“The church culture I grew up in requires belief then discipleship. Gen Zs must belong before they believe.” said Professor Denise-Margaret Thompson, the national associate director of the Caribbean Fellowship of Evangelical Students and the national director of Black Scholars and Professionals, a ministry within InterVarsity/USA, at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Incheon, South Korea, on September 24.
In the speech “Gen Zs in Missional Community, God’s New Society,” she emphasized to all attendees the significance of Generation Zs for God’s mission today and that the church must engage and equip them in accord with their characteristics.
To make it clear, Professor Thompson first introduced 7 living generations today, each of whom owns specific thinking, speaking, and acting styles. They are named as follows: the greatest generation (people born between 1901-1924), the Silent generation(1925-1945), Baby boomers(1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Millennials(1981-1996), Generation Z (1997-2012), Generation Alpha(2013-2024), and Generation Beta (2025-2039).
The reason why Gen Zs were specifically mentioned out of other generations for current mission work, as introduced by Professor Thompson, lies in their special qualities.
The first and primary reason is that Gen Z is demographically the largest single generation, making up 32% of the global population. Moreover, the Gen Z population is significantly rising and powerful in the global south, which says 60% of Africans are under the age of 25, one-quarter of the 2 billion Gen Zs live in South Asia, and remarkably, only India’s Gen Z population is more than the whole Americans. As mission work has dramatically shifted to the global south, Gen Zs should be given as much attention as possible.
They are the first global digital youth generation connected by digital devices, the first generation who got in touch with social trauma from the elementary school age, such as mass gun shootings, crime, kidnapping, etc., which caused higher mental health challenges than the ages before.
At the same time, she highlighted that Gen Zs have excellent Spiritual awareness but reject organized religions. Rather than finding out whether Christianity is true or not, they prefer to see that it is good.
“They enjoy collaborative workspaces, demand healthy work-life balance, and value membership authenticity and transparency from supervisors,” she continued. “ They are hungering for belonging, leadership, peace, authentic transparent relationships, and community, which are exactly teachings from Jesus Christ.”
Besides, they are highly involved in social concerns, such as racial inequity, corruption, climate change, extreme poverty, human trafficking, mental health, sexual abuse, and injustice.
And because of the global market and digital techniques, the generation’s qualities, information, and carings show a high consistency across the world.
Living and ministering in America and Caribben, she noticed several Gen Z spiritual revivals, where college students held weekly prayer and worship meetings, music counseling, scripture reading, etc., impacting and leading their classmates and friends to convert and get baptized.
Having recognized the significance and influence of Gen Zs, Professor Thompson urged the church to engage, equip, motivate, and mobilize them into a missional life.
The church culture of “believe then discipleship” does not accommodate Gen Zs, she reminded all leaders, that engagement should always be the first step. Churches must change the members’ involvement from spectator mode to full participant mode, “connection and participation in any faith community’s activities, programs, and services will be fully engaged churches with Gen Zs.”
Then moving to equipment, three remarks were made. First, the church should teach Gen Zs to study to have solid faith and confession to God and the right understanding of the world of truth. Second, teach them to pray, “be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” quoted from Philippians 4:6-7. Third, to let them go into mission, to make disciples whenever and wherever they go, for the Holy Spirit will be with them, teach and lead them.
These Gen Zs will follow Jesus across the world, “will we welcome and disciple them on their terms?” the Professor finally asked.
