{"id":13937,"date":"2025-10-17T14:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=13937"},"modified":"2025-10-17T14:51:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:51:00","slug":"a-look-at-the-fight-for-the-soul-of-gen-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/10\/a-look-at-the-fight-for-the-soul-of-gen-z.html","title":{"rendered":"A Look at the Fight For the Soul of Gen Z"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gage Skidmore \/ commons.wikimedia.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gen Z continues to be an enigma. Reports declare them as \u201cmore religious than previous generations<\/a>\u201d yet they fall into syncretism, a practice that takes multiple beliefs from various backgrounds and combines them. Gen Z is also filled with religious \u201cnones,\u201d with 33% reporting that they have no religious affiliation<\/a>, yet the Barna group recently reported that church attendance is surging amongst Gen Z<\/a> and CBS News <\/em>recently aired a segment reporting on the surge of baptisms<\/a> amongst Gen Z. So, what exactly is going on?<\/p>\n

Jeff Myers, the president of Summit Ministries, is calling for a fight for the spiritual soul of Gen Z. \u201cA lot of what has happened in this rising generation is a desire to trust the self. I don’t seek the truth. I speak my truth. So, I just have to be true to myself. I am the one who meets all of my needs. Well, of course, if you think about it for just 30 seconds, you realize if I am the center of all of reality, then everything bad that happens in the world is somehow my fault. That can be very confusing,\u201d Myers told the \u201cCrossmap\u201d podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Summit Ministries recently released a 40-page report on the spiritual health of Gen Z, who range from the age of 13 to 28, entitled \u201cState of the Rising Generation Report.\u201d What it reveals is a generation of mental health struggles, with 72% of young women making anxiety and depression a part of who they are while 67% of young men say the same. Yet there is also a spiritual hunger, with 90% having some sort of spiritual belief.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeventy-five percent of young adults today say they don\u2019t have a sense of purpose that gives meaning to their lives. And about half of them say they regularly struggle with anxiety and depression,\u201d warned Myers. However, he noted that Gen Z, particularly young men, are beginning to see past the lie that they can be the source of their own truth. He highlighted the impact that technology has had on the faith of Gen Z, with Gen Z\u2019s ability to access the internet through smartphones having a major impact on how they seek out information. He warned about how search results are \u201ccurated\u201d to give certain impressions of the world. He cited how a search for \u201ctransgender\u201d leans more towards affirming stances.<\/p>\n

He called on parents to help their children develop a biblical worldview so they can sort through the competing ideologies that come into their sphere. A biblical worldview which understands the nature of God, he asserted, would help young adults to have more confidence in a world that pushes insecurity on issues like climate change or gender. He said his hope for the rising generation is that they will focus on truth and entwine it into their relationships. \u201cTruth without relationship makes people arrogant,\u201d he warned. \u201cBut if you take truth and relationship and tie them together, that is the DNA of influence. That not only changes the minds and hearts of the rising generation, but it\u2019s something that they can plant in future generations beyond them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gen Z continues to be an enigma. Reports declare them as \u201cmore religious than previous generations\u201d yet they fall into syncretism, a practice that takes multiple beliefs from various backgrounds and combines them. Gen Z is also filled with religious \u201cnones,\u201d with 33% reporting that they have no religious affiliation, yet the Barna group recently…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":13940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Look at the Fight For the Soul of Gen Z<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gen Z faces anxiety, syncretism, and spiritual hunger. Experts warn of a battle for their soul, urging parents to guide them with the Bible.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/10\/a-look-at-the-fight-for-the-soul-of-gen-z.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Look at the Fight For the Soul of Gen Z\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gen Z faces anxiety, syncretism, and spiritual hunger. Experts warn of a battle for their soul, urging parents to guide them with the Bible.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/10\/a-look-at-the-fight-for-the-soul-of-gen-z.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-17T18:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2025\/10\/Jeff-Myers_credit-Gage-Skidmore-commonswikimediaorg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Look at the Fight For the Soul of Gen Z","description":"Gen Z faces anxiety, syncretism, and spiritual hunger. 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