Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The 1989 English Church Census (SN:2842) found there had been a drastic drop in those, aged 15-19, attending the English church in the 1980's. The aim was to discover why they had left and what, if anything, could be done about it. A key finding was the importance of having people in church who understood teenagers, their values and their language.

In order to gauge the views of a wide range of teenage church attenders the sample of church teenagers was structured by denomination, churchmanship, environment and area. The denomination and churchmanship categories were based on an analysis of current teenage church attendance from the English Church Census. Churches were sampled in three areas (the North, South and London). Within these areas churches were sampled in four environments (city centre, suburb, council estate and rural).

Teenagers who were not regular churchgoers were contacted through secondary schools. Schools which agreed to take part in the survey were clustered in geographical areas close to responding churches.
Main Topics:

This study includes young people who attend church and those who are not regular churchgoers. Topics covered include: religious denomination; activities in spare time; reasons for attendance and lack of attendance at church; opinion of service; belief in God; religious experiences; church activities; youth groups; young people's opinions and attitudes towards church.