Student life comes at a time of rapid personal growth and change. Wider experiences, the sudden removal of parental restrictions, the absence of familiar surroundings and close friends, bodily development, the rigours of academic work, all of these challenges can be both exhilarating and disorienting. Powerful feelings, both good and bad, may come to the surface together with a new longing to find a philosophical or moral framework for one's life. The temptation to reach out for something solid in a sea of change is strong.

For some, a group that proclaims simple answers to life's difficult questions will have an irresistible attraction. But for others, such groups and the answers they offer offend the healthy scepticism and well-developed intellect that brought them to college or university in the first place. At the same time, childhood experiences of mainstream churches may have left a negative impression. Many students have already rebelled against religious dogma or litmus tests of any kind. They may have despaired of finding a religious movement to which they could belong just as they are, without having to buy into anyone else's belief system.

Unitarianism proposes no dogma and imposes no creed. Neither does it offer easy answers nor claim to have a monopoly on the truth, religious or otherwise. It does, however, offer shared ideals and a forum for exploring the meaning of life. It also offers a community of fellow explorers each recognising that everyone's spiritual journey is unique and follows a road not dictated by any text or body of literature but by your own personal experience.

Not many people know that such a religious movement exists, offering freedom of thought and belief, yet providing the opportunity for people to come together with others who are also struggling with uncertainty. We in the Unitarian movement think our open-minded approach to religion is a refreshingly honest way to address the spiritual longing that so many of us feel, especially the young. We are determined to spread the word (not the Word) about ourselves, our heritage and the unique openness, tolerance and inclusivity that are the hallmarks of our faith.

Truth is a key Unitarian value and there's one truth you should know: our congregations are not all brimming with young people. On the contrary, you might find, if you were to attend a Unitarian chapel near you, that the average age of the congregation is fairly advanced. But this is changing, and a number of congregations are discovering that many of those they are attracting today are under the age of 30. The biggest gap, interestingly, consists of their parents' generation, many of whom wholeheartedly embraced secularism at a happier time in this century when material progress seemed to hold answers for humanity that we now know to be illusory. We are left struggling with how best to bridge this gap, for we believe that our movement is what today's and tomorrow's world, even more than yesterday's, needs.