church planting gen z
If we track our collective idol in the west across the last 50 years, it is comfort (Postell, 2022). That’s not news to any of you who have been leading in Aussie churches over this time. Relative to history and other parts of the world, we have lived in great wealth and stability. Times and places that experience wars and suffering on mass tend to be highly religious, the poor and vulnerable particularly receptive to the gospel. Here and now, we have been able to hold the illusion that we are in control and that we don’t need God. But things are changing.
The experiment of Secular Individualism is crumbling before our eyes and our sense of comfort has been disrupted. It gets even more interesting when we dig deeper and track how that collective idol of comfort has evolved over the generations.
- For Gen X, that comfort was attracted to the security of the Aussie dream. Notice how this is about a life well accomplished and a somewhat static picture of status; being comfortable among societal norms.
- For Millennials, that comfort was still about status, but far more internalised in nature. Millennials resound with seeking experiences to form a sense of identity; being comfortable with the self.
- Gen Z’s sense of comfort is more dynamic and fluid than finding a static identity since they have had to navigate internal and external complexity. Gen Z’s version of comfort is safety; being comfortable amidst threat (real and perceived).
“Safety was built into the world of Gen Z. Safety became a human right, and any compromise of safety became a violation of that right, violating that person. People deserve to feel safe. In many ways, safety is defined as guaranteed happiness, comfort, and even success for each person… If we move this question to a personal reflection, it becomes Am I safe? When we discuss faith, it becomes Is God safe?” (Maddox, 2025, 146)
These paradigms can be observed in how we express the gospel when we proclaim it. David Williams has already aptly noted the move from guilt/innocence internal framework (Boomers/Gen X) to a pain/pleasure internal framework (Williams, 2018). You’ve probably noticed a shift in preaching over the last 20 years: from knowing you are good with God to experiencing that you are good with God. It is the change of the inner voice from an inner lawyer to an inner therapist. (Williams, 2018)
Jonathan Haidt has helped us see how Gen Z is the ‘Anxious Generation’, having been overprotected in the real world and underprotected in the virtual world (Haidt, 2025). With this insight, I would take William’s pain/pleasure internal framework further and say it has evolved to one of anxiety/safety for Gen Z.
Leadership Lessons
You’ve heard it said before, the gospel is like a diamond with many facets. It is good to contextualize the message of Jesus to a Gen Z audience. God’s word talks about a perfect love that drives out fear, that children of God are safe with him and that we have been given the powerful Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Notice that these are experiential and dynamic parts of the gospel story: rather than a status-shaped platitude like “find your identity in Christ”, we should be mining from richer doctrines like Union with Christ. Highlight the stories of scripture and from your Christian community (across generations) of everyday people following Jesus despite discomfort and suffering; that will make these truths come alive!
There are cautions to take here too. Overemphasising an anxiety/safety framework may lead us into the dangers of preaching a therapeutic gospel (Powlison, 2010). We need to be careful not to spiritually bypass the struggles of mental ill health and respond to complex feelings with formulas like “it’s not about how you feel.” If we find ourselves being dismissive towards Gen Z in our thoughts or words, that is an invitation for us to return to a humble curiosity. Christian communities are called to be far more than a “safe space” but certainly no less. They should be the places where Gen Z can be messy and wrestle with the anxieties and difficulties of life.
References
Haidt, J. (2025). The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Penguin Publishing Group.
Maddox, T. T. (2025). What Gen Z Really Wants to Know about God: Seven Questions about Life and Faith. InterVarsity Press.
Postell, M. (2022, August 9). Pastors Identify Modern-day Idols, Comfort Tops List. Lifeway Research. research.lifeway.com/2022/08/09/pastors-identify-modern-day-idols-comfort-tops-list/
Powlison, D. (2010, February 25). The Therapeutic Gospel. 9Marks. 9marks.org/article/therapeutic-gospel/
Williams, D. (2018, August 5). Introducing the Pain-Pleasure Worldview. The Gospel Coalition | Australia. http://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/introducing-pain-pleasure-worldview/
