How Can Older Believers Better Support Gen Z?

The next generation values open-mindedness and is highly skeptical of religious institutions. But they haven’t given up on God.

In 2021, Springtide Research Institute put out a report on the “State of Religion and Young People.” From the data, the institute identified a trend they called “faith unbundled.”

53% of young people said, “I agree with some, but not all, of the things my religion teaches.”
55% of young people said, “I don’t feel like I need to be connected to a specific religion.”
47% of young people said, “I feel like I could fit in with many different religions.”

These figures weren’t a surprise to me. Gen Z is at once the most racially and ethnically diverse and the least religious age cohort in American history. In 2019, the polling firm Barna Group found that, among practicing Christians, millennials “report an average (median) of four close friends or family members who practice a faith other than Christianity; most of their Boomer parents and grandparents, by comparison, have just one.” I’d presume this figure is even higher among my Christians peers, as we find ourselves in community with those of other faiths and with “nones.”

Data also shows that members of Gen Z are wary of traditional religious spaces. From the Springtide report:

55% of young people said, “I don’t feel like I can be my full self in a religious congregation.”
45% of young people said, “I don’t feel safe within religious or faith institutions.”
47% of young people said, “I don’t trust religion, faith, or religious leaders in those kinds of organizations.”
Almost 50% of young people told Springtide they don’t turn to faith communities due to a lack of trust in the people, beliefs, and systems of organized religion.