do you know any young Christians

[zope]

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?

That's what happens when you put pressure on a narrow vessel...

I've met some teen Christians at Hyde Park Speakers' Corner.

Yes, my church is a huge mix of ages. Large proportion are young families, young people and we have a large children’s and youth ministry.

My CofE church has 20-30 teenagers at the Friday evening Bible study and youth club every week, and about 50 children under 11 years old on a Sunday morning at Junior Church.
The church has spent the last 15 years or so focussing on welcoming all comers non-judgementally, and it's really helping the younger members to see how today's church is relevant to them.

I cannot speak about their friends, but my local church does have a range of ages including teenagers and those in their twenties.

Yes I know lots. Lots of churches have several services. Sometimes the younger families /couples are drawn to one in particular. Perhaps you weren't at it.

Yes, my DD (17). Our church is full of families too, plus has a thriving youth group (12-17) plus junior Sunday school.

Evangelical Churches of full of younger people.

Other denominations, less so.

Yes, my DS (21) attends church and is very active in the Uni CU. He used to come to church with me up until age 6 when he started Sunday morning rugby , he then made his own choice to attend a church youth club from age 12 and carried on going to Sunday services. A different church to the one I attend (which has hardly anyone under 70!). He's met some lovely friends and on his year out in industry tried a few different church services ... and was made very welcome by members of the congregation who seemed delighted to have a 'young' person joining them ... resulted in a lot of invitations to Sunday lunch .

Yes a couple of ds1's friends are active Chrisians (young teens). Evangelical churches, not Cof E.

At our local church it's mainly older people, but there also quite a few in the 40-60 age bracket and some bring their young kids. I also know a couple of Christian teens / early 20s, but they go to a different church with a higher proportion of young people.

Yes, they are very pleased with themselves.

I know very few under 60. We have been to services in the past and there are very few younger people. The only people who I know to be young and attend regularly are made to because the parents need church points for the school.

My dcs are at a faith school and we have little choice where we live. The teaching of religion is very very full on and my dcs hate it. It's very fire and brimstone, not modern at all. For this reason I completely understand why many younger people really don't want to engage with religion!!

The Church of England is starting to move with the times, it's running a free course called "living in love and faith" to prompt a church-wide discussion about previously taboo subjects like sexuality, gender and divorce.
https://llf.churchofengland.org/

Yes I do, several.

The only people under 45 at the church I attend are after a school place. Like me. Sorry!

I work with some young Christians (under 30), they go to evangelical churches and a couple of them have some questionable views about gay people so I have a strict no religious chat in the office rule.

DPs family are very active with their local CofE church, it has a decent size congregation but none of them are under 60. Average age is 75 at least (some of the old ladies are well into their 90s - and still turn up in their Sunday best every week!).

I went to the Christening of a friends baby at their local church a couple of years ago, it is also CofE but quite modern in outlook, and there was a much greater range of ages, anything from early/ mid 20 upwards, though most were 50+.

There are a few Pentecostal churches locally and they seem to attract a lot of young people in their teens and 20s, families etc, much more so than the more traditional churches.

I know a lot but generally either catholic or happy crappy church. Church of England rely on people trying to get their kids into school and posh families (at cathedrals ) to lower average age below 80.

On the other hand I know quite a lot of spiritual young people who have various belief systems many vaguely Gnostic would be the nearest approximation.

I do yes, a Slovakian woman I work with, she’s about 30 or late 20s and lives in a Christian house share.

My cousins now in 30s are all Christians and have been since birth.

People I used to work with, Africans mostly but most London born have all been practicing Christians and attend church regularly.

Yes, loads. Our congregation is a solid mix of fresh babies to pre-ordered the Bible.

Although there's always a surge around this time of year when people want a school place and try to bribe the vicar

My SIL’s DB’s family went to church and got their daughter christened to get her into a church school but they’ve now moved to other end of country so not an issue.

Oh actually my ex boyfriend who’s early 40s, him and his family are Christians and attend church regularly, he stopped when he was 16/17, white/half Scottish background. His DB met his DW at a church group they had 3 kids and now divorced.

@InMySpareTime

The Church of England is starting to move with the times, it's running a free course called "living in love and faith" to prompt a church-wide discussion about previously taboo subjects like sexuality, gender and divorce. [[https://llf.churchofengland.org/]]

I find this confusing though. These things were based, according to them, on the Word of God. Has he changed His mind, been swept up with the woke brigade, “lives” in fear of being cancelled?

Or are they acknowledging the Bible is a collection of texts )randomly chosen several hundred years after the death of Christ out of many similar books) or based on much older myths that were subsequently (and often literally) demonised? Therefore, you can chose which myths to continue to accept?

I genuinely don’t get this.

Oh and my half brother’s sister’s family are Mormons, they all go to church and one of them went out to preach, forget the name of doing that.

I mean lead singer of The Killers (Brandon Flowers?) is Mormon and hasn’t done him any harm!

I know a lot of families with parents in their 30s/40s and young kids who are very active in church.