Changing Shape

Ruth Perrin

Description

Considering the factors which help shape millennial belief, Changing Shape reflects on the challenges and opportunities that ‘missing generation’ bring to the Church, and considers what lessons the Church can learn from the Millennial mindset.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Ministry
• Philosophie et théologie
• Youth

Informations

• Publié par: Hymns Ancient & Modern
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780334058335
• Langue: English

Extrait

Changing Shape
The Faith Lives of Millennials
Dr Ruth H. Perrin





© Ruth Perrin 2020
Published in 2020 by SCM Press
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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, a member of Hodder Headline Group.
The Scripture quotation marked NRSV is from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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978-0-334-05831-1
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Contents
Introduction: Millennial Faith in Britain
Part 1 Setting the Scene – Being an Emerging Adult
1. Bucking the Trend: Emerging Adults Who Resist the Secularization Narrative
2. The Privilege and Pressure of Emerging Adulthood: Economics and Health
3. Relational Realities: Friends and Family
4. Relational Realities: Romance and Parenthood
Part 2 Changing Shape – How Emerging Adult Faith Develops
5. Emerging into Adult Faith: What Shapes Millennial Belief?
6. Losing Faith: ‘I Don’t Call Myself a Christian Anymore’
7. The Disenchanted
8. Reshaped Faith
Conclusion
9. What Now?

Bibliography and Further Reading





I would like to express my immense gratitude to all those who so generously shared their stories and made this work possible. In addition, for their support and encouragement, I would like to thank Drs Robert Song, Sarah Dunlop, Andy Byers, Mathew Guest, Pete Ward and Joss Bryan, as well as Chris Juby, and David Shervington at SCM Press.
The project was made possible by support from the William Leech Research fund and St John’s College, Dublin.
It is dedicated to Hollingworth Perrins.



Introduction: Millennial Faith in Britain
Allow me to begin with an understatement: we are living in interesting times.
Most of us are somewhat bewildered by the events unfurling around us in twenty-first-century Britain. As I write, the ‘Will it or won’t it happen?’ Brexit clock is ticking. By the time you read this we will have more idea what that even means (or perhaps not!), but it is merely one among myriad ongoing changes. For historians and social scientists, it is fascinating to watch the developments (most news bulletins contain material for multiple doctoral theses!), but living through the current social, political and economic changes is creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety; we are aware that none of us can predict what the future is going to look like.
This is true also for the British Church. Five hundred years on from the Reformation and subsequent creation of the Church of England, it is unclear what the future of Christianity in Britain will be. Those of us concerned by that need to be like the ancient leaders ‘of Issachar, those who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’ (1 Chron. 12.32). This book is my humble attempt to help us understand and answer one of the most pressing questions being asked in the wider British Church: Where did the young people go?
Memory-less Millennials and the Anomaly of the Active Affirmer
Despite the vestiges of cultural Christianity that persist in the UK, few doubt that Britain is a ‘post-Christian’ nation. Some argue that what has passed is the remnant of Victorian moralism, others that Britain’s religious commitment has always been erratic. Either way, for the first time, secularism has become the dominant reported worldview. In the 2013 national census, 51% of the population described themselves as having no religion, including 70% of adults under 30. A 2014 Win/Gallup survey found the UK to be one of the most irreligious countries in the world; church membership stood at 10% of the population with attendance at 5%. 1 This pattern is particularly acute among younger generations. In 2018 just 0.5% of 18–24 year olds were reported as attending Anglican congregations and the London Churches Census identified 5.4% of 20–29 year olds attending church (the lowest of any demographic group). 2 Given that London has a considerably higher Emerging Adult population and church attendance than the wider UK, it is not unreasonable to estimate that merely 2–3% of those under 30 regularly attend church.
So what has happened to young adult faith?
For one thing, although Millennials are often referred to as the ‘missing generation’ within churches, the absence of young people is not a new phenomenon: it has been creeping up on the Church for decades. Peter Brierley shows clearly how that decline manifests with a particular downturn among those now in their forties and fifties (known as Generation X). 3 According to Linda Woodhead, ‘The massive cultural shift from Christian to non-religious Britain has come about largely because of children ceasing to follow the religious commitments of their parents.’ This has occurred over decades, generation by generation until today ‘Children brought up in Christian homes have a 45% chance of ending up as “Nones”, whereas those brought up “no religion” have a 95% probability of retaining that identification.’ 4 A slightly different pattern emerges among young Catholics, who make up 10% of those self-describing as religious today. 5 Mathew Guest argues that although ‘Roman Catholicism is the denomination least successful at retaining its younger members as regular church attendees once they are at university, most see this not as a decline or abdication, but as a realistic moderation of perspective. They do not cease to be Catholic. Their values might evolve, but their attachment to the religious tradition of their childhood is often an enduring bond.’ 6 However, in 2006 Sara Savage et al. described most British teens as ‘memory-less’ when it came to even the basic tenets of Christianity. 7 The generational chain that had passed on religious knowledge had been broken, and broader institutions no longer reinforced that worldview. Today, those teens have grown up into the young adult Nones. 8 This decline is the result of a century-long trend exacerbated by social changes since the 1960s. Millennials are not particularly irreligious (opposed to religion), they are just the most recent of multiple generations of religious decline. Having been raised in a neo-liberal, pluralistic society, most are not hostile to religious faith. Half have no contact at all with religion, and many more simply have no interest. Woodhead describes them as ‘Maybe’s, Don’t Knows and Doubters rather than Dawkins-esque atheists’. 9
This makes depressing reading for those who care about Christian faith in Britain, particularly for those from traditional denominations who are bearing the brunt of that decline. However, as Grace Davie noted, religion in Britain is a persistent paradox; despite the predictions of secularization theory, it simply isn’t going away. Certainly, popular attitudes have shifted away from religious obligation towards religious consumption (people now opt in rather than opt out of belief), but she also argues that the secularization of Europe is globally anomalous, and Peter Brierley observes that patterns of immigration have significantly influenced both Christianity and other religions in Britain. 10 In some (typically urban) parts of the country, large churches full of the young are thriving. 11 Evidently, there continue to be British young adults who buck the statistical trend, and the evidence is that those who have opted-in to Christian belief (or continued to follow the religion of their upbringing) are typically devout. Faith is central to their identity. Davie again summarizes, ‘Fewer people are now religious but those who are take their religious lives more seriously.’ During research into Christian faith in universities, Guest et al. labelled this group ‘Active Affirmers’. 12 This book is about their faith journeys.
Rationale for this Research
Countless books (blogs, vlogs and articles) exist on Millennials; apparently almost everyone has an opinion on them. Frequently people take delight in telling me their horror stories of unreliable, entitled, self-absorbed behaviour from young people. But that is not my experience. My interest in Millennial Active Affirmers is rooted in 20 years of Christian ministry. In that time, I have been privileged to work with hundreds in both church and para-church settings and have observed their ongoing faith journeys with interest. Some have continued into adulthood with their Christian faith and religious identity firmly intact and are pillars of their church congregations. Inspired by their beliefs, others have made radical choices and sacrifices or have found ways to sustain a religious identity through very dark times. On the ot