gospel
Blaze Pascal famously talked about the God-shaped hole, “A God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person which cannot be filled by any created thing – but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.” Imagine with me that in a concentric circle around the God-shaped hole, there is a Church-shaped one too.
The existential disorientation of Gen Z goes beyond the question, “who am I?” and asks “what/who do I belong to?” Let us offer up Christian community.
The historically and globally consistent norm of how God works calls the lost home is through His people, specifically through local churches. He uses other means, but this is how he loves to build his Church. In my time observing trends of evangelistic impact, a consistent pattern emerges: most people belong before they believe. Gen Z needs to know and befriend Christians.
Gen Z desperately wants something Christians can take for granted: to belong to something bigger than themselves. They’re struggling with the dead ends of Secular Individualism that leaves you alone and unequipped to navigate the complexity and injustice of the world. According to McCrindle Research on Gen Z Aussies (McCrindle Research, n.d.):
- The top global issues are: ending racism, reducing climate change, social equality and alleviating poverty. This shows us a deep compassion for people, even those they don’t personally know.
- Their top 5 reported fears are: not having enough money to live comfortably, being stuck in a job they don’t enjoy or find fulfillment in, not reaching their full potential, not finding love and never being able to buy their own home. What a longing for hope!
- And to top it all off 74% of their time outside work, study and sleep is spent on screens. How overwhelming, tiring and lonely.
Gen Z might find easier community in places outside the church, places that bring less friction. But there is a distinct witness about the unlikely unity of the Church that adorns the beauty of the gospel. Other communities are usually marked by self-interest like belonging to a sub-culture. Churches are usually marked by interest in others, and we belong to a diverse Kingdom.
If the local church is “doing life together” with the kind of mutual submission, grace and respect that Christ called the local church to do, it’s nearly impossible to hang around and not bump into Jesus. We’re his body after all. This is the vision of Ephesians 4 and Galatians 3 and the trajectory of Revelation 7. The vision we’re given isn’t diversity for the sake of diversity, but because diversity is inherently a feature of the gospel community.
Leadership Lessons
In your local church, you may feel out of touch with young people “out there”. You may feel like you aren’t savvy or impressive enough to “attract” young people. But you have community, you have meaning and purpose. You are rich in the eyes of Gen Z and you can help meet an unchurched Gen Z’s felt need for those things. That’s in our control and that’s the opportunity set before us. Let us not undermine the potential of the local church. As God designed, the local church continues to be the hope of the world.
So, create opportunities for belonging through hospitality. Of course, biblical hospitality is not hosting guests but inviting strangers and unlikely outsiders to become friends with Jesus. This can look different for every church community but unstructured time to connect over the table is what will build relationships. As you do, look for signs of belonging. Are they becoming familiar with people’s names? Do they pitch in and pick up the tea towel to dry the dishes? Have they started saying “we” in reference to church? They might just be ready to encounter Jesus for themselves.
References
McCrindle Research. (n.d.). Gen Z – the complete guide. McCrindle. mccrindle.com.au/article/topic/generation-z/gen-z-the-complete-guide/
