ABSTRACT
The lack of child churchgoing is problematic because if a religious identity is to develop into something personal and meaningful beyond socially ascribed affiliations, young people need to engage with a worshipping community. There was little sense in the study that pluralism undermined the plausibility of faith by challenging the idea of particular religious truths; nor did it prompt the young people to search beyond their own religious inheritance to satisfy a spiritual curiosity. The role of youth workers keeping faith alive takes us to the question of faith transmission and the inheritance of Anglican identity. The capacity of family tradition to maintain Anglican identity is fading fast as parents are disinclined to formally socialise their children into the faith and involve them in church activities. The generational decline of the Church of England is further seen in its figures for baptisms and confirmations.
