Non-Committed Consumers or Theologically Engaged Ecumenists? Thinking Differently About Church Membership for Young People

Abstract

Research about the faith of young people (by which I mean Millennials and Generation Z) has suggested that they are increasingly non-denominational or denominationally fluid, with a method of choosing churches that is in line with neo-capitalist consumerism. This has created a focus of completely reimagining the church to appeal to young people. This paper, by tracing the historical interdenominational and ecumenical student movements, explains that young people tend to understand their denominational identity differently depending on their evangelical or theologically liberal/progressive stance. Yet neither stream alligns to this reductive post-denominational rhetoric that removes ecumenical and theological sophistication from young people. By using the case study of the United Reformed Church Youth (thereafter urc Youth), which consists of a broadly theological and politically liberal group of 14–26-year-olds, I argue that young people are ecumenically aware and value being integrated into larger denominational structures.