National Youth Young Adults Ministry

Research and papers

How does the wider church view the UCA?

The SA Synod commissioned a research survey to address this question. A couple of important issues emerged regarding the views and attitudes of younger people.

Generations Approach Church Differently Ruth Powell and Kathy Jacka

Based on the results from the 2006 National Church Life Survey (NCLS), this paper provides a brief introduction to some of the generational differences among church attenders. It covers:
• trends since 2001
• a summary of generational similarities and differences
• aspects of church most valued
• vision for the future
• hopes for the congregation or parish
• attitudes to innovation and change
Full report available at: http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?sitemapid=6267

Moving beyond forty years of missing generations Ruth Powell and Kathy Jacka

Around forty years ago the age profile of church attenders matched the wider community, but since the 1960s, younger generations went missing. Latest results from NCLS (2006) confirm this age gap still exists between church and community and it has increased. Now, younger generations are absent from the churches in greater numbers. In addition, national Census data shows that there has been a rise in the proportion of Australians who claim no religious affiliation, from 7% in 1970 to 19% in 2006, most of whom are disproportionately young. In the next twenty years 23% of church attenders, now aged 70 and over will be aged over 90 years or will be no longer with us. If all other factors remain the same, then this significant loss of attenders will affect the Australian religious landscape in a range of ways. As well as a likely drop in the overall size, the denominational balances will also change.
How can Australian churches prepare for the transition period of the new two decades? The church as a whole may well be smaller in twenty years time - but perhaps it will no longer be older than the wider community. The time may be coming for the age gap to close. What next?
Full report: http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?sitemapid=6249

Fearless and Flexible: view of Gen Y

A qualitative study by Saulwick Muller research investigates the attitudes and experiences of young Australians in 2006. Various research papers to download from Dusseldorp Skills Forum, http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/189.htm

National In-service Symposium Papers

The Papers presented as part of the Symposium for National In-service (for workers with children, young people and their families) in August in Queensland are now available for download. http://www.yacmu.com.au

Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds

A national (US) Kaiser Family Foundation survey found children and teens are spending an increasing amount of time using "new media" like computers, the Internet and video games, without cutting back on the time they spend with "old" media like TV, print and music. Instead, because of the amount of time they spend using more than one medium at a time (for example, going online while watching TV), they're managing to pack increasing amounts of media content into the same amount of time each day. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia030905pkg.cfm

Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church and Culture

The Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church and Culture are designed to foster original scholarship pertaining to youth and the contemporary church. Past lectures (1996 - 2006) are available for download from the website, http://www.ptsem.edu/iym/lectures/index.php

Do refugee young people exist?

Technically, refugee young people don't exist. Many of the newly arrived communities have no concept of "youth". Arriving in Australia, the leisure oriented youth lifestyle is just as unfamiliar to them as our suburban landscape. Take some of the diverse Sudanese communities for example, in some communities passages into adulthood are marked by ceremonies at the age of 12. For many of these families the first time they encounter the concept of youth is via Centrelink, which is when young members of their family are switched to Youth Allowance.

Read the full paper posted on the FECCA website.

The relational world of adolescents

'I think the true religious hunger of adolescence is to have a God who knows me and values me deeply, and can be a kind of guarantor of my identity and worth in a world where I'm struggling to find who I can be" (James Fowler).

Young teenagers are involved in forming a personal identity, including a spiritual identity. They may even experiment with a range of different identities - trying them on for size and then discarding the ones that don't work for them. It can be a kaleidoscope of change that keeps parents and young people unbalanced and worn out. Read more.