What would it feel like to live in a world where all the children had disappeared? To wake up one morning and find only adults? A horrific thought. Only one thing would be more terrifying: to discover that nobody cared or that they were powerless to do anything about it.

The Church
In the 1990s, the Church of England alone lost 28% of its children - that's more than a quarter in just 10 years. If this continues, it will have no children left by 2030. The final generation will have vanished.

Of course, it won't come to that - probably. Institutions have a way of pulling back from the brink, even at the last moment. But no-one should fool themselves: the situation is dire. For every 100 children who were in Sunday School in 1930, there are only 9 today. Already, over 40% of the churches in all denominations have no children's or youth work. And the children in the remainder are mostly those of church members. The vast majority of the nation's children have little or nothing to do with the Church.

So what is to be done?

• The first thing is to face reality. For too long, the churches have been in denial. They have continued as if nothing had changed: that somewhere there was a flock of youngsters hidden from view who would suddenly appear to swell the ranks of ageing congregations. Only now is the starkness of the situation starting to be admitted.
  
  
• Secondly, churches will need to develop denominational strategies for halting and reversing decline. Congregational action will be vital but until denominations are willing to think through their strategies, decline will only be halted in pockets.
  
  
• Thirdly, there must be a culture change across the life of the Church. If it is to win back the children of the future, it must become a place where they want to be. This will mean adults deliberately choosing to create environments conducive to children and their development.
  
  The most obvious changes will need to take place in worship. At present, most services are designed by adults, for adults. Where there are concessions to children, they are usually on adult terms, according to what adults think children want or need. Only rarely do worship planning teams or clergy consult children before they design their programmes. But why not? Including children in a discussion of worship or as part of a planning team is not difficult, provided it is thought through. And it is an excellent way of developing future leaders.
  
  
• Fourthly, - crucially - the Church must be unequivocal about children's evangelism. It will not be enough simply to talk about children's ministry. Only a confident re-telling of the story of Jesus, in the expectation that children will want to give their lives to him, will renew the ranks of a greying Church. Without this, the twenty-first century looks bleak.
  
  

Revd Dr Francis Bridger is Principal of Trinity College, Bristol and author of Children Finding Faith (Scripture Union/CPAS, 2000)

return to top