Young People and Christian Ritual: Beyond Transactional Engagement

The Young People and Christian Worship study listens deeply to how young people, including teenagers and emerging adults (aged 13-29), experience public Christian ritual in a range of liturgical expressions—Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical, and charismatic. This binational, multisite, mixed methods research is situated at the intersection of sociology of religion, ritual studies, and liturgical theology. Research at six field sites included focus groups (185 participants), individual interviews (69 participants), and participant observation (29 days), and is complemented by a survey (1000 respondents). This paper is focused on challenging transactional approaches to ritual and young people through (1) a robust description of the diversity of ways young people experience ritual, and (2) a clear conception of the formation of young people within distinct traditions. Attention to these dynamics frees young people to experience and value diverse dimensions of Christian ritual and illuminates what ritual is meaning and doing today.