Recent research into the beliefs of Generation Y has completely demolished the idea " popular among some church leaders - that unchurched young people are spiritual seekers who have merely been put off by the institution of the church.
This has been a key assumption behind some church growth strategies. It also undercuts elements within the "emerging church', especially the reaction against the "institutional' mega-churches.
The reality is different. The true spiritual map of Generation Y is highly fragmented with a range of both "beliefs' and "unbeliefs' (see graph).
How can ministers get a handle on such a diverse landscape?
Belief without belonging a "myth'
Professor of Sociology Grace Davie's theory that there are significant numbers of Christian believers unaffiliated with any church is comprehensively smashed by the Generation Y research.
Dr Michael Mason from the Australian Catholic University who co-authored The Spirit of Generation Y labels this "belief without belonging' thesis as a "myth'.
"Davie's thesis has been comprehensively refuted, both by our own study in Australia, and by David Voas's devastating critique, "Religion in Britain: Neither believing nor belonging'*".
"There is certainly some continuance of low-cost "beliefs' but these don't really represent faith at all in either the theological or sociological sense, but mere religious opinions which have little or no impact on a person's life," he says.
"Although many would like to cling to the comforting idea that youth are earnest spiritual seekers who have a strong belief in spiritual realities, and are just put off by religious institutions, our research - and also that of many others - says otherwise. Most young people are not either believing or belonging, and are not seeking to fill what they experience as a "God-shaped hole' in their lives."
In Dr Mason's view the spiritual crisis is "far more profound'. The way to navigate this complex landscape is via the common thread: secularism.
Tackle secularism
A disturbingly large proportion of secular young people are very individualistic and think that having fun, shopping and purchasing products is the ultimate aim of life.
Dr Andrew Singleton from Monash University, who co-authored The Spirit of Generation Y, says all teens "live in a profoundly secular culture".
"" Religion is not part of the wider culture, and when religion is practised, it is a low key, contained affair that is rarely "in-your-face'. So why would they think about it?... People who live in sunny climates don't spend their days thinking about snow."
Dr Singleton " himself an unbeliever " says that the church and its concerns are a complete irrelevancy to many.
Compared to Christian young people, however, the bulk of secular young people are less generous and less altruistic, and have a lower concern for others. This did not merely show up on "institutional' measures like giving to charity, but in personal ethics - seculars were even less likely to visit a sick friend.
This suggests there will be increasing opportunities for Christian people to live as "light and salt", loving others in profoundly deeper ways than their peers.
New Age youth are very rare
There seems little justification for the average youth minister to invest too much time in studying the beliefs of potential New Age converts.
In his address to the Youthworks College conference later this month, Dr Singleton will unpick the stereotypes about Gen Y that can mislead youth ministers.
Asked what was the most unhelpful stereotype about Gen Y, he said "that they are into alternative spirituality'.
"I don't think that is as widespread as people think," he told SC.
"We thought some people would have a real mix-and-match approach to spirituality, because this is consistent with New Age philosophy and is seen in overseas research on alternative spirituality. So we created survey questions and did analysis on our data to see if this were true" "
But when they crunched the numbers, the data did not stand up to the hype.
"We put the figure of youth really into the New Age " in other words they have multiple beliefs and multiple practices" at about four per cent. Of course, there are also a few thousand into witchcraft, but these are just a few thousand. New Age and alternative spirituality is a baby boomer thing."
* David Voas & Alasdair Crockett, "Religion in Britain: Neither believing nor belonging', Sociology 39/1 pp 11-28.
