Fanning the flames of the hopes and dreams of Gen Z

On Saturday mornings I really enjoy grabbing a great cup of coffee and picking up The Times newspaper. It is a brilliant way to catch up on the news and to see where to direct my prayers.

How delighted I was to read the following headline last week: ‘Gen Z half as likely as their parents to identify as atheists.’ As I read on, it was amazing to see that those who are part of Gen Z (born between 1996 and 2010) are a far more spiritual generation than many think. This particularly impacted me as I am a parent of teenagers and had already sensed this might be true. Only 12% of under 25s are atheists which is far lower than for Boomers at 20%, or my own generation, Gen X, that is the most atheist of all the age groups.

We’re often told the story that Christianity is dying, that younger people aren’t interested and that the church in the UK has a better past than it has a future. This survey, at the very least, encourages us that younger people are open. Beyond the percentage of atheists in each generation, when asked if they have a spiritual side, 62% of 18 to 24-year-olds said they are ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ spiritual, compared to just 35% of those aged over 65, 36% of those aged 55 to 64, and 52% of those aged 35 to 44. However, the survey also showed that though younger people are far more open to spirituality, they are often put off by established religion.

My overarching thought is that we need to do all we can to signpost Gen Z to Jesus. They may struggle with the established church, but there is no questioning the potential openness to a relationship with Jesus that then grows within a church setting. Other studies such as Talking Jesus have also highlighted this struggle that some have with the established church while maintaining an openness to talk to a friend about their faith.

Once younger people surrender their lives to Jesus there is a huge impact on older Christians too. I see this in my own household with my 18-year-old daughter. She and many of her friends are so on fire for Jesus. I walked past her bedroom the other day as she was having a prayer and Bible study with loads of other young people on Zoom for two hours. Looking back, it would seem quite unlikely that I would have been doing the same thing at that age.

As I travel the UK it feels like the Lord is doing something new among Gen Z more widely. From extended times of prayer and worship, to hunger for the Word, to a desire for godly justice, there seems to be a fresh move in this younger generation. My experience matches up to what I read in The Times. There are many new things gathering momentum for this age group too, from ‘The Way’ on Instagram through to ‘The Send’ and their incredible events and gatherings for younger people.

I really am excited about what the future holds. I guess the challenge to those of us that are older is to not get in the way, but to cheer on; not to dampen the hopes and dreams of the young but instead help fan them into flame. We need to pray fervently that what it seems the Lord is starting in the small will develop into the big. That we might see something really significant amongst our teenagers and young adults. I pray that what has started with an interest in spirituality will lead to the right destination and that Gen Z will truly turn their eyes upon Jesus and surrender their lives to Him en masse.