But for most, it doesn’t follow that we need saving, that God would become human, or that death and resurrection are necessary for this. And the idea of God wanting a relationship with us, to transform us or be close to us is off-putting for some young people.
4. There’s more desire for love than for grace, accountability or change
Despite their reputation for judgement, accountability and cancelling, the young people in this survey were not particularly interested in personal or social accountability as being good news. They were more interested in just being loved. Perhaps the cultural mantras of accepting yourself and others, freedom to be who you are, and of uncovering an authentic self may underpin their lower interest in the need for growth, grace and transformation of the self.
5. A powerful God sounds better than a vulnerable God
For a generation often identified with concerns about misuse of power, they seem surprisingly comfortable with the idea of a powerful God, and with powerful love. And they are not particularly drawn to the idea of a God who suffered and understands vulnerability. Perhaps they are simply expressing our collective need for a love that truly is powerful and is ‘up to’ the task of taking on the forces, within and beyond us, that enslave and burden.
What words and ideas were most attractive from the statements about the gospel?
Those who had no religion and didn’t believe in God (God – Nones and Higher power + Nones) identified words and phrases that emphasised the kind of life they wanted personally (loved as you are, amazing life, hope for your future, significance, peace) and their hopes for the wider world (no suffering, a better place).
The God + Nones who believed in, or who were open to God also chose these words, but added ‘family working together’, suggesting they are more open to a communal experience.
Nominal Christians were similarly drawn to ideas about love, life, and the relief of suffering, but also choose the words ‘love’ and ‘power’ in relation to God.
Finally, Practising Christians and those practising other religions were distinct in choosing to highlight that ‘God created and loves the whole world’. Practising Christians added ‘nature’ and ‘within’ suggesting a comfort with the idea of God’s indwelling through the Holy Spirit. Those practising other religions also highlighted ‘loving people’, revealing a spirituality that turns toward others.
Overall, these distinct preferences seem to suggest that the more that young people identify with, or are open to God, the more they centre God as a source of love, power and hope for the whole world.
What does this mean for how we share the gospel?
Practising Christians
Find them, teach them, invite them to be part of a community.
Nominal Christians
Help them find accurate language for their faith orientation.
God - None
Build positive relationships and offer apologetics.
God + None
Explore their feelings about God compared with Christianity.
Higher power + None
Recognise shared desires and commitments.
Practising other major religion
Acknowledge differences and connections.
Find out more…