Skummer kirken fløten? Ungdom i kirkelige ungdomsmiljø

Skimming the Cream? About Youth Involved in Church Youth work In 2012, the authors conducted a survey amongst appr. 1200 Norwegian young people in the post-confirmation age of 15-16 years. A series of 23 semi-clinical interviews of adolescents in the same age group preceded the survey, both including youth participating in church youth activities after confirmation, as well as confirmed youth without further church involvement. The study aims to find out and explain who the adolescents taking part in Church activities are and what motivates them. Do they have a Christian orientation and a Christian identity, and if so, what do those look like? It is evident that religious orientation and practice is somewhat more pronounced amongst participants than their non-participating counterparts, but not very different. The impotance of religious background and experience with church child work as predictors for church involvement in adolescence is confirmed. On average, church youth expose a stronger involvement in organized leisure time activities and general volunteering than their counterparts without church involvement, and they do slightly better at school. The data provide evidence that relational aspects of confirmation and youth work experience play a crucial role for further church involvement. Adolescent religiousness hasa relational nature, too. In contrast to an image of inclusivity and diaconal focus in Church youth work, our findings describe church-youth work as the playground for the better adjusted and more resourceful amongst adolescents. In the light of the positive effects of a large peer and adult network for adolescent development, the findings support a claim by King & Furrow that church involvement and religiousness relate to higher social integration amongst adolescents.