In its survey, NCLS indicated Generation Y made a positive assessment in every area of church life and showed the highest score for seven out of the nine qualities (growth in faith, worship, belonging, empowering leadership, innovation, faith-sharing, and inclusion). However, Generation Y didn't record the highest score for the practical and diverse services.
From the figure seen by Christian Today Australia, it showed a decline of these nine qualities when Christians aged. In particular, the steepest decline is found in the 'builder' age group, which consist of people aged 65 and above.
As they get older, they prefer to attend worship service weekly and listen to traditional styles of music in worship services. They spend regular time in private devotional activity and have a strong sense of belonging to their denomination. Older Christians tend to be involved in church-based community service, justice or welfare activities.
Younger Christians are more likely to join small groups and prefer contemporary styles of music in worship services. They have helped others in a range of informal ways and value outreach program. They are usually newcomers to church life and have switched denominations or transferred congregations in the previous five years.
Surprisingly, young Christians attached a significant lower value of sharing Holy Communion/the Eucharist compared to other Christians as they get older.
One major finding from the survey was the dramatic increase in proportion of church attendants who are aware of their church's vision, goals, and direction – from 57 percent in 2001 to 70 percent in 2006. However, Christians aged 65 and over have the lowest commitment to their church's vision for the future. When Generation Y was asked to rate their confidence in the vision of the church, they recorded the highest proportion of those who are fully confident.
In relation to innovation in the church, 63 percent of Generation Y of attendants strongly agreed/ agreed that their church was willing to try something new, where the percentage increases as they get older.
To further test the respondents' openness to new ideas, an additional open-ended question was asked by NCLS researchers. The question was "If others who worship here wanted a different style of worship, attendants think the church should…"
There were 32 percent of Christians aged 65 and over who believe the church should maintain the current style of worship but it decline as Christians get younger.
The preliminary review given by the NCLS, though still warrant more research and analysis, allowed them to draw two brief conclusions.
"The overall involvement in church life speaks of younger attendants' being, with Generations Y and X the most likely to have increased their frequency of church attendance in the last year, highly involve in leadership and ministry roles, and being the highest proportion of attendants at faith-based small groups," quoted the NCLS e-newsletter.
"This combined with a strong ownership of the church's vision and confidence that it can be achieved, illustrated a picture of motivated younger attendants ready and willing to be involved in a new and innovative future of their church."
The NCLS also believe that the strong commitment is displayed by older attendants, in the form of their contribution over years of faithful service and continual loyalty to their denominations. Devotion to faith practices, maintaining a consistent and unchanging traditional style speaks highly of preserving a heritage, with a desire to build a vision for the future.
This transition period, the NCLS stated at the end, would be very interesting and unique given the dramatic differences between current generations.