Becoming Evangelical: Life and Liminalities in Christian Youth Groups

Drawing upon 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in an evangelical youth group in London, this book investigates the practices used in church contexts to bring about evangelical transformation, how these are experienced and interpreted by young people, and what this process can tell us about evangelicalism more widely.

Rob Barward-Symmons argues for the significance of the adolescent experience within evangelicalism, and explores how adult experience and subjectivity forms in these overlooked spaces. Through the lens of ritual and rites of passage theory, the book argues that the youth group period can be understood as one of sustained liminality for group members, enabled through spatial and structural separation between the youth and adult evangelical contexts.

Grounded in the case study, each of the chapters begin with an extended ethnographic vignette, with other fieldwork reflections and first-hand interview quotes incorporated through the analysis. The book raises important questions about whether the rite of becoming an evangelical subject is truly complete, and whether adult evangelical spaces can accommodate the lingering liminality fostered in youth group spaces.