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The conclusion of recent research, including the Bible Society's survey 'The Quiet Revival' and Justin Brierley's 'The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God' is that young adults are interested and curious about faith and the person of Jesus and, unlike for their grandparents' generation, religion is new to them.

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As BCM's Youth Team we are asked lots of meaningful questions in lessons and clubs and we find students showing a hunger for things of reality, hope and truth. We sense that, amidst the confusion, pressure and uncertainty marking the world today, young people are dissatisfied and searching for something that is permanent, makes sense of the world and gives meaning and belonging. Some of our churches report their youth groups are growing modestly after periods of decline or stagnation, families are coming along to church, and young people are seeking God together in prayer, worship and mission. Often the challenge for churches is finding enough volunteers!

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We find that students engage well with our material and respond with curiosity. What we are teaching may serve to build upon what they already know, or is new to many. Even some staff say that they have learnt something new about Christianity.

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Before Easter the Youth Team and church partners delivered 99 assemblies and a handful of lessons at 32 secondary schools, including some that are new to us or which, after a while of not visiting them, have opened up again. One question covered in our Easter RE lessons was what happened to the missing body of Jesus that first Easter Sunday. We looked at various theories that could have accounted for the empty tomb with the students - that Jesus hadn’t died, that he hadn’t risen or that he had indeed died come alive again. They responded in favour of each theory, but quite a number opted for the latter - a surprise to us as a majority were from other faith backgrounds.

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Our Easter assembly's theme was ‘Hope despite disappointment’, based on the story of the road to Emmaus. BCM Youth Worker, Kam Phillips reported that one young person told her that she and her friends have recently decided that God exists, and that they should stop using God’s name in vain. She said they found the assembly really encouraging because she keeps doing this even though she doesn’t want to, and that the assembly taught her to be hopeful.

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Our assemblies had a more informal approach in alternative education settings or SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) schools when they were like a conversation around a table. At one of these two boys of no faith were full of many and varied questions. It was good they felt they could be honest with us and didn’t have any needless concern about upsetting us with some of their objections to Christianity!

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One school had Ofsted the week we were in for assemblies. At the end of the week staff commented that having us there had helped them through the inspection, showing that they take spiritual, moral and pastoral provision seriously.

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A church partner leading an assembly said that a boy stopped to let him know how thankful he was that the Easter story was shared, as he is a Christian. Since the assembly a number of the students have said 'hi' outside of school to the church partner or have come to church activities.

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This month the Youth Team is bringing GSUS Live back into up to 3 Birmingham schools. We have used this high-quality classroom resource, provided by Counties, for many summers now and value the opportunity it gives students to explore Jesus' teachings on the themes of 'Rejection', 'Fear' and 'Forgiveness'.

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John Platt, Youth Team Co-ordinator

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