A few days ago, I enjoyed and greatly benefited from listening to a simulcast sponsored by the Barna Group and Impact 360 Institute who just released some cutting-edge research on today’s “Gen Z” youth culture, in their two books, Gen Z and Barna Trends 2018, available at www.barna.com/resources.  In the forthcoming weeks, I will highlight a number of findings from this research that I pray will help ministry leaders, pastors, and other believers know how to reach this current culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Although this research is focused on those born since 1998, I have found that many trends and forces highlighted by the authors are also greatly at work in our post-Christian culture-at-large.

In this blog, I want to highlight how technology is a powerful trend shaping this generation.  In this “screenager” world where 57% use information technology more than 4 hours a day on their mobile devices, you would be hard-pressed to find people who can function without their phone.  In fact, a new word, “nomophobia,” now describes a vast number of people who feel anxious when their phone is out of their reach.  While some benefits exist with a mobile phone (a degree of safety, direct communication, etc.), people in general, and especially those in Gen Z, struggle with their emotional and psychological identity because they want to engage a screen and not a real human being.  This explains why depression and suicide have gone off the charts not only with today’s teen culture, but also among other age groups in our society.  They believe they are “connected,” but in reality they are alone.

This also explains why mental issues such as recall, cognitive focus, and attentiveness have challenged a larger number of people today.  The effects of sleep deprivation and the lack of “brain rest” are also problems the medical community is seeing more from this technology-dependent, video “gaming” culture.  Because of the visible dominance of social media, there is practically an obsession to make sure that the image they present is one of being “happy,” regardless if they are personally content and cheerful.  In their minds, they feel they need to be on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, Facebook, and other sites not only to know what is going on, but also to stay connected so that they stay “noticed,” and staying “noticed” is a way they seekto “appear” to be happy.

Speaking of “happiness,” more than half of the entire Gen Z population strongly assert that the definitive objective of their personal life is happiness.  A slice of that “happiness pie” is found in financial independence, as this generation was deeply impacted by the 2008 financial/real estate collapse and bank debacle, with many of them feeling the pain from their parent’s loss of their job and/or their home.  To them, happiness comes from a sustainable bank account and a satisfactory approval rating from their social media networks.

How does the gospel address this technology generation and “post-truth” culture?  First and foremost, it addresses an age-old dilemma since the beginning of time: human beings were never intended to walk alone on this earth (i.e. Genesis 2:18, “The Lord God said, ‘it is not good for the man to be alone”).  We were created for relationships, community, and the life-nourishing benefits of living in responsible belongingness to each other through the redemptive work of Christ.  The church was formed to be “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9).  While social media can initially link people, it can never satisfy the deeper soul-rhythms that face-to-face human interaction provides within a physically-present body of people—like the church—who are reaching out to each other.  The church needs to use technology to bring people together for intentional relationship building.

The gospel also clearly presents “happiness” not coming from artificial or human ingenuity (“how much money, approval, or toys do you have?), but rather from the wonder that I can enjoy the deepest peace and contentment known in human life through personal communion with God—and I don’t have to use my phone to make that happen!  It can start right now from my heart.  The beauty of the gospel is that I don’t have to “contour” my social media persona in order for God to notice me.  This truth is astounding: God loves me just the way I am.

Church leaders, pastors, and Christian communicators, in your sermons, lessons and discipleship strategies, let the gospel speak to the issues of happiness, social connection, relationships, and personal identity that come out of technology to this Gen Z culture.  Use technology as a means to speak this truth.  When you do this, you’ll also reach their parents and grandparents.