do you know any young Christians

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MIL (in her 60s and religious) recently came to stay with us and I accompanied her to church when we got there i was really shocked by how few people under the age of 60 there seemed to be to the point where I (now in my mid 40s) felt young again. There were a number of small children with grandparents but virtually no one age 10-60. I haven’t been to church since I was a child myself so I was quite taken aback, is this what most churches are like nowadays or was this a one off. Do you personally know any young as in teenagers or in their 20s/30s Christians and do they have many friends who are also Christian? I would honestly be interested?

I think to depends on the church. A lot of universities have fairly big Christian societies with lots of young people. I know a fair few Christian’s in their 30s who are regular church goers aswell, they tend to go to evangelical or baptist churches though.

It’s the more traditional Anglican churches that seem to have much fewer young people. The one we go to has about 4 families where the parents range from late 20s-mid 40s. Almost everyone else is a women over 55.

Not sure what the vote is meant to be, but yes, we have several friends/families from our school who are Christians and very involved in church activities. Children’s ages range from about 15-24. No idea if they’re representative of the church they attend or if the demographic is much older.

I also know a fair few Muslim families where the teens and older children are active in their faith.

Yes I do but as said above they mostly tend to go to more evangelical churches including evangelical Anglican ones. In my church there are a fair few younger families but it’s a big city with an international population so not typical.

Yes - I'm Catholic and in my mid-30s. We go to a vibrant, 'young' church where there are lots of children and young families, as well as older people. It does help that there's a school attached to the parish, but there are also things for people to get involved in, like music groups and altar serving and baby and toddler groups and Sunday school and so on.

I also have a couple of close friends of the same age who are evangelical Protestant / Pentecostal, and have quite a few colleagues who go to church regularly (or as regularly as Covid has been allowing) - they're also along the evangelical Protestant line.

It does tend to depend on quite a few factors - independent churches are often quite well-attended, and younger people who belong to them tend not to marry non-believers (including, in my experience, heathens like Catholics...) and tend to bring their kids up to go to church and to then find similar churches when they leave home. C of E churches - especially the more traditional ones (organ rather than worship band, for instance) tend to have fewer younger people at them.

I'm saying this from the position of someone brought up in a traditional, high C of E church (robed choir and organ) who tried independent evangelical churches as a student and didn't like them and ended up converting to Catholicism, by the way.

I think the traditional CofE church culture can come across as stuffy, old fashioned and irrelevant to many young people. Younger churches in the Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal denominations seem to do relatively well at appealing to young people - always a very mixed age crowd going in and out of the Methodist church near me.

At my Catholic Church there are many families with children - including teenagers. A wide range of ages. There is a music group aged 25 - 80ish. There is a group aged 15 - 25 who go to Lourdes etc and a lot of altar servers ranging from 7 - early 20s. We also have a very active little church.

I'm 31 and an atheist, raised by atheist parents. There were a couple of religious people at my school but they very much in the minority and I have never had any religious friends at all. Someone I know through work (who is 26) mentioned church recently and I was surprised because I so rarely hear anyone my age talk about it.

It tends to be wayyyy more common in the US - a lot of the American people I follow on social media seem to be Christian by default, like it's just what people do there.

I will admit to being a bit judgemental about it, though, however that sounds. Obviously I would never, ever say anything to someone's face but I feel a bit when anyone admits to being religious. I'm so far removed from it though, it's just not my scene!

I know loads but as said above, depends on the church - families will mostly go to churches with kids there already and an active kids programme.

Yes, plenty, although I fall into the older category!
It does depend on the church - I visited a relative - village C of E and I was probably the youngest there. Local churches to my home - all ages. Some are full of students, others have many young families and many age groups in their Sunday Schools.
Big Church Day Out - the vast majority of these youngster are attending church somewhere

No. Lots of our adult kids’ friends observe religions but interestingly no Christians.

Yes. My church has a congregation made from every age from baby - 94 (I think she's 94 anyway.)
We have active children's groups including ones for teens.

I go to a Catholic church that has 5 Sunday Masses which are well attended but the one that tends to pack the church out is the Family Mass at 9.15. Lots of young families and teenagers there.

Yes. DD and her boyfriend. Both Anglican in the Anglo Catholic tradition. They were both choristers at the same church as children and are deeply involved in the music/choir side of things and hooked back into it after uni; both mid 20s and both very musically talented. It is the church where we still worship occasionally and bf's parents are still regulars.

It is a thriving church without being evangelical in any way. The fact that the area has a number of high performing church schools undoubtedly boosts the congregation at the younger end.

I’ve known a few - there used to be a Christian youth club near us that some of my friends, and later my cousin, went to - but they all grew out of it.

I know plenty of young Christians, but they don't necessarily come to the service favoured by older people.

Yes I do know young people who attend church regularly. They generally go to Evangelical/ Baptist churches and there is a lot of socialising away from the church.
Someone I know who was at Uni with my daughter was a wild social girlie ,stunning ,articulate and great fun . She literally could have bagged any guy but she was adamant that sex before marriage wasn’t for her .
She is now married and very happy.

My friend turned to religion after moving to a new city and feeling lonely. Went to church for some company and is now very committed and recently got engaged to someone she met through the church and has made many friends and it seems to be full of a younger generation, people in their 20’s & 30’s. This is in a city centre however. My local churches definitely have a majority of those aged 60+ attending.

There are loads and loads of young families at my local Polish Catholic church, and some of them go to the English church instead. It is important socially for them as well as being a place of worship, and there's a Polish Saturday school, scout group etc also very connected to the church.

I also know some evangelical Christians in their 20s and 30s who are very active in the church and seemingly devout.

As PP said I think it is the traditional Anglican churches that don't have much of a younger congregation now. Maybe if they're attached to schools you get parents pretending but our local CofE church doesn't prioritise baptised or practising CofE families for admissions. I'm 35 with a toddler DS, and the only christenings I've been to or heard of have been Catholic ones.

as others have said, this will vary from church to church. Once kids are old enough to be independent on public transport/driving, they will often seem out a church full of people their age. I have 11 neices and nephews between ages of 15 and 27 who are all Christians, as is one of my kids who is 19. They go to a variety of churches. Our current church has 2 young children and that is it( small village Anglican) but we left a much bigger church with loads of kids of all ages

Interesting. Thinking about it I have two friends who are practicing Catholics, one that is Methodist. But more who are Jewish, Muslim, Hindi & Sikh.

I know loads, but they go to the very social Anglican churches like Holy Trinity Brompton or Pentecostal churches like Hillsong.

I have a friend who is 35 and goes to her nearest traditional church in London and she’s the youngest by about 25 years.

There are always lots of young parents and children at the churches linked to excellent faith schools

Yes, my best friend in his early 30s is Christian, very active in church community. I'm atheist.

He's also gay and very progressive with his views, he lives in London and there's a growing community of younger gay Christians where he is.

I used to go to church (I don't any more) but there were lots of people age 30-40s with young children/teens plus older people. I'd say not that many in their 20s but I think that's possibly more about the demographic of the town rather than church. (It was a free church)
My dads church (Trad C of E) OTOH seemed to be made up of about half a dozen people aged 70+.