A report from Faithwire suggests churches may have their youth strategies all wrong. I might need to go and buy an old building! I am not sure about the methods used to get to this result or how they transfer across cultures.

A newly released study from research consultancy ComRes has found that many young people are exploring the Christian faith as a direct result of visiting beautiful religious buildings. In a  2016 survey, nearly 13 percent of teen converts cited “visiting a church building” as playing a vital role.

The report indicates that the experience of beautiful religious architecture is more effective in evangelizing the younger generation than attending a youth group (11 percent) or a church service (12 percent), according to a write-up of the report by U Catholic.

ComRes interviewed 2,000 people aged 11-18 in December 2016, but the results of the online survey were not released until last summer. This was as a result of analysts finding it hard to believe that the figures were true.

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