Is purity back in fashion?

Each summer, I have the opportunity to serve the next generation of leaders, missionaries and committed church members at youth camps in Wales and Romania. What I have observed recently is a growth in an almost puritanical movement within our youth.

As I teach the Bible and engage with Gen Z and Gen Alpha*, I am encouraged by their deep commitment to Jesus and their desire to live authentic holy lives. They have all grown up in a post-Christian secular society, saturated with sexual ideology and they are seeking refuge. I see a counter-culture that is being refined by secularism, calling a new generation back to holy living.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha appear to be serious about the Bible’s teaching: they are determined to stand for traditional values, they are applauded for embracing their biologically given gender, and they are saving themselves for marriage. Celibacy is being celebrated.

This rebellion against the debauchery of modern life can also be seen in other non-Christian expressions, like that of the '4B' movement in South Korea. In a male-dominated, hyper-sexualised society, the movement claims to have up to 50,000 female followers who no longer want to 'stand against the patriarchy' but simply leave it behind them. Their core beliefs are four 'no' rules: no sex, no childbirth, no dating and no marriage ('bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae and bisekseu'). 

This de-coupling from men, when the risk of dating is seen as outweighing the gain, has begun to permeate the West also, with women choosing to become 'Boy Sober' (a term coined by American comedian Hope Woodward). 

It would seem that exposing a generation to an over-sexualised culture is leading some to desire a cleaner, safer lifestyle.

As a Bible-believing Christian who values the gift of sex in the right context of a loving, consenting, heterosexual marriage, I cannot agree with such a radical stance as the 4B movement. But I do understand how such a position flows out of a misogyny that desperately needs addressing. 

At our summer camps, I saw a generation of young people (boys and girls) who were aware of, but untainted, by toxic sexualisation. They value the Church as a place of refuge, a safe space for their seeking of a husband or wife, and are calm and respectful in this pursuit, leaving it to God’s sovereign provision.

From the many conversations I have had throughout the summer, the next generation seems far more confident about their Christian identity and will not let secularism reduce their ‘being’ into a sexual persuasion. They know that in Christ they are worth far more than what society tells them. They love Jesus and seek to be a disciple, they want to honour their future husband and wife in their celibacy today and they embrace the protection of the Church, whose loving community allows them to do so.

^{*It is generally reckoned that Generation Z includes anyone born from 1995 to 2009, with those in Generation Alpha born from 2010 onwards.}