‘What strengths do the younger generation have?’

‘What strengths do the younger generation have?’ The youngest person in the group asked this question in a meeting of church leaders, exasperated at the negative tone of the conversation. It was an appropriate rebuke in the middle of a discussion about the apparent reduction of younger people seeking to serve full-time in gospel ministry.

It is easy to feel despair at our times. Anyone who has read Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation or Abigail Shrier’s Bad Therapy will be aware of the increase in diagnosed mental health issues among young people. Both books raise valuable matters we need to consider – issues around smartphone technology, outsourcing childhood to experts and counsellors, creating a climate of fear and anxiety among parents in the ‘real’ world, and yet ignoring exposure to harm in the ‘online’ world.

We can add other factors too; Chris Van Tulleken argues that a diet of ultra-processed food affects not just our physical health but our mental well-being too. Family breakdown, institutionalised childcare from babyhood, and iPads acting as pacifiers even for babies all play their part. It feels like a perfect storm, which, when the impact of Covid is thrown in, makes it rage more fiercely. Lives have been blighted. I meet 20-somethings who talk of their anxiety, PTSD, and the triggers that stop them in their tracks so they can no longer function.

As this generation has entered the workplace, employers have complained about the attitudes of younger staff: ‘they don’t work hard enough’, ‘they go off sick too easily’, ‘they are over-sensitive’, and ‘demand unreasonable accommodations’.

The general election campaign has touched on some of these issues. Should we bring in national service? Would it help if 18-year-olds volunteered in their community? Do we need more apprenticeships? Or better education? Do we need more counselling and improved mental health services? Or does the older generation need to listen to younger people more and let them vote at 16? I heard someone in their 20s say: ‘At times, it feels like the older generation hates us.’ It would be tragic if younger people in our church families felt undermined similarly.

Our culture seems obsessed with defining generations. Some of these observations are astute; others are fun – my own four children, born with only five years separating the oldest from the youngest, tease each other as being ‘typical Millennials’ or ‘classic Gen Z’ (apparently Millennials wear trainer socks, but Gen Z have pronounced them as uncool).

But I wonder if the differences sociologists document are as pertinent as the media portrays. After all, we are fundamentally human and created in the image of God. We will have different experiences and skills depending on our age, but we have much more in common than that which divides us. Recognising the differences between the young and the old is not new – the Bible has quite a lot to say about it. We should rightly respect our parents and our elders. Paul encourages Timothy to treat older men and women like his father and mother. Elders have a responsibility to pastor and teach younger believers, and much of this is to be done by being an example to the flock. However, we are all called to clothe ourselves with humility towards one another, and no one should look down on a fellow servant of Christ, whatever their age.

So what strengths do the younger generation have? They have grown up in the technological age. In our naivety, baby boomers and Generation X failed to appreciate the ugliness this could bring as we presented our kids with smartphones – we were too busy enjoying sending our holiday snaps to each other on Facebook.

It is not just Gen Z that the changes in our culture have negatively impacted. I hope the under-30s are more aware of the potential destructiveness of the online world and will parent their children differently. However, they will need to keep up with the rapid advances of AI, bringing another load of potential harm into unsuspecting lives. They may be better equipped to do that. Ultimately, they have the strength that every young generation always has. They have youth. They have now. They have today. They have a responsibility to remember their Creator and serve Him. The battles they will face may be daunting and unlike things that have been before.

As J.R.R.Tolkien wrote in The Fellowship of the Ring: ‘ “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ’

The young probably have more time than the rest of us, that is their strength. But we all need to use this time well and work out what works of service we are called to. Rather than negative conversations about what isn’t happening, let us work out how to spur one another on – whatever our generation – to love and good works, encouraging one another all the more as we see the Day approaching.