SHAPING AUSTRALIA ¢â‚¬â„¢S SPIRITUALITY: A Review of Christian Ministry in
the Australian Context, Philip Hughes and others (2010).

This latest offering from Australia ¢â‚¬â„¢s premier religious research
body, Christian Research Association, summarizes 25 years of
studies into how Australians relate to matters spiritual (if that
phrase is not an oxymoron!), and how specifically it all relates to
Christian churches.

The news is not good.

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ 47 per cent of people born in the 1970s attended church at least
monthly as children (vs. only 28% of those born in the 1980s). But 61%
of those born in the 1950s attended church at least once a month

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Only 9 per cent of young people under 30 find their sense of meaning of life in religious faith. About 16 per cent of all Australians see life as meaningful because of their faith in God

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Of all Australians who grew up as Christians, 25 per cent of the
population (4.7 million people), say that, as adults they now have no
religion

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Belief in God has declined from 87 per cent in 1969 to 48 per cent of the population in 2009. IOW most Australians have a predominantly secular approach to the world in which neither religious tradition or spiritual concern have much influence. (PS 1. Factor into that generalization the recent migrations of very religious Catholics from countries like the Philippines and Vietnam; Hindus from India  ¢â‚¬“
Hinduism is the fastest-growing religion in Australia  ¢â‚¬“ and Middle
Eastern and Asian Moslems). (PS 2. I’m assuming ‘belief in God’ = ‘belief in the existence of God’ rather than ‘belief’ meaning commitment to God)

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ More Australian Christians have converted to other religions than people of other religions have converted to Christianity. But  ¢â‚¬Ëœof
those who grew up having no religion, 11 per cent have become
Christian. One per cent have converted to another religion ¢â‚¬â„¢. But one
quarter of all Australians brought up Christian now regard themselves
as having no religion

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ 73 per cent of Australians believe that religion brings more
conflict than peace around the world

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Above all,  ¢â‚¬Ëœthe Christian faith tends to be associated with
sub-groups ¢â‚¬ ¦ rather than with the national Australian story as a whole ¢â‚¬â„¢.

Religious schools have enormous potential to influence young people:
in 2009 1,187,420 young people were enrolled in them. They employed
86,630 full-time staff  ¢â‚¬“ 35% of all teaching staff in our primary and
secondary schools.

Do they help? Yes, in terms of  ¢â‚¬Ëœhow students think about life. So do
camps and retreats ¢â‚¬â„¢. But the schools ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬Ëœreligious education and
liturgical activities have only a moderate or no influence on most
students ¢â‚¬â„¢. (As a counselor of clergy who ¢â‚¬â„¢ve come for retreats over the
past 20 years, my theory about that is that chaplaincy in schools is
not the default calling of most pastors: they often resort to those
ministries if they ¢â‚¬â„¢ve had a hard time in parishes).

Churches do some things well. For example, they comprise most of the
nearly 8000 not-for-profit organizations, employing 70,000 full-time
and 64,000 casual employees, and over a million volunteers. Eighteen
per cent of Australia ¢â‚¬â„¢s hospitals are run by churches.

In terms of declining church attendance the key problem is consumerism. The only churches growing attendance-wise are those whose informality and music are contemporary. (In John Mark Ministries ¢â‚¬â„¢ healthy church seminars one way of saying that is:  ¢â‚¬ËœThose churches whose format and music in worship services are roughly the same as in their grandparents ¢â‚¬â„¢ era are all declining. All? Well, perhaps 99% are! ¢â‚¬â„¢).

Among the  ¢â‚¬ËœWhy is it so? ¢â‚¬â„¢ questions:

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ The most passionate advocates of atheism are older people, mostly males

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Most young people now reject the traditional  ¢â‚¬Ëœno sex before marriage ¢â‚¬â„¢ idea

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Between 1996 and 2006  ¢â‚¬Ëœcouple families ¢â‚¬â„¢ households with no children increased from 24.7% to 26.4%. Lone parent households increased  ¢â‚¬“ 22.8% to 24.4%

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ One fifth of young people and older people say they are  ¢â‚¬Ëœhurting
deep inside and are not satisfied with their lives ¢â‚¬â„¢

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ In 1970 90% of weddings were conducted by ministers of religion; in 2007 63% were conducted by civil celebrants

 ¢â‚¬ ¢ Those most likely to marry someone within their own denomination? Coptic Orthodox and Brethren  ¢â‚¬“ 93%. (Question:  ¢â‚¬Ëœbut which Brethren group  ¢â‚¬“ Open or Exclusive?). Least likely? Presbyterians (41%)

That ¢â‚¬â„¢ll do. There ¢â‚¬â„¢s much more in this 150 page book  ¢â‚¬“ culled from six
major sources of data and about 60 seminal journal articles and other
publications. This reviewer devotes his life to the question  ¢â‚¬ËœWhat
does a healthy church/ministry look like? ¢â‚¬â„¢ and the raw materials here
have led to revising my thinking about some things. They ¢â‚¬â„¢ll do that for you and your group as well.

Minor criticism: Dr Philip Hughes tells me this book was written in a
very short space of time  ¢â‚¬“ five weeks  ¢â‚¬“ to be out in time for the
CRA ¢â‚¬â„¢s latest conference (last week). As a result there are about 20 corrections a good proof-reader will make for the next edition. But if you can ignore all that, you won ¢â‚¬â„¢t find more interesting summary-data on modern Australia and its religions, especially Christianity, anywhere else in one small readable volume.

Visit http://www.cra.org.au/ to obtain a copy and access more strategic information.

(Rev. Dr.) Rowland Croucher
John Mark Ministries
Jmm.aaa.net.au

September 20, 2010