St George’s Church

We must challenge and care for Christian young people growing up in a culture of consumerism – that was the message to Christian leaders at the Evangelical Alliance council.

The Alliance revealed the results of a survey – taken of 800 young people at Soul Survivor ’s ‘Momentum’ event for students and 20-somethings – as part of an Alliance council symposium on ‘The 18-30s Mission: a Missing Generation?’

According to the survey, young adults are most attracted to a church by the resources it provides to support their own personal faith. Relevant preaching was ranked as the characteristic that would most attract them to church, followed by excellent worship and with people they can relate to coming third. The least attractive characteristics were the church being mission-orientated or a safe place to invite friends.

Only one-third of the under 30s said they see themselves as leaders in their church.

Soul Survivor leader Mike Pilavachi, addressing the council, said a culture of consumerism, individualism and entitlement has “eaten into the psyche of 20-somethings.”

“What that mitigates against completely is commitment to community,” he said, explaining that 20-somethings are always in a futile search for perfection, are afraid of going into the real world and show a great deal of pain in ministry times.

“We’ve got to help them,” he said. “We’ve got to love them, we’ve got to listen to them, but also we’ve got to find ways of gently, lovingly but definitely challenging some of the things that come from a culture of consumerism, individualism and entitlement.”