Have We Lost Gen Z?

Gen Z is leaving the church, and as of right now, they’re not coming back. 

That is not meant to be a hyperbolic, fearmongering statement; it is a statement of fact. Millennials were the first to start the exodus. They were the first generation to be less religious than their parents and to identify as having no religious affiliation. 

If Millennials started the trend, Gen Z took the ball and ran with it. A little more than ⅓ of Gen Z define themselves as religiously unaffiliated, up 29% from Millennials. 

But Why?

This should lead us to wonder why they are leaving. From my experience, there seem to be three significant issues: justice, LGBTQIA+, and the unwavering Evangelical support for Donald Trump.

Gen Z has grown up in a world of rampant inequality. From the days of Occupy Wall St. to George Floyd’s murder in 2020, and everything in between, they have seen enough of this world, its problems, and the Chruch’s failure to address these problems enough. 

In a similar vein, as the culture becomes increasingly open to the concepts of gender and sexuality, Gen Z has grown up in a world where this is essentially a settled issue. Same-sex couples can get married, they can adopt children, and pretty much live the same life as any heterosexual couple. 

Between the positive images they see in media and the astronomical rise in LGBTQ-identifying persons in their generation, it is hard for them to see and believe that these friendly, loving people they know are rejected by a good God. Especially when many of the Christians they know are judgmental, hypocritical, and sometimes just generally mean. 

Politically, this generation has been completely turned off by the way the Church has pledged its undying support for former President Trump. They cannot square Evangelicals' support for him with what they see in his character. The same people telling them about the need to keep their bodies pure are putting their hopes in a man with several assault charges levied against him.

All of these have converged to bring us to this state of crisis with this cohort.

Ultimately, this generation has been discipled, shaped, and from, and found their primary influences outside of the church. You can argue that this is true for every generation, but the data tells us this generation is just different. 

Teenagers have been rebellious historically, but they have always come back. The Modern teen is not. We should be concerned. Their disconnection from the church happened earlier than it had occurred for previous generations. Where I live, teens are allowed to leave church their Junior year of high school because they need to focus on the SATs. The reality is many of them left mentally in middle school. 

These kids are not even close to having their brains fully developed, yet they are inundated with information and attractive options at every turn. They are not debating the age of the earth or whether or not the Bible is trustworthy; they are asking deep, significant questions about human flourishing.  

They are trying to live in and navigate this world where the algorithms of their favorite platforms are designed to gain their attention. Therefore, they create an endless feedback loop of what they want to hear and see. 

What does this mean?

If churches don’t wake up and focus on their students now, twenty years from now, the church won’t be there. 

This means taking the time to engage with them rather than relegating them to the kiddie corner. They need our investment. We know how unintelligent teenagers can be, yet we’ve decided the best place for 16-year-olds to be shaped and formed is with other 16-year-olds and a 20-something just trying to keep the night from devolving into chaos. 

When I read the book of Acts, the churches we say we want to emulate, do we see them setting the kids aside?

No, instead we see entire households being saved. That means everybody was together. That means the young were invested in by the old. It means the old shared their space with those younger than them. 

I understand that we are all busy but what does it look like to care for them now instead of waiting and hoping and wishing they’ll come back? Our strategy for Gen Z is not to sit on the sidelines while they flounder because “they’ll come back.”

We find solace in knowing that the Church will never die. God has and always will take care of his people, and he will always preserve a remnant for himself. 

This generation may be the one to transform the American church, not with their presence but with their absence.