Young People Present an Open Door
July 31, 2023
In America, there is a lot of talk about Gen Z. Some of the conversation centers around the mental health crises of the generation. Other parts of the conversation revolves around their social justice zeal paired with their media skill. Gen Z is unlike any generation before it and, if you work with young people, perhaps you can share in the excitement Pastor P has over this generation.
Pastor P serves in South Asia and, as is common, he has found that older generations are reluctant to convert to Christianity, even if they are convinced of its truth. Pastor P states that the reason for this is that “they feel they should not leave the faith of [their] forefathers”. Keeping the traditions and faith of their families is vitally important to the older generations. But, it seems that the younger generation does not share that value. In the area where Pastor P and other believers are evangelizing, young people are coming to faith and submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Additionally, the incredible thing is that some parents are coming to faith in Christ as a result of their children. Where ministers are running into a brick wall, Gen Z has the key.
What if conversations, not just about Gen Z but with Gen Z in America, began to include stories like the story of Pastor P’s ministry? What if conversations with Gen Z began to cast vision for how the Lord might leverage their lives to reach hard-hearted aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, or parents? What if conversations with Gen began to invite Gen Z to participate in the Great Commission globally, not despising their youth but taking advantage of it?
Pastor P notes that another obstacle to conversion in South Asia is anti-conversion laws. People can be punished by the government if and when their conversion is found out. Local ministers and believers can be the targets of intense persecution. Yet, in spite of all of this, Pastor P is seeing about 5 families a year come to faith as local believers and young people take the Great Commission seriously.
Gen Z is not defined by the troubles that plague them or the folly they carry out. Rather, may Gen Z be defined radically as beloved children of God who gladly give themselves for the advancement of the gospel.