In the latest release of the 2006 National Church Life Survey (NCLS) on Tuesday, the Sydney Anglican Diocese\u2019s congregants are getting younger and are being integrated into church life.<\/p>\n
The survey showed a significant rise of 4 percent in the current period from 3 percent of total teenage attendants in 2001. This rise is used as a benchmark for Australian Churches.<\/p>\n
Reverend Zachary Veron, the incoming YouthWorks CEO, has attributed the rise in youth attendance to the diocese holding the Bible as the ultimate authority and placing an emphasis on sharing the message that Jesus is Lord. On average, he said, this approach had a higher youth attendance compared to a liberal approach.<\/p>\n
He told Christian Today Australia: \u201cAnglican churches in Australia which hold the Bible as the ultimate authority over our lives as God’s written word to his created beings, and therefore place an emphasis in their ministry on Bible teaching and sharing the message that Jesus is Lord with others, on average have many more young people attending church than most Anglican churches which have a more ‘liberal’ approach to the Scriptures.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
He also said that if any Anglican churches abandon the authority of the Bible over our lives, then young people will usually abandon them.<\/p>\n
Dr Philip Selden, Archbishop Jensen\u2019s Executive Officer, described the latest result as \u201cvery encouraging\u201d\u009d in the Sydneyanglicans.net, but acknowledged that more work is required since a third of Sydney Anglicans aged between 19 and 25 were not satisfied with their church.<\/p>\n
From Christian Today (Australia).<\/a><\/p>\n Another commentary about the data regarding religious belief and church growth \/ decline from Australia can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the latest release of the 2006 National Church Life Survey (NCLS) on Tuesday, the Sydney Anglican Diocese\u2019s congregants are getting younger and are being integrated into church life. The survey showed a significant rise of 4 percent in the…<\/span><\/p>\n