My parents are business owners. Growing up, I often sat in the office of their manufacturing plant with my siblings, making paper airplanes, spinning in chairs, and doing what we could to pass the time. I didn’t know it then, but watching my parents run a company as followers of Jesus over years was one of the most formative experiences of my life.
My parents stewarded the company out of an outpouring of their faith. They were unashamed of following Jesus and fully submitted to his will for the organization. They prayed in meetings, knew the families of the 100-plus people who worked there, and were committed to following Colossians 3:17. When the school bus dropped me off there in the afternoons, it was a time for my siblings and me to wait until our mom finished working, but it was also a time for us to witness the kingdom of God at work outside the walls of the church.
That’s exactly the kind of witness my generation needs.
Gen Z—Inside and Outside the Church—Needs Evangelism
Evangelism and discipleship are complex. While evangelism is typically for those outside the church, the statistics of young people inside the church reveal evangelism is needed there too. One recent study shows that 64 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds raised in the Christian faith walk away from the church once they reach adulthood.
Is it time to throw in the towel on Gen Z? Is it time for churches to retreat from the world and simply hold on until Jesus comes back?
I say no. The church has redemptive work to do—and it’s not to invent an evangelism technique that uses a clever acronym, trendy graphics, or an assortment of language from pop culture. Gen Z doesn’t need that, nor do they want it.
Instead, Gen Z needs a body of believers willing to live out their faith in every area of their lives. They need electricians working tirelessly to the glory of God, nurses willing to pray at their patients’ bedsides, moms and dads committed to discipling their families counterculturally, and business owners valuing their employees as an outpouring of their faith.
Long Obedience in the Same Direction
Evangelism doesn’t always look like revival nights or youth group invitations or mission trips. Most of the time, it’s the steady witness of a long obedience in the same direction. While some may say this is passive, it’s the hardest kind of obedience.
It’s difficult to show up to church every Sunday morning when your friends are sleeping in. It’s difficult to disciple your family when others look like they’re having more fun. It’s difficult to boldly proclaim, “If it’s just me, Lord, I will still follow you.”
Yet this long obedience is effective, faithful, and like our Savior. Witnessing the Spirit active and working in another’s life has a powerful evangelistic influence.
Witnessing the Spirit active and working in another’s life has a powerful evangelistic influence.
This was evident in our Savior’s evangelistic ministry. The power of God moved so mightily through him that people dropped what they were doing to witness it.
Witnessing God’s power in Jesus caused an outcast to do anything to merely touch his robe (Luke 8:43-44). Witnessing God’s power in Jesus caused four men to get their friend in front of Jesus by any means possible (Mark 2:1–11). Witnessing God’s power in Jesus caused one of the greatest persecutors of Christians to become the second most important person in the history of Christendom (Acts 9).
The life and way of Jesus drew people to saving faith. Today, a body of believers radically pursuing the Father and living obediently to the Word can draw Gen Z to saving faith too. While our lives will never equal our Savior, he gave us a model to emulate. Praise God.
Enthusiastic Obedience in the Same Direction
Here’s what Gen Z doesn’t need: more programming, more pastors wearing oversize blazers and Nike Dunks, or another podcast collab. Gen Z needs genuine, powerful faith modeled to them every day. Gen Z needs the kingdom of God active in the lives of the saints. They need to witness genuine, countercultural faith.
We need believers who wage war against apathy; who don’t check boxes out of obligation; who don’t read their Bible merely because they have to but because they want to hear from God; who don’t pray brief, faithless prayers but spend time on their knees because they understand the value and necessity of prayer; who don’t neglect their community but live life committed to relationships.
Gen Z needs the kingdom of God active in the lives of the saints. They need to witness genuine, countercultural faith.
As a Gen Zer inside the church, I could easily have been part of the statistics of those abandoning the faith, and I mourn for my friends who are. We all need the same thing: we need the saints to come around us, pray for us, encourage us, and model a life we can’t help but emulate.
My parents did this for me first. Day after ordinary day, they showed me that following the God of the Bible is delightful, not burdensome. Their lives ministered to me in a way that other methods couldn’t. They spurred me to intimacy with Jesus because they had intimacy with him first.
Be encouraged. Your daily, ordinary faith is contagious to those around you.
