Young Christians in Manchester enourage peers to embrace religion

Christians in central Manchester are trying to re-engage other young adults in religious participation.

Catholics attending the diocesan young adults Mass at St Augustine’s in Manchester have been contributing to “The Big Listen”, an initiative launched by the Diocese of Salford in October to discover how people engage with their Christian faith and find ways of overcoming distractions that threaten their religious participation.

Maureen Usiagwu, 26, who last week led a church youth group discussion, said: “It was really about seeing how the Church gets young people back.

“It was about seeing how it can evolve to what young people like without losing what the Church is.”

Maureen leads a youth group discussion at St Augustine’s (© 2023 Holly Jones)

Trainee priest Theo Sharrock, 29, has been speaking to secondary school students about faith.

He said: “There’s an element of not understanding. They just have no real knowledge of what we believe as Catholics.

“They have lots of questions. There’s a great desire to know more. It’s just finding that way to engage them.

“It’s difficult in this modern, quite secularised world. Whether it’s sport or music, or a lot of things I do outside of church time, there’s no one else my age who goes to church.”

There has been a steady decline in Christian beliefs in the United Kingdom, mainly due to the disengagement of young people.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 2011 5.5% of 11 to 15-year-olds identified as Christian, but by 2021 only 3.9% of the same cohort still did so.

ONS also reported in 2021 that the average age of Christians in the UK was 51, a marked increase from 45 in 2011.

Young adults gather at St Augustine’s to discuss their faith (© 2023 Holly Jones)

However, the Diocese of Salford sent a contingent of 50 young adults to World Youth Day in Lisbon this summer.

Theo said: “in the UK the church is dying, some people say. But you go away to something like World Youth Day and there’s millions of people from all over the world that prove that that’s just not the case.

“The church is well and truly alive here in Manchester, here in the UK, and all across the world.”

This article was first published on Medium on 14th December 2023: https://medium.com/@johnsonpeterf/young-christians-in-manchester-encourage-peers-to-embrace-religion-f577cae12a07#id_token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjU1YzE4OGE4MzU0NmZjMTg4ZTUxNTc2YmE3MjgzNmUwNjAwZThiNzMiLCJ0eXAiOiJKV1QifQ.eyJpc3MiOiJodHRwczovL2FjY291bnRzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20iLCJhenAiOiIyMTYyOTYwMzU4MzQtazFrNnFlMDYwczJ0cDJhMmphbTRsamRjbXMwMHN0dGcuYXBwcy5nb29nbGV1c2VyY29udGVudC5jb20iLCJhdWQiOiIyMTYyOTYwMzU4MzQtazFrNnFlMDYwczJ0cDJhMmphbTRsamRjbXMwMHN0dGcuYXBwcy5nb29nbGV1c2VyY29udGVudC5jb20iLCJzdWIiOiIxMDI1MTM0NjAwOTE4NjY4MTA5NzMiLCJlbWFpbCI6ImpvaG5zb25wZXRlcmZAZ21haWwuY29tIiwiZW1haWxfdmVyaWZpZWQiOnRydWUsIm5iZiI6MTcwODQyMDg0NywibmFtZSI6IlBldGVyIEpvaG5zb24iLCJwaWN0dXJlIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9saDMuZ29vZ2xldXNlcmNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2EvQUNnOG9jSzd3YnBXaVN3bWV5Z0pjRUdJZERWS1RTYnVNYkFYa1BRai1ZUTQ4TGV4PXM5Ni1jIiwiZ2l2ZW5fbmFtZSI6IlBldGVyIiwiZmFtaWx5X25hbWUiOiJKb2huc29uIiwibG9jYWxlIjoiZW4iLCJpYXQiOjE3MDg0MjExNDcsImV4cCI6MTcwODQyNDc0NywianRpIjoiOGZjZTIxZDMxOGI5MDcwYzNhMjQyMWUyM2RhMTU1ZGE2MjYzODQzNyJ9.jLs5RSIvIhZl0XpN4RuxkWoNezo0xFVSbmrF02RQmBY8xzHex2_4kk2gyFVrm3RcQzB9oeJAuSnKUnjvFAkNBdyKj2pQBN01K0-VndQ2eKgSJUJvfS7__a128N956Mvkx2Ar1WTY16-9pOVOKnEHoaNLyG2uU4l0eRPmQcZHM9YXjjKqXgn1GPbLyZg40goVFO44U6XzPKgf2u9Y3uaGiOJWL3Zk_ZY-70R3sofP_hWu3quwf14F-dqYy-MTiJiGASXlb-iRUOED-4dqGZht8V4jylED-fyY3utUuF6TE-7oa-5dHzsUjxsnX-z0MWivLRj_0YJJug2BaXyb9ynKGA