Being a young Christian post-Christendom: not just a numbers game
The census results may have been a shock to many experienced Christians, but they were not a surprise to our young people, writes Amanda Higgin. As we work out how to be faithfully Church in this new, post-Christian society, perhaps we can hear from and help those who already live in it.
This article is the first in a series sharing perspectives from young Christians about being young Christians. The authors hope to encourage older generations in our churches to understand the challenges and embrace the opportunities of welcoming young adults into community.
At the end of November last year, the 2021 census data on religious affiliation was released and revealed that, for the first time since records began, less than half the population of the United Kingdom identified as Christian – 46.2 per cent, down from 59.3 per cent of respondents in the 2011 census. The newspaper headlines declared this the evidence of a paradigm shift, and commentators discussed whether this was the end of Christendom, the end of an era, the end of a Christian Britain.
For young people, however, this outcome was less than surprising. Christians born since 1980, known as millennials (roughly 1981-1997), GenZ (1998-2010), and Gen Alpha (2011-present) have been born and raised into an increasingly post-Christian society. On 30 January, the ONS published the religion data from the Census differentiated by age: the median age of Christians in England and Wales who responded to the question was 51, compared to 40 being the median age of the population at large and up from 45 years old in the 2011 Census. Respondents who identified as ‘no religion’ had an average age of 32.
These statistics are not just somebody else’s problem. At Baptist Union Council in October 2022, Andrew Ginn from the Young Adults Round Table shared that on our current trajectory, there will only be 100 people aged 18 to 30 in our Union by 2030. (read more here)
The thing that surprised me most about the Census results was not the results themselves, but how people reacted. My experience of being Christian is being a minority in a secular world, but in the wake of the results I read expressions of concern and shock, declarations of persecution, resolutions to change, a call to arms. Some people seemed to fear that the sky was falling down. I was surprised that the percentage was as high as 46.2 per cent.
I am 25 years old, which makes me an elder GenZ, and the youngest student currently training for ordained ministry at Regent’s Park College. Because I’ve been on the discernment track for a while, my faith has always come up quite quickly in conversation. I am not sure I have ever had somebody respond “Oh, I’m a Christian too!”. I have heard several people’s accounts of being taken to church by their parents at some point, or appreciating the prayers at a funeral. The best response I ever heard was “Wow, that’s badass!”, but I think her impression of what ministers did was more formed by cinema than experience.
Usually, people respond with benign confusion: “Huh, why did you choose that?”, “What does that actually mean?”, “Do you mean a minister like in Parliament?”. On one memorable occasion at a work Christmas meal, the response was not benign confusion but a half hour rant about the church’s corruption, focussing on priests who sexually abused children and the institutional exclusion of the LGBTQ community. I get the impression that older generations could expect their faith to be met with some kind of familiarity – if so, that is no longer the case. My faith seems to be considered much like an unusual and inconvenient hobby, like parkour or graffiti art.
In the face of disinterest, confusion, and hostility, young Christians have to choose to follow Jesus counterculturally. Knowing that we are not encouraged in our beliefs by the society that we keep, how much more important does the church community become? Once or twice a week, we enter a space where our faith can be supported and encouraged, where we are no longer the minority. Being constantly ‘in the world but not of it’ can be draining, and our Christian families offer a beautiful place to recharge.
It is particularly painful, then, that we often find ourselves just as marginalised within Christian communities, except that this time it is not because of our faith but because of our age.
In his preface to Young, Woke, and Christian (SCM Press, 2022), Professor Anthony Reddie discusses youth as a marginalised status. It might be temporary, but poverty and disability can be temporary – we still run food banks and put in hearing loops. Given the generational imbalance in almost all of our churches, it might take a bit more effort to make sure the young adults in our churches are listened to, equipped, and advocated for. And believe me, we are desperate to be resourced and supported in our faith by our church families, because our secular, post-Christendom lives are doing the opposite.
Young, Woke, and Christian collects a series of essays by millennial Christian authors, and powerfully demonstrates the passion and insight that young people have to offer the Church. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes every member of the church as a member of Christ’s body. Many of us have known that one under-18 without whom none of the church’s technology would function – when we recognise and encourage young Christians’ unique gifts of all kinds, the whole body will be made stronger because of it.
The census results may have been a shock to many experienced Christians, but they were not a surprise to our young people. As we work out how to be faithfully Church in this new, post-Christian society, perhaps we can hear from and help those who already live in it.
This is part of a short series sharing perspectives from young Christians about being young Christians:
The authors hope to encourage older generations in our churches to understand the challenges and embrace the opportunities of welcoming young adults into community
If you are interested in exploring more about young people in church, they recommend these resources:
Amanda Higgin is 25 years old and currently training for ministry at Regent’s Park college, Oxford. She grew up attending the Baptist church in Wallingford, Oxfordshire before coming to faith and being baptised in 2012 at the age of 14.
Amanda represents Southern Counties Baptist Association at Baptist Union Council, is engaged to Josh, and is an expert at the board game Settlers of Catan.
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Baptist Times, 15/02/2023