1. Religiously engaged respondents value cogeneration – and are doing it in all aspects of life.

• Religiously engaged adults are significantly more likely than non-religious adults to interact with different age groups (beyond family) in a given week, and are more likely to interact with other generations in nearly every category of activity surveyed, including volunteer work, exercise and sports, hobbies, time with friends, time with family, and education/school. This finding holds true even after controlling for age, education, race and gender. (Slides 7-8)
• When asked, “Thinking now about the religious or spiritual community that you participate in, how important are each of the following to you…,” religiously engaged adults responded with the following (slide 26):
  • 82% – Helping others or improving your community
  • 81% – Creating a welcoming and inclusive community
  • 79% – Deepening your spiritual practice
  • 78% – Creating opportunities for older and younger members to connect
• Respondents report that the wide variety of religious activities they engage in are improved by the presence of younger and older people. (Slide 10)
  • On average, 60.1% of respondents say the presence of younger people improved their experiences in religious activities. Similarly, 65.3% of respondents say the presence of older people improved their experiences in religious activities. Most of the remaining respondents gave a neutral opinion, and very few expressed negative opinions.
• Of people who have worked/volunteered within their religious communities with someone significantly younger, 80% report the collaboration as positive. And of people who have worked/volunteered within their religious communities with someone significantly older, 90% report the collaboration as positive. (Slides 11-12)
• For religiously engaged respondents, there’s universal agreement on the benefits of cogenerational connection for both older and younger people. Respondents said the top benefit for older adults is sharing what they know with other generations, and the top benefit for younger adults is gaining unique knowledge from working with older generations. Less than 4% said they don’t believe people benefit from those connections. (Slide 27)
• Respondents spend the majority of their time with individuals from their own age group, with cogenerational interactions reaching the highest levels between 30-69 years old. (Slide 6)

2. Cogeneration is an incentive for religiously engaged adults to participate in their faith communities.

• When asked the question, “If a religious or spiritual community offered opportunities to build relationships with people who are considerably older and younger than you, would you be more or less likely to participate with that group?” 45% of religiously engaged adults responded they were more likely to participate. (slide 23)
• When asked the question, “If a religious or spiritual community offered opportunities to join forces with people considerably older or younger than you to address community problems, would you be more or less likely to participate with that group?” 44% of religiously engaged adults responded they were more likely to participate (slide 23).
• While nearly 50% of religiously engaged adults feel that cogenerational opportunities increase their interest in participation, 8% said they were actually less likely to participate in cogenerational opportunities, noting the inevitability of not seeing eye to eye among their reasons. (slide 23)
• When religiously engaged respondents were asked why cogenerational opportunities would or would not increase their participation in religious communities, the following reasons were the most popular answers given by those who were more likely to participate (slide 24):
  • 34% – enriching perspectives (diverse viewpoints, intergenerational learning, broadened understanding, appreciation for diversity, mentorship and guidance)
  • 26% – community building (sense of belonging, strengthened bonds, collaborative problem-solving, collective responsibility, bridging gaps)
• When asked what activities would help connect older and younger community members, the most common suggestions were social gatherings (19%), spiritual activities (16%), community engagement (11%) (slide 30).
• Nearly half of religiously engaged adults say that cogenerational activities with their religious or spiritual communities would make no difference in their decisions to participate. But their reasoning was often due to their abilities to participate (e.g., limited time or mobility), while others had a more neutral perspective to age diversity or noted that they would participate regardless. (slide 24)
• For those who said that cogenerational activities increased their chances of participating, as well as those who said it does not, 25% of each couldn’t explain their reasoning (checked “don’t know” or “no answer”). (Slide 24)

3. Cogenerational opportunities are unlikely to draw non-religious people into faith spaces, largely due to distrust of organized religion.

• 90% of nonreligious adults said cogenerational opportunities do not increase their interest in participating in religious or spiritual communities. They most frequently cited their attitude toward religion (dislike/distrust of organized religion) as the primary reason for this response (31%), although many also said they don’t know why (33%). (Slides 21-22).

4. Most religiously engaged adults think their communities need more outreach to bring generations together, but struggle to envision new approaches to connecting across generations.

• Religiously engaged respondents most often cite mentoring opportunities and community service as effective ways to strengthen connections across generations. (Slide 29)
• 36% of religiously engaged respondents said their community makes no effort to connect older and younger members. (Slide 15)
• Averaging across all age groups, a majority of respondents think greater outreach is needed across ages. (Slide 17)
• When asked, “Do you feel like the religious or spiritual community that you participate in is effective at connecting older and younger people?” two-thirds of religiously engaged respondents said “very or somewhat effective.” But this perception varies significantly with age. Ages 30-49 had the highest score of all age groups on perceived outreach effectiveness in their communities (76%), while ages 50-69 had the lowest (56%). (Slide 16)
• Among the most frequently cited obstacles to connecting across age, 22% said differences in lifestyle (lack of common interests, scheduling conflicts, technological barriers, mobility challenges). 17% said divisive perspectives among generations (generational divide/gap, age difference, knowledge discrepancies, young people undervalue interactions with older people, value and traditional differences, communication gaps). 12% said intergenerational tensions (unwillingness to listen, differing views, lack of respect, misunderstanding). Politics and social media were also mentioned as contributors to this divide (Slide 28). 
• 21% of religiously engaged adults said “no,” “don’t know” or “no response” when asked about the things religious communities are doing well to connect generations. (Slide 18)
• 35% said “none,” “don’t know,” or “no answer” when asked, “What are some of the things the religious or spiritual community that you participate in could do better making connections between older and younger people?” (slide 19).

5. Cross-generational mentoring is an appealing approach but often falls short in execution.

• For religiously engaged respondents, there’s universal agreement on the benefits of cogenerational connection for both older and younger people, and mentoring scored high among the imagined benefits. In particular, 64% of respondents said the top benefit for older adults is sharing what they know with other generations. And the top benefit for younger adults (62%) was gaining unique knowledge from working with other generations. (Slide 27)
• When religiously engaged adults were asked about the benefits younger and older generations might get from having opportunities to connect across generations in their faith communities, the benefits with the highest responses involved sharing knowledge, increasing appreciation, changing views, producing better solutions, and simply relating.  (Slides 27 and 29) 
• Social gatherings (22%), spiritual activities(18%), community engagement (14%), and experiences (13%) were rated as the activities already happening that they think are succeeding. (Slide 18)
• Asked which activities are particularly effective at building or strengthening connections between older and younger people, responses of “very effective” were highest for mentorship opportunities (44%), community service projects (43%), music or worship (41%), and programs that reduce social isolation (39%). (Slide 29)
• Mentoring scored low (8%) when respondents were asked which cogenerational activities they think their religious communities are doing well. (Slide 18)

6. Cogenerational activities like volunteerism, community service and initiatives that reduce social isolation and loneliness could draw religiously engaged people into the wider community.