Barna: 5 Trends Shaping the Next Season of Next Gen Discipleship

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Quoting the 5 headlines (w/ comments):

The Church Must Help Younger Generations Wisely Navigate Screen Time

Barna’s own research shows the majority of pastors (85%) is concerned about this shift—but a similar percentage (86%) says that, despite the signs of more screen time, their church does not yet have a plan in place to teach on wise tech usage.

Parents are probably having tons of screen time too right now. I wonder what these pastors have in mind…

The Church Must Integrate Its Response to Injustice into Student Ministry

Millennials and Gen Z—more ethnically diverse and more politically progressive than their elders—are tuned in to disparities between white Americans and communities of color.

Many churches have prioritized addressing racism in light of recent events, but does that mean young people are choosing to work through churches to address it?

The Church Must Address Issues of Loneliness and Anxiety in Young Adults

As of late May, one in three Millennials reported being in need of food and supplies (35% vs. 24% Gen X, 21% Boomers), emotional support (33% vs. 25% Gen X, 13% Boomers) and financial assistance (32% vs. 31% Gen X, 12% Boomers). One in five (19%) said they were feeling lonely “all the time,” a quarter (25%) for at least some of each day and 21 percent at least one day a week. Only one in three (35%) hadn’t faced loneliness as opposed to half of Gen X (50%) and Boomers (59%).

Wow, really surprised by the need for food and supplies! During the pandemic, I’ve found playing games online together to be a source of connection :stuck_out_tongue:

The Church Must Support and Encourage Resilient Disciples to Grow Their Faith

In Faith for Exiles , Kinnaman and Matlock share that the church dropout rate among 18–25-year-olds has increased from 59 percent to 64 percent in the past decade.

Kinnaman says, “Resilient disciples express a feeling of intimacy with God, closeness that frequently seems lacking in the experience of habituals, nomads, and prodigals. Statements like ‘Jesus understands what my life is like these days’ and ‘Reading the Bible makes me feel closer to God’ capture this feeling. Resilience is felt at a deep, emotional level.

To use the language of marketing, it seems like broken “product-market fit”…that the model/structure of church as it has formerly been practiced is problematic. Anecdotally, I’ve met many resilient disciples who have grown spiritually through non-institutional church means and then serve in the church as a “ministry” without being nourished by it.

The Church Must Reframe the Notion of Outreach and Faith-Sharing with the Next Gen

Data show that while seven in 10 teens (71%) and young adults (72%) would say that missions is very valuable, there are still many who question missions’ ethics or who are wary of the way missions has traditionally been discussed and conducted.

we found that almost half of practicing Christian Millennials (47%) say evangelism is wrong

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but 96% say that “Part of my faith means being a witness about Jesus” ?