Scrolls of Doom: Why Gen Z is shunning the church
by Harriet Symonds, The House:
Young adults – Britain’s loneliest generation – are shunning an institution that offers connection and meaning. The church’s failure to attract Generation Z is bad for both.
Britain’s youngest adults are its least religious – and its loneliest. Almost one in 10 of those aged between 16 and 29 report feeling lonely some or all of the time.
Raised in the age of social media, many in so-called Generation Z struggle for genuine connection, but shun an institution that guarantees at least weekly real-life interaction and the chance to find meaning.
The failure of the church to meet this evident need is not only bad news for its long-term survival but also the viability of the bulwark it provides for those that depend on it.
“Young people are always seeking meaning…[and] arguably they’re not finding great satisfaction with what society has to offer now,” John Glen, Paymaster General and Conservative MP for Sailsbury, tells The House.
Today young people are living in a bleak society of unaffordable housing, stagnant wages, and a cost of living crisis. Marcus Walker, Rector of Great St Bartholomew’s, says that in such a fast-changing world, emotional and spiritual guidance from the church can be an invaluable anchor: “People find themselves quite rapidly out of jobs, out of houses, out of relationships, and there’s a stability that comes with [religion] that is possibly more valuable now than it has been for previous generations.”
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