In our continuing series, we’re reviewing research from the Barna Group and Impact 360 Institute over the trends emerging in the Gen Z culture (those born from 1998—2015).  Last time, we examined how a sizable number of parents felt ill-equipped to disciple their teen children, and how the church must disciple the parents in order to reach their children.  Today, we’re going to review research examining youth ministry to today’s Gen Z’ers.  Is it effective and impactful?  What can we learn?

The authors and editors at Impact 360 Institute (their book, Gen Z) surveyed a number of parents and youth leaders to assess how effective church ministry to youth is going today.  As expected, a little over half of pastors to today’s teens commented on the way social media and communication technology has influenced the mindset of the youth that they are seeking to reach and to disciple.  More importantly, these youth leaders noted the ways today’s technology has structured the way youth engage interpersonally with those around them (parents, family, peers, etc.).  In many ways, these church leaders see correctly how consumerism, moral relativism, gender identity issues, and the pressures of “political correctness” have shaped the way today’s youth see things and process information.

It is a different animal when the parents are asked about the church’s ministry effectiveness to their teens.  When asked to identify the strengths of their church’s ministry to Gen Z’ers, a respectable percentage of parents noted positively the ability to provide a comfortable environment for teens to worship (42%) and creating a safe place for teens to develop positive relationships with others (34%).  After that, it starts to go downhill.  Less than 1 out of 4 parents (23%) saw the church “providing a place for teens to ask serious questions about the Bible or foundational Christian beliefs” (Gen Z, p. 86).  Less than 1 out of 5 (16%) saw the youth ministry abled to “equip teens to talk about their faith with people who do not share their beliefs” (Ibid.).  An even lesser percentage (14%) saw the church “helping teens to develop personal devotional habits” (Ibid.).  It appears that some of the most vital things professing Christian parents want from the church for their teenaged children are not finding fulfillment, at least from the standpoint of the parents.

When the shoe is reversed, a similar type of frustration is registered among youth pastors towards parents who were “not prioritizing their teen’s spiritual growth” (68% of all youth pastors surveyed, Gen Z, p. 88).  Likewise, in the same survey, many youth leaders (45%) saw “lack of consistent participation” as a critical factor in their inability to impact students.  Obviously, many youth leaders struggle with balancing the need for kids to have a “fun time” at youth group (relationships, stress-relief from school and other pressures) with challenging them with Christian discipleship and worldview formation (evangelism and apologetics).  As a result, in the minds of many youth leaders, there isn’t enough time to do all these things. As a result, kids become disinterested, Christian parents become bewildered, and youth leaders experience burnout in the process.

What needs to happen?  To me, this points to the need for a team-approach to youth ministry.  It takes more than one person to reach teens.  You need a whole church!

I mentioned this in the last blog, but I’ll repeat quickly: grandparents (many who are mature in their faith) need to get on the “youth ministry team” by offering Christian worldview workshops to parents so that they can disciple their teen children.  In addition, young adults (specifically, millennials) need to be recruited both to connect and to socialize with youth in an effort to create a fun and relationally-welcoming environment for teens to want to come to youth group.  Finally, churches need to invest in the theological and ministry leadership training of their youth leaders so that they can structure/prioritize their time and skills in evangelizing and discipling youth around the tough questions that many Gen Z’ers ask in regards to the Christian Faith (Science vs. the Bible, the reliability of the Scriptures, etc.).  Without a team-commitment to reaching and discipling today’s Gen Z culture, many efforts will fall flat.

Some say it “takes a village” to reach today’s youth.  I say it takes an entire church…and more!