Extracts from General Synod Paper GS21616

 

“… This paper builds on Encouraging Youth Evangelism from February 2019. (GS2124A) The opening words of that paper stated that ‘Our engagement with young people within our Sunday worshiping communities is currently very limited. The majority of churches have no or very few people under 16.’ This paper aims to examine in more details the statistics behind the headlines and to remind Synod again of the urgency of this issue but also to encourage the whole church to take responsibility for responding positively to the challenges raised by the figures. It is important to consider at all levels of the Church how we can support, encourage and sustain future developments that will make a real difference...

 

The statistical headlines:

 

... 2.  But we also need to recognise that in 2018 we reached a new stage where nationally Sunday attendance for 0-16’s dropped below 100,000 for the first time ever.

 

3. According to the single church returns 38% of these churches have no 0-16’s and 68% of them have 5 or fewer 0-16’s.

 

4. The statistics show that under 16’s are not distributed evenly across our Church. In the 2018 Statistics for Mission, 903 returns reported having 25 or more 0-16’s which equates to 41,540 under 16s. This means that 44% of all of 0-16's are to be 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’s reported in Average Child Sunday attendance has decreased by 20% over the last five years compared to a 12% decline in average adult Sunday attendance.

 

6. There is no room for complacency as even amongst those churches and parishes with 25 or more 0-16’s, there is still a pattern of decline. Of the 903 returns with 25 or more 0-16’s in 2018, only 394 (44%) had experienced growth in the last 5 years compared to 461 (51%) who had experienced decline…

 

…The Fresh Expressions of Church (GS2142) Report to General Synod in July 2019 recognised how many new forms of church seemed to be particularly effective at reaching under 16s. The report stated that in general ‘fresh expressions do twice as well as parish churches in attracting those under 16’…

 

… Growing Faith calls on the whole church to address how we can draw stronger links between schools, churches and families...

 

Re-imagine church amongst children and young people.  Research shows that Generation Z (those 18 and under) are the first ever generation in England to be non-churched rather than non-churched. They do not have the same cultural understanding and baggage in relation to church and what it means to be a Christian. While this offers a huge missional opportunity, this same generation is exploring faith in new ways within a post Christian culture. This re-imagination might be through fresh expressions of church, pioneering, church planting or other innovative means. Great examples of this already exist, perhaps most notably within Carlisle Diocese with Network Youth Church and York Diocese with its new Missional Youth Church Network (MYCN) in partnership with Church Army and the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust. We need more innovative and imaginative ways to reach young people through Dioceses committing to exploring new ways they can contextually explore what might be possible. It will be important to share learnings from those who are already experimenting in this area.