According to Barna research group, Generation Z is the first truly post-Christian generation. That’s because these teens and young adults (born from 1999–2015) are the first generation to be raised in fully post-Christian, secularized society.
And it shows.
- These young people are twice as likely as the average US population to identify as atheists.
- More than one-third of Gen Z (37%) believes it is not possible to know for sure if God is real, compared to 32 percent of all adults.
- Teens who do believe one can know God exists are less likely than adults to say they are very convinced that is true (54% vs. 64% all adults who believe in God).
- Of the young adults in this demographic, 84% support same-sex marriage, and 1 in 6 (15.9%) self identify as LBGT.
It would be easy for pastors and youth workers to dismiss these statistics as relative to the young people “out there” and assume that the young people in your youth group and Christian school are far more grounded in their beliefs. That would be a mistake.
We too easily underestimate the power of secularization in our culture. It is forceful, and it is persuasive.
- When you’re fifteen years old and every non-church voice tells you that truth is relative, God is adaptable, and Bible-believing Christians who say that people shouldn’t live out their own truth related to their sexual identity are bigots, you need solid answers.
- When you’re a teen who was raised in church, but you have questions about the reliability of the Bible on one hand and your own sexual identity on the other, you need thoughtful, compassionate, and biblical engagement.
- When you’re a newly-saved fourteen-year-old who has grown up hearing that evolution is science, abortion is compassionate, and the highest standard of morality is living out “my truth,” you need careful discipleship that answers real questions.
The reality is that our secular culture is aggressively giving Generation Z a worldview that either ignores, denies, or reimagines God, His Word, and absolute truth.
Because of this, our young people desperately need a biblical worldview that places Christ at the center, establishes His Word as the highest authority, and then thoughtfully examines the cultural issues of our day.
Young people desperately need a biblical worldview that places Christ at the center, establishes His Word as the highest authority, and then thoughtfully examines the cultural issues of our day. Share on X
This is why my son Larry and I have just published a new Bible curriculum for Christian schools and homeschools titled Avoiding Confusion: Interpret Cultural Issues through a Biblical Worldview.
Each of the thirteen units in this study are written to help teens form a Christian worldview for current cultural issues.
- The Cornerstone of Life
- The Existence of God
- The Reliability of the Bible
- The Deity of Jesus
- The Biblical Account of Creation
- The Sanctity of Life
- The Presence of Evil in the World
- The Distinctiveness of Gender and Marriage
- The Biblical Position against Racism
- The Biblical Understanding of Justice
- The Biblical Practice of Justice
- The Essential Nature of the Local Church
- The Blessing of Christian Education
This resource includes
- Teaching curriculum for one (eighteen-week) semester of Bible curriculum, adaptable to a three, four, or five days per week Bible class structure
- Scope and sequence
- Scheduling and grading suggestions
- Weekly teaching objectives
- Discussion questions with suggested answers
- Memory verses
- Extension assignments
- Assessment questions
A companion download is also available. The download provides
- Presentation Slides for every lesson
- Editable quizzes
- Exams
We are grateful for the strong response we have already seen from Christian schools for this resource, which already sold out of its first printing. You can pre-order now for the second printing which is coming in August. (You can also preview the first lesson here.)
Please pray with us that God will use this resource to strengthen Christian teens in developing biblical convictions and the ability to articulate them to others.
