Which churches have the largest under-16s attendance? Is it those churches that hold to a more ‘progressive’ or ‘revisionist’ viewpoint, accepting LGBT teaching and ideology? LGBT campaigners within the Church of England seem to think it could be. But, new research from Christian Concern suggests that those churches that hold to a Biblical view of sex, sexuality, gender and marriage are those churches that have thriving under-16 attendance.
In our research, we found that 20 of the 33 churches with over 100 youth in the Church of England had clear statements either from their church website or their leaders that they held the historic, orthodox view of marriage. The remaining 13 were unclear, but also had no outward sign that they were revisionist.
Paul Huxley, Communications Manager at Christian Concern and author of this new research, spoke to TWR Radio about the findings: “I think young people want to see something that’s a bit different to what’s out there in the world. They don’t expect the Church necessarily to believe everything that they believe, and some young people are actually quite fed up with some of what is being taught in schools and what’s being pushed through the media.”
He added: “Most people who think that the Church needs to change would also say that the Church is struggling to reach millennials for the same reasons … But I think they’d still be struggling to reach millennials if what they’re saying [about changing doctrine] is true … We’re starting to see, in some cases, people realise that what’s at fault is what culture is saying – to and and pursue what you really want to do, to be authentic to yourself, particularly in the area of sex … and lots of people have seen the brokenness that has caused … so I think we’re starting to see that does cause brokenness and look for alternatives. I think the best one is found in the Christian vision where sex is reserved for married men and women together.”
6 February 2023
TWR Radio