Exciting news! Generation Z are more open to God than ever.
K-LOVE's Monika Kelly had a chance to sit down with Daniel Copeland, senior lead researcher at Barna Research.
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Monika: "So I understand that you have had some very interesting findings when it comes to Gen Z. Can you tell us about that?"
Daniel: "Absolutely. I'm happy to. So if you're unfamiliar with Barna Group, Barna Group is a U.S.-based research firm that studies the intersection of faith and culture.
And a lot of our time, in our research is dedicated gahering data on how Gen Z and teenagers, and young adults in the U.S., but also around the globe, relate to Jesus, view the Bible, and make an impact. The study was so ambitious. We studied 26 countries but also leaned into really understanding the teens in the U.S. today.
And we were really able to identify in this study a sharp decline in Christianity that begins in young adulthood. So this being Gen Z, but who are both teenagers today, thirteen to seventeen year olds, and eighteen to twenty two year olds, so young adults. And so a lot of our research, in that study and also generally over the last decade or so, as well as Barna's forty year history has been looking at what are these shifts amongst the next generations? How has their decline in Christendom impacted the world and impacted them as people?"
Monika: "And so you noted a decline in Christian or religious activity in young people. What do you to what do you owe that?
Daniel: "So there's a lot of things that go into this. First, we have to think about, well, how do we measure Christianity? Christianity is a set of beliefs. It's an identity. It's a set of morals and behaviors. Sometimes in sociology we talk about religion being a set of practices, a set of beliefs, and a set of affiliations. So when we look at young people for example in the U.S. today, there's this general decline in identifying as Christian. That's an easy thing to measure. That's just the number of young people today who would raise their hand and say 'I'm a Christian.'
But what we see in the U.S. for example is that sixty five percent of teens so about two out of three are identifying as Christian but that there's about half of those who identify as Christian would actually say that they have a relationship with Jesus. So you immediately amongst just teenagers you go from 65% who say 'I'm a Christian' to only about 32% who say they're following Jesus. Two different measurements but you can then see okay so on the whole there's a decline of amongst the entire generation of those who are identifying as Christian but then there's also a decline of those who are actually saying that they're following Christ. So we have to think about measurement and then we have to think about why that is. So to your question around why, there's a there are many many theories and hypotheses out there.
What we often talk about is the consequences of a connected world. Connection brings us together as people. It's bringing us together on Zoom right now. Over the last twenty years, it's connected people all across the globe around digital connection. But what we've also found is at the same time is a distrust in institutions that as the information age has increased, young people trust institutions less and less and less and they often put distance between themselves and those institutions, the church being one of those.
And so a lot of our research around next generations looks at this paradox of how can next generations really like Jesus, which is what the research finds but really the distance between themselves and the church. And oftentimes that comes back to perceptions, information, the rise of the 'nones' is largely led by mistrust and fear of institutions. So it's a pretty complicated thing to study. But at the end of the day, we're really hopeful that this data equips church leaders to meet that generation right where they're at. It's interesting too because Gen Z, of course, was affected by COVID.
They're that generation. And they also have been affected by the Internet. That is what they've been raised on. That's what they're familiar with, and they are familiar with all different types of opinions and experiences and even testimonies."
Monika: "So how has technology influenced young people?"
Daniel: "I think it's so important. While this is so intuitive to us as, adults today, as church leaders today. It's important to take a big picture and just recognize that there are so many things that we think of as normal today that people could not have predicted fifty years ago. The same way that I don't think in the mid-eighteen hundreds, people were under anticipating landing on the moon a hundred years later. When we were landing on the moon, people weren't imagining a hyper-connected world that we live in today and a day where, a world where information flows so freely.
And so when we think about young people and the access to information and the access to ideas that they have that is just unprecedented for contemporary human history. As church leaders we have to look at this and say wow they're exposed to ideas, they're exposed to things that could be considered normal that might not exist in their framework. Their parents might identify as Christian, they might go to church, but they can encounter people online who have very different kinds of normal from all over the globe. And they're able to see things and identify things, see trends that then disrupt what they think of as normal and disrupt they see a much bigger wider world than most of our parents today grew up with. And so we have to then look at the world through this lens of how much information do they have their hands on, or has their attention. David Kinnaman, the owner of Barna Group, wrote this great book a few years ago called Faith for Exiles, where in Faith for Exiles, he talks about what is resilient discipleship in the next generation.
And what we find in that research is that it's almost 10-to-one how much digital information a teenager takes in today versus how much Christian information a teenager takes in today. And so we have to think about overwhelm amounts of information, high quantities of information that overwhelm next generations that isn't necessarily rooted in a biblical or Christian perspective. So we have to think about quantity of information that they have access to."
Monika: "That's a good point. What is the good news in the Open Generation study that Barna did when it comes to Gen Z?"
Daniel: "So in the Open Generation, we get to take off some of our U.S. perspective, our U.S. lens. And we get to see a really big perspective of around the globe what's happening in, you know, sometimes in, the West and in The United States, we talk about the big 'C' church, mostly just meaning the church in the West.
But we get to see a really big view all around the globe of how people come to know Jesus and know to come the Christian walk. So some of the good news, is that despite some of the stories we've heard around people not knowing the person of Jesus, curiosity about Jesus is widespread amongst US Teens and teens around the globe. For example,
52% of US Teens say that they are very motivated to learn about Jesus today. They're interested in him. About one out of four US teens, 77 percent say that this is at least somewhat true of them.
They look at Jesus and they say, I'm curious. I wanna learn more. I like that person. And that should be engaging to us as church leaders. It's good news.
They don't look at the person of Jesus and say, I'm uninterested. While interest in Jesus, teens, may approach faith differently than past generations. There's different characteristics of Jesus that they might be drawn to such as for example we find that they really want the authentic and relevant compassionate Jesus. We as leaders should assess how tough questions around to address tough questions honestly and show how Jesus and the bible connect to them today. So basically, they're drawn to this person of Jesus.
We just need to show them that we're drawn to him too and that we connect with what they connect with him in. That's what I would say the good news is. That's great. And what do you suggest is the best way to meet young people where they're at? So I would say we need to think creatively around that digital overwhelm.
One of the things that, one of my favorite stats that I share that isn't necessarily from the Open Generation Study is that two out of three young people today agree that they long for a community where where they can speak openly about their beliefs. Two out of three young people, they wanna be heard. They want to be listened to. They wanna be cared about. What our research points to time and time and time again is that relationships are key.
The church as an institution has been really swept up in the information age, basically, boiling down scripture and boiling down the Christian message into a message, something that can just be shared and consumed, but next generations want to be heard. They want to be listened to. They want to go out to coffee with you and let them talk and let them be listened to the entire time, rather than us just interjecting with our stories or our presumptions about them. So listen to the next generation. They're curious, and they want they have something to say."
Monika: "That's fascinating. I wonder what it is what has changed from one generation to the next that has caused so many people to want to be listened to, to want to be heard? I mean, I think it's great. What's been the shift? I think that all people have a longing to be known."
Daniel: "We all long to belong, to say it that way. And there is a world that we're living in right now where culture often teaches us how to fit in, and fitting in isn't the same as belonging. Fitting in is about conformity. Who should you be and how should you be, not be you? And so when so overwhelmed with information, when with when so overwhelmed with content, it's really hard for a young person today to see how their voice and their identity matters because there's so much information, so many ideas out there in the world today.
And so how do we, in in all of those ideas, the majority of them are telling people how to fit in but not how to belong. And so I would say that my hypothesis is that everybody longs to belong. The stakes have gone up in the digital world. Anxiety and loneliness, depression are at historic highs, but the need is still the same. The problem is that we're just so overwhelmed these days that it's hard to find belonging in our own communities.
So I would say that I think that they have the same innate desire to belong in a community. Their view is so skewed compared to, you know, my parents, didn't when they were growing up, they didn't know anybody other than the people who lived on their street, and they knew those people really well. I can tell you that today, I don't know most of the people who live in my neighborhood. And so it's just an example of what that really looks like. We need relationships.
We need to belong. And that looks like being heard. So the good news is that a lot of young people are interested in the person of Jesus."
Monika: "And so what other good news did you find in your study?"
Daniel: "So we find that young people live in this very open world.
And we titled this report the Open Generation, because when we looked at the data, in this study, the Open Generation covered, three different pillars of maybe we'd say Christian life. The first is perceptions of Jesus. The second is views and engagement with the Bible. And the third is how we make a difference, how we do good in the world. And what we find in this research is that across all of those Christian teens, Christian Next Generations are biblical way and to make a difference in their lives.
Those things haven't changed one generation over the next. It's still a very strong conviction amongst the next generation. They find Jesus in the Bible. They find the Bible as a motivation to go do good in the world. And so we wanna keep optimism as church leaders that, yes, there are are shifts in society, but the identity of Christendom, the, walk of Jesus still works in next generations.
They're still interested and engaged, with these ideas. And I don't think that those are going away even if the number of us who identify as Christian over time might decrease. And so we should look at the next generation and understand they are very compelled by the good news. They are very compelled by the Bible. They want to live in those ways.
We just have to lead them in a way that looks a little different today."
Monika: "That makes sense. Well, thank you so much, Daniel Copeland."