6 Ways to Increase The Faith Of A Generation
One of the most disappointing discoveries of my Summer was the plummeting faith of the NXT Gen. In eight camps across our nation, I personally witnessed the spiraling decline of a biblical worldview in Gen Z, the present teenagers and college students in America.
When it comes to the faith of the NXT Gen, we need a plan. We have all seen the plummeting biblical worldview in Millennial and Gen Z sets. Let’s look at the statistics.
The silent generation, or grandparents today, had about a 65% biblical worldview. Then they had children that we call Gen X, or adult parents today. Gen X had about a 32% biblical worldview. We saw the statistics continue to plummet when Gen X had their first set of children, the millennials. This generational set came in at about 19% biblical worldview. All of the sudden, in just three generations, the biblical worldview in America dropped from 65% to 19%.
But what is most alarming is what happened next. The youngest children of Gen X, Gen Z teenagers today, spiraled into a 4% biblical worldview. This capped off a four generational slide from 65% biblical worldview to a 4% biblical worldview.
Faith & Apologetics
There are so many obstacles to passing the faith on from one generation to the next - obstacles such as a humanistic culture, a progressive media and entertainment industry, and a broken family structure. We need a strategic faith strategy today.
With Alpha Gen coming soon, we cannot raise another generational set without a plan for their spiritual formation.
Obviously, one of the greatest faith building strategies is the spiritual discipline of prayer, Bible reading, and fasting. But, in this blog, let’s take a look at apologetics. I believe that if your faith has changed your life, evangelism will be so much easier.
6 Ways to Increase Generational Faith
Here are 5 principles to build the faith of the next generations:
1. A symbiotic relationship with the home - we don’t solve a 4% biblical worldview in Gen Z without it
The relationship between the church and the home must improve. The greater responsibility for spiritual formation is certainly upon the home. We have lost the faith handoff in Christianity at a time when we should have been emphasizing the importance of a theological base in our families.
But the church can help greatly with this by providing parent conferences, annual training, content creation, and a close working relationship with the home.
2. Restore theology to NXT Gen min
This has been a critical loss in the last decade or so. The spiraling biblical worldview in Millenials and Gen Z has been the worst faith loss in American history.
GaGa ball and 9-square and pizza parties are not sufficient for spiritual formation in YTH ministry. It will take a disciplined commitment to theological teaching and preaching to turn these numbers around.
3. Create greater PRESENCE in NXT Gen min and not just PROGRAMMING
There has always been a struggle between program and presence in YTH ministry. In a general understanding, Programming emphasizes organizational structure and ministries. Presence emphasizes relational capital and ministry. A slight difference but critical none the less.
We must value the presence of the Holy Spirit in our programming. Why? Because the Church and YTH ministry offer teenagers today the one thing they cannot get anywhere else. That is, the presence of God. We cannot remove the presence of the Holy Spirit in NXT Gen ministry. I have dealt with this topic many times and how to bring the presence into our programming. Look on the site for other articles with practical advice oh and improving our small groups and our corporate YTH ministry setting.
4. Biblical counseling
There will always be counseling in YTH ministry. Counseling is an important part of our job description as YTH leaders. It might be spiritual, relational, vocational, or familial counseling, but, our guidance is central to effective ministry.
Make sure to emphasize the scriptures and biblical principles in your counseling. Instead of only giving our advice and experience to our students, we must give them a scriptural framework and how to look at their world through the lens of the Bible.
5. Value the supernatural
One of the most important characteristic traits of Gen Z is their love of the supernatural. What a perfect fit with Christianity. You cannot remove the supernatural from Christianity!
When we value the supernatural in YTH ministry, our students will become attracted to the work of the Holy Spirit. This can be done by teaching on the role of and the gifts of the Spirit in our teenagers lives. This can also be done by giving priority time and space for the Holy Spirit to move in our personal and corporate settings.
6. A group apologetic
I believe that you will share your faith to the degree that you have been saved.
Now hang on. This is not about degrees of salvation or trying to redefine salvation or put on qualifications for salvation. What I am saying is that if you have experienced a life-transforming salvation, you probably are the first one to share what Christ has done in your life.
In other words, if you were raised in the church and grew up around Christianity but cannot remember the day you were born again, the reality of having a burden for someone else who is lost and unchurched may not be very important to you. Our passion for others to know Christ is directly tied to our own personal transformation we have experienced in Christ.
If we do not see our faith as valuable, we probably will not spend the time sharing it with someone else.
Simply put, to whom much has been forgiven, there is an obvious burden of responsibility in the kingdom of God to do the same, to pass the faith along. We call this apologetics.
Apologetics is simply the defense and the definition of our faith. It is very important to have a personal apologetic. As a matter of fact, it is much easier to share your faith when you understand its value.
Finally
It will take a disciplined and committed effort of each of these principles to turn the tide for the next generation. In Psalm 78, David said the faith handoff from one generation to the next is the responsibility of the leaders of one generation to the next. It is the responsibility of spiritual leaders and parents to create the spiritual formation of the church and families. This will assure the transformation of a society.
After all, healthy families, build healthy churches, that build healthy communities.