Youth and family ministers find themselves in the midst of a significant generational shift as Gen Z comes of age and Gen Alpha becomes more dominant in our ministries. Many have observed a spiritual shift among these younger generations as well. We asked our Rooted writers what they are observing spiritually as they serve Generations Z and Alpha and how they are adapting their youth and family ministries to meet today’s students with the gospel of grace. We hope their answers will encourage you in your ministry.
We also hope you’ll join us for an upcoming webinar on this topic. On Thursday, April 9 at 1:00 CT, panelists Chelten Carter, Skyler Flowers, and Clark Fobes will join host Chelsea Erickson to consider what is happening spiritually with teenagers today—and how we can respond with the hope of the gospel. Register to attend the panel discussion and live Q&A as you consider how to engage the younger generations in your particular church context.
Chelten Carter, Minister and Director of Discipleship to Youth at Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, IL
One fascinating realization of growing older is recognizing that different generations experience life in distinct and unique ways. This understanding is paramount for leaders who serve in any capacity, especially ministry. Serving with Generation Z and Generation Alpha I have noticed they have a strong desire for relational discipleship. While communicative gifts are important they want to learn through closeness, not from afar. Additionally, because statistics declare that loneliness is on the rise, Gen Z & Gen Alpha desire safe spaces in which authenticity can lead to genuine friendships.
From my perspective, the current state and direction of our world present the church with an amazing opportunity. Generation Z and Gen Alpha are very open to the magnificence of Jesus, we simply need to present Christ and all His excellence!
Melanie Beasley, Children’s Ministry Director at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville TN
As George Barna notes, we are living in a culture shaped by a worldview problem—at its core, an identity problem. Our culture tells us that we are what we do. For children—and for all of us—this is deeply disorienting. The pressure to “be whatever we want to be” becomes an endless and exhausting pursuit, because we were never meant to define ourselves. Instead, we are who God says we are, created to become what he has called us to be.
Because of this, as we engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha, every lesson must intentionally and clearly teach children who they are and whose they are. Their worth is not found in what they do—or fail to do—but in who they are in Christ.
Joshua Madl, Associate Pastor at Hamilton Baptist Church in Hamilton, VA
I love these generations. They need the hope of Christ! One thing I’ve noticed is that they, more than the past few generations, are starved for relational closeness and discipleship. Gen Z and Alpha have access to more information and entertainment than ever before. In many ways, they are living in an Ecclesiastes 2 reality, where every whim of indulgence can find its way to them. Food, music, pornography, friends, education, all of it is at their fingertips. Yet, all of it can still leave a person feeling lonely and as if all is vanity.
I have found it particularly fruitful to spend more time in smaller discussion groups or one-on-one discipleship. Their response to the gospel has come from long-term relationships that lead them to the cross. Often, outright calls to Christ without prior relationship will fall on hard hearts, and yet I still make those calls. I try to contextualize my ministry to students by showing that true human flourishing comes through Christ.
Family ministry in particular has evolved in recent generations, as there seems to be an overcorrection from past parenting styles. Where perhaps the parenting of the late 90s and early 2000s was more heavy-handed. Parenting trends have lent themselves recently to a “hands-off” approach. This has been detrimental to the discipleship of students. I have had to contextualize my ministry for these parents and students by raising the bar and keeping expectations of students, not lowering them.
Brian Ryu, Youth Pastor at Bethel Korean Presbyterian Church in Ellicott City, MD
I can’t think of a better time than now to equip parents for the work of ministry. As a youth pastor, you hope to give away your ministry in gospel partnership—especially with parents of youth. As our younger Gen Alpha brothers and sisters emerge in youth group, I have noticed a cadre of parents who are equally trying to figure out what it means to parent well through a gospel lens. Some might label these parents as overbearing helicopter parents who are having a hard time letting go. On the other hand, I see eager, open, willing, and available parents who want to be equipped for the work of gospel ministry and partnership.
A number of cultural analysts have pointed out the closeness that exists among families of Gen Alpha teenagers as a result of spending so much time together during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a difficult moment in history, that time was a gift. It created meaningful space for faith conversations, family worship and prayer, table fellowship, reflection, and in-person activities. Many families gained hundreds of more meal times—if accounting for breakfast and lunch—during the peak of the shutdown, when many youth would normally be eating breakfast on the go and lunch in the cafeteria. Yes, some of these meaningful times are still eclipsed by the allure of technology and the fight to grow in independence. Yet parents of Gen Alpha teenagers have built a kind of proximity with their children like no other generation.
What an incredible opportunity to leverage this partnership with willing parents to disciple youth together for gospel ministry and lasting fruit.
Kyle Hoffsmith, Pastor of Family Ministry at Old North Church in Canfield, OH
When ministering to the emerging generations in the church, I have found I need to probe deeper than in the past to discern where teenagers stand spiritually. This includes asking appropriate questions as part of the teaching ministry about whether students have trusted in Jesus. We do this with care and within the loving context of community. As we preach the gospel, we need to be clear with students that they need to trust in Christ, not only do “Christian” things. Due to the rise in technology use, busyness, and growing complexities, it can seem easier for students to fake being Christians today. Our goal as youth workers should be to help them clearly know they need a Savior and that they can trust him today!
Clark Fobes, Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church in San Fransisco, CA
Two major themes come to mind when considering how this generation is different from previous ones, and how we can adapt to reach them with the gospel. First, teens today are growing up with a different standard of morality than most generations of the past 200+ years in America. Most have bemoaned the fact that Gen Z and Alpha no longer hold to a moral standard upheld by a supreme or divine law, and thus find it near impossible to proclaim a gospel to them that requires a recognition of this morality outside of ourselves. However, this view is actually quite unique to the Western world, almost exclusively due to the Christian influence on our laws and moral system. For the majority of the world beyond the West, morality has had a variety of standards upon which it is based, divine or not.
What is apparent in most Eastern and Southern cultures (not the American South, but the Global South) is that morality is based on a shared responsibility to the group. Many have referred to this as an “Honor-Shame” cultural lens, by which one’s standing in society is determined by how one upholds the group’s expectations of him or her (i.e., being honored for their contributions or shamed for their failings). In such a cultural milieu, proclaiming the gospel has to shift to not just telling people they are sinners because they fail to live up to God’s holy standard, but by showing people they are in sin because they cannot perfectly uphold the moral standard of the group, of which God’s “group” (his Kingdom) supersedes all.
Second, there is a current perceived “vibe shift” occurring, in which ministers to Generations Z and Alpha believe there is a heightened spiritual curiosity, and thus conclude we are on the cusp of revival. While we cannot know in which direction history and sociology will turn with each tide, there are some factors we must keep in mind as we minister in the midst of this “vibe shift.” It’s helpful to look not at the anecdotes but the facts. While many have argued that they see a heightened curiosity toward Christianity in young people, most data and figures still show young people to be the least religious in American history. So what does that mean for ministering to Gens Z and Alpha?
On the one hand, we must remember their religious upbringing and how that may be driving their curiosity. Growing up in the least religious homes under Millennial and Gen X parents, teenagers today have just not had the exposure to Christianity most Americans have in our nation’s young history. Their curiosity, therefore, is a result of ignorance. There is still much that can be leveraged here, but we must also not mistake this for genuine revival, or even adherence to the historic gospel. It’s simply a call to continue to proclaim the historic, biblical, rooted gospel of the Christian faith in its entirety.
Rather than reverting back to an attractional model to stoke these curiosities, Gen Z is especially hungry for grounding in history and tradition which our faith can offer. And on the other hand, this also means that we must continually clarify how this historic gospel of the Kingdom of God is not tethered to any one earthly kingdom. Now is the time to hold even more confidently to the truth of Christ and how his Kingdom shapes a “people for his own possession,” a “kingdom of priests and a chosen nation,” set apart to do good deeds and glorify God at his return (1 Pet. 2:9–12).
Sam Rapp, Student Pastor at Christ the Redeemer Church of Marietta, GA
Gen Z and Gen Alpha are growing up in one of the most unique cultures in human history. In my experience, the students that show up through the doors of our student ministry are both exhausted and starving for connection.
Contextualizing the Gospel to Gen Z and Alpha is more complex in ways because of how social media is influencing them. They are spending hours on their phones,1 leading them to feel incredibly lonely, cynical, tired, and confused. With that, however, I am sensing a rich honesty in their experience. When I was growing up, it seemed that everyone was a Christian and was crushing it—but underneath the surface was where the mess arrived. On the other hand, Gen Z and Alphas are the generations as it turns out, that actually coined a term for what social media is doing to them: brainrot.2
This has positive and negative implications, of course. The positive is that students are coming to our gatherings without feeling the need to pretend everything is great in their lives when it isn’t in reality. The negative is that I am seeing an increase in normalizing or being unserious about things that are, in fact, serious (e.g., school shootings, eating disorders, mental health issues, etc.). In these arenas, we are training our own small group leaders to be empathetic, real, and thoughtful in their embodied presence and the questions they ask.
Though contextualization is complicated in these regards, the application of the gospel to these students has been simplified. When a bunch of 12-18-year-olds show up on a Sunday night tired, overwhelmed, and anxious, the remedy of Jesus and his cross is sweet like honey. In practice, our student ministry teaches exegetically through the Scriptures and structures our yearly calendar in a way that fits into our students’ schedules; this associates the gospel not with anxiety and overload, but with an easy yoke (Matt. 11:28-30). Everyone in their lives is telling them to fill their schedules, build a name for themselves, and create the perfect resume by the time they are 17. Meanwhile, there hangs Christ, the Lamb of God, welcoming broken and weary sinners unto himself. Youth worker, preach the great relief of Christ to these generations.
Don’t forget to sign up for our webinar on Thursday, April 9 at 1:00 CT!
