Generation Y in Australia Seeks New Ways to Express Faith

|TOP|The Generation Y in Australia is gradually departing from religion, but churches are finding new ways to capture back the youth.

Religious research body the National Church Life Survey says only 14 percent of young Australians aged 20 to 29 attend church at least monthly, but 21 percent of that age group have an interest in New Age or alternative religion.

Social commentators say Pentecostal Hillsong's success is founded on its ability to respond to the desire of young people to find new ways to express their spirituality.

Rapper Kanyon Grave claims that ‘if you're a Christian you've got the best excuse to party, because you're going to heaven.’

Grave, also known as Kevin Goddard, 27, is one of a growing number of young Australians attracted by a more contemporary form of Christianity that says it's all right to turn your music up loud, enjoy a good party, and still love Jesus.

Grave and his hip hop and R&B collective the Bayca Boys -- Bayca stands for "believe and you can achieve" -- performed at the annual Big Exo event, where over 10,000 like-minded young Aussies enjoyed a day-long festival of Christian-inspired music ranging from hip hop to hardcore rock.

"Events like this show young people that being Christian isn't about falling asleep on wooden seats in the church; being Christian can be about living the most exciting life you can live," said Tay, 20, from Wollongong, just south of Sydney.

|AD|Event leader Phil Dooley agrees. Dooley is a youth pastor at Sydney-based Hillsong church and travels the world with a group of young musicians spreading the church's message.

"The message of Christianity doesn't change, but the way you present it has to change with each generation," said Dooley.

"With traditional religions, it tends to be all about what you can't do and how you will be punished," said author Rebecca Huntley, whose book "The World According to Y" examines the generation born from the early 80s.

"Hillsong's message is that if you love God you can have fun, friends, and be attractive to the opposite sex," said Huntley. The church says attendance at its youth-oriented Friday night services rose 15 percent in 2005. Two-thirds of its estimated 19,000-strong congregation is under 30.

Music forms a large part of Hillsong's attraction, and the Friday night services have been described as more like rock concerts than religious gatherings, its CDs having topped Australian charts.