The mentorship programme Cross-Current has conducted a study among 350 Christian graduates over the past four years. Many have “a strong desire to apply biblical integrity and virtues to their work” but they face “real challenges”.
Young Christian professionals in Europe “face uphill struggle to bridge faith and work”, says a newly published study.
The report was conducted among 350 people in Europe and Eurasia as part of the mentoring and training programme Cross-Current (of Graduate Impact, a ministry of IFES Europe), with the support of the Templeton Religion Trust.
After extensive interviews and questionnaires with professionals who have been in the workplace for between 1 and 10 years, the study showed that “young Christian professionals consider their values at work to be counter-cultural and risky for their career”.
Data of the Cross-Current 2021 report.
According to the authors, there is a “strong desire among young Christian professionals to apply biblical integrity and virtues to their work”. Nevertheless, “during 20 years of working with young Christian professionals, we have seen many become weekend Christians, indistinguishable at work from their colleagues, and Jesus can easily be squeezed out of their lives”, says Tim Vickers, Director of Cross-Current.
The challenges faced by young professionals “are real and yet seem to be poorly understood in Christian circles” in a continent rapidly becoming secularised, where “large numbers of people aged 18-29 who identify with no religion”.
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(c) Evangelical Focus, used with permission
