Coming out of the Covid 19 pandemic, churches across the country are experiencing change at many different levels. One of the issues which has been accentuated by the Covid lockdowns, but not caused by it, is a rising tide of loneliness in the Australian community, no more so than amongst the under 30s who typically have a large number of online relationships and friendships.
Surveys in various countries have found the 18-24 age group to be the loneliest age group of all.¹ Related to this widespread problem of loneliness is a decline in the proportion of the population who are marrying or finding long-term intimate partnerships, together with a substantial increase over the last two decades in the proportion of children who, at some point while they are under 18, will experience their parents living apart.²
