Helping Young Aussies Authentically Explore Faith
I had this group of scallywags in my small group for youth. They had no faith background whatsoever.
But our youth talks, and the resources we were using to help explain Jesus just went straight over their heads. Even the basic, introductory ones.
Have you had that?
I remember one time I asked a young person called Brad what he thought about the whole ‘Jesus thing.’
He was honest: “mmm to be honest I don’t really care. I don’t think about that stuff at all. It’s like ‘so what?” *(I’ve finessed a few of Brad’s favourite four-letter words!)*
It was like the whole God thing was a total category error for Brad; like there wasn’t even a box or space in his mind for these bigger questions.[1]
Brad’s ambivalence and indifference towards Jesus, faith and spirituality is not uncommon.[2] And those that are (re?)interested in spirituality certainly aren’t keen on the traditional/institutional frame that we’ve offered,[3] or more soberingly, as Youthscape recently discovered, our ‘good news,’ and the way we share it.[4]
My conversation with Brad has stuck with me.
Its motivated me to think differently about how we stoke spiritual curiosity for young Australians.
How do we shift indifference and irrelevance for a generation of young people who are in a very different space culturally and spiritually?
And ultimately, it’s challenged me and our team at xp. to have a crack at creating an Australian resource that meets these young people where they are at. (It’s called xp. …it’s a gaming thing)
It’s meant a lot of listening.
It’s meant asking better questions.
It’s meant a lot of (un)learning.
As I talked more with Brad and the young people I work with, a different picture began to emerge.
Here’s 3 big ideas that helped us frame up xp.
1. Brad’s core beliefs have shifted
Where previously every young person had a vague awareness of a personal God, belief in an afterlife and moral absolutes, those beliefs have given way to naturalism, relativism and religious apatheism anchored in relentless, albeit fragile, self-belief.[5]
It’s no wonder Brad received our well-meaning gospel presentations as culturally deaf and stale. Most of our sharing still presumed those traditional core beliefs.
So what if we took a few steps back, genuinely slowed down and met young people where they were at with the spiritual longings they had rather than bait-and-switch to the longings/questions/arguments we like, rehearse and have home ground advantage on?[6]
What if our initial goal for someone who is apathetic or indifferent was to stir spiritual curiosity rather than single-shot ‘the gospel’ with them?
Homework: What do those spiritual longings sound like for the young people in your community?
For Brad they were questions around the happiness binge our culture is obsessed with and the emptiness he felt, the existential threat climate change poses and the longing for a renewed planet, a desire to be real, known and loved amongst the instant fake and shallow.
2. Brad’s cultural quest/question has shifted
Where previously the ultimate cultural quest was for truth, in the secular age of relativism, young people are hunting a better, more beautiful story to navigate the myriad of cultural narratives they are exposed to.[7]
It’s no wonder our apologetic frame was often a total mismatch for Brad.
So what if we leant into telling a bigger, better story and helping young people get caught up in that story. Remember we have the greatest story worth sharing.
Homework: What are the stories that young people are captivated by? Why? What about those stories makes their heart sing? What if they were the keys to the deeper spiritual longings of our young people.[8]
3. Brad’s spiritual journey is different
Where previously, we sought institutional knowledge from a central trusted figure, now young Australians are sceptical of power and institutions.[9]
It’s no wonder our efforts to invite young people to come to our church/rally/event are met with hesitation. (Brad initially came because of a trusted friend…and the free food.)
So what if we leant into experiential peer learning and emphasised discussion over didactic training. Discipleship is relational. Jesus is incarnational. What if we did the same?[10] What would be different?
Brad loved being invited along to do what he called ‘Jesus stuff’ with me, like serving marginalised folks or Red Frogs and he wanted to do that stuff with others.
Homework: What teaching style is most prevalent in your church context? When was the last time you critically reviewed why you did it the way you did it?
I’d love to tell you that Brad’s become a follower of Jesus. That hasn’t happened. Brad’s still exploring spirituality and faith…but hang on, there it is, right?
It’s no longer ‘I don’t care.’
[1]On this see: Youthscape Centre for Research, No questions asked (2019)
[2] Graham Stanton, Rohan Lewis, Ridley Centre for Children and Families Your Story (2024)
[3] See for example Mark Matlock, Faith for the Curious (2024, Baker, 1st ed) who encourages us to better segment and delineate our evangelism efforts between the spiritually curious, curious sceptics, and naturalists. CRU’s audience map and associated research is a practical tool: https://audiencemap.cru.org/map/
[4] Youthscape Centre for Research (2026), Translating God challenges us to consider if what we think of our ‘good news’ is even being received as ‘good’ by our audience
[5] See Tim Kellers remarks on this here: https://youtu.be/Uq8NPWbEo5w
[6] As CRU’s Audience map reminds us, we need to realise that the pathways and questions for someone who is ‘open’ are very different to those of someone who is ‘seeking.’
[7] James Choung, Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out (2012, 1st ed, IVP); Joshua Chatraw, Telling a Better Story: How to talk about God in a sceptical age (2020,IVP, Zondervan)
[8] Tim Keller talks a lot about sharing the good news in a way that captures the heart and makes people want to believe that Christianity is true, way before engaging with the mind and apologetic questions
[9] Stanton and Lewis’ research found a particular sensitivity amongst young people towards the misuse of power.
[10] Stanton and Lewis’ research reminds us of the primacy of the relational ecosystem for young people. They’d say ‘its all A.B.O.U.T relationships.’
