In Depth:  Gen Z

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Is this the biggest challenge for any Prime Minister?

Is this the biggest challenge for any Prime Minister?
Rhys Laverty
Rhys Laverty

What does it mean to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 2026?

At the time of writing, that post is still held by Sir Keir Starmer. For how much longer remains to be seen. If he resigns any time soon, his successor will be the United Kingdom’s seventh premier in just ten years.

Honouring God in a really tough employment market

Honouring God in a really tough employment market
Cassie Martin
Cassie Martin

Youth unemployment is currently running at just under 16%, with the graduate job market being particularly hard hit.

Last year the Financial Times ran a story with the headline “It’s been a terrible year to graduate and find a job” where they highlighted that the graduate job application success rate is the lowest it has been for 30 years.

Hundreds of young sportspeople gather

Hundreds of young sportspeople gather
Brian Glynn

Almost 300 young adults have gathered in three venues for Christians in Sport’s (CiS) annual “New Year Training” conferences.

The events aim to equip 18–23-year-old sportspeople to connect their sport and faith and encourage them in their evangelism to their sports clubs and teams.

Bible sales are up & ESV is best-selling

Bible sales are up & ESV is best-selling
Emily Pollok
Emily Pollok

Crossway’s ESV was the best-selling translation of the Bible in the UK last year, according to Christian publisher SPCK Group.

And Bible sales are up overall, reaching the highest level recorded, research shows.

Belief in God surges among Finland's youth

Belief in God surges among Finland's youth
Luke Randall
Luke Randall

Belief in God among Finland’s young people is growing at a remarkable rate, with the percentage of boys professing belief almost doubling in just six years.

A study among the 75 per cent of the nation’s young people who attended confirmation preparation classes last year unearthed the stunning new statistics, which confirmed that 67 per cent of Finland’s boys expressed belief in God, up from 36 per cent in 2019, while the number of girls who believe increased from 35 per cent to 56 per cent.

Media group aims to reach Gen Z with 'Fount Sessions'

Media group aims to reach Gen Z with 'Fount Sessions'
Lydia Houghton
Lydia Houghton

A creative media organisation is hoping to reach Gen Z with a five-part evangelistic documentary series.

Fount Sessions has been created by UK-based Christian charity The Stream Collective. Jake Marthinet-Glover, Creative Lead, told en: “Reaching [UK young adults] with the gospel in a way that connects with their worldviews, and shows Jesus to be real, relevant and relatable when most have next-to-no understanding of the Bible, or a Christian worldview, is challenging.

Reading God’s Word in a 'post-literate' world

Reading God’s Word in a 'post-literate' world
Karen Soole
Karen Soole

As Christmas approaches, gift buying is underway. Shops are full, and atmospheric Christmas markets entice you with their beautiful, expensive, but ultimately unnecessary items. You return home with nothing - except perhaps a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie.

What to buy? Back in the day, the physical gift of music was an easy choice: a CD, a tape, or an LP, but now it's all accessed through streaming services. The other physical choice used to be a book, but has that disappeared too?

New report reveals Gen Z's priorities - not just in the West, but worldwide

New report reveals Gen Z's priorities - not just in the West, but worldwide
Lydia Houghton
Lydia Houghton

A new report, published today and authored by Peter Dray, reveals that "Generation Z" prizes living better, not just living longer.

Gen Z Insights for Global Student Ministry - published by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) - examines four "Gen Z" traits across multiple countries: pursuit of wellbeing; digital immersion; cultural awareness; and spiritual openness.

Dane Ortlund: Young men today lack social skills

Dane Ortlund: Young men today lack social skills
en staff
en staff

Popular pastor, author, and speaker Dane Ortlund says young men who learn basic social skills will be "in the top three per cent" of their peers.

Setting out a checklist of behaviours which he says they should learn, he claims that "rudimentary inter-personal skills" are getting rarer year by year.

Young adults are joining churches - here's why

Young adults are joining churches - here's why
Emily Pollok
Emily Pollok

A new report shows that young adults in the UK today are approaching faith as a source of emotional wellbeing rather than social inheritance.

Published by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life, the report demonstrates a shift from inherited to personal experience of faith in 18-34 year olds. The results from a survey of 2,000 adults who said they had experienced a change in their beliefs highlight some significant insights into why people are moving towards or away from faith and religion.

How do we disciple Gen Z men?

How do we disciple Gen Z men?
Graeme Shanks
Graeme Shanks

“If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.” A friend reminded me recently of this quip often attributed to Winston Churchill. It is, of course, a massive generalisation. However, it is not one without a kernel of truth to it.

A quick glance at the way Britons voted at the 2024 general election would indicate that age was indeed a significant dividing line. It’s a trend that’s presented itself through the generations. To quote another group of influential wordsmiths from my childhood: "it’s like that and that's the way it is." Or is it?

‘Gen Z’ is unique – here’s how to engage them

‘Gen Z’ is unique – here’s how to engage them
Peter Dray
Peter Dray

Have you noticed how people see the world similarly to those born at a similar time to them? It’s evident even in trivial ways. Virtually everyone, for example, feels that the best music was created in their mid-teens (me included!).

The conditions in which we grew up shape our view of the world into adulthood. They set the presets against which we measure everything we encounter later in life. The Bible itself recognises this generational difference, with Judges 2v10 highlighting the distinct perspectives between those who entered the Promised Land and their children.

Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A review and some reflections

Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A review and some reflections
Niv Lobo
Niv Lobo

Book Review Ash's new book focuses on how her generation is "finding it impossible to ignore the question of religion". Pastor Niv Lobo takes a look at her findings.

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More Finnish teens believing in God

More Finnish teens believing in God
Luke Randall
Luke Randall

The number of teenagers in Finland who say they believe in God has increased greatly in recent years, with more young men than women now saying they believe, a new study has found.

New research found that as many as 62% of boys who attended confirmation classes said they believed in God in 2024, while about half of girls expressed the same belief. These statistics represent a large increase amongst both genders, with up to 50% of boys in the nation expressing a belief in God in 2023, alongside about 35% of girls.

Surge of spiritual interest among youth in Wales

Surge of spiritual interest among youth in Wales
Emily Pollok
Emily Pollok

Through the faithful preaching of God’s word, prayer, and community outreach, several churches in Wales are seeing God “doing more… than He ever has before” and lives being transformed by the gospel.

Mount Elim Church in Pontardawe was founded in the 1980s and underwent a revitalisation project 13 years ago. Since then, the church has outgrown its current building and is now in the process of constructing a new home to accommodate their thriving ministry.

A quiet UK revival? How can we respond?

A quiet UK revival? How can we respond?
Rebecca Chapman
Rebecca Chapman

As we look forward to Easter, some of us may reflect on how many people attended Christmas services, and be recalling the joy of overflowing churches.

There has been talk of a Christian revival in the UK for at least a year – and speculation about it everywhere from the press to podcasts. But where is the data showing us how the Spirit is moving? Instead, we are often presented with disappointing data from various denominations about decreasing numbers of people attending church.

Bible sales soar in the UK

Bible sales soar in the UK
en staff
en staff

Bible sales in the UK are soaring, thanks to increasing interest in spiritual matters from Generation Z – those born between 1997 and 2012.

The Christian publisher SPCK says there “was an increase of 87 percent between 2019 and 2024 – from £2.69 million to £5.02 million,” The Times reports. The newspaper added: “Bible Society said that its 2018 volume Good News Bible – The Youth Edition, was ‘by far our most popular’, with sales almost doubling since 2021.”

Fanning the flames of the hopes and dreams of Gen Z

Fanning the flames of the hopes and dreams of Gen Z
Gavin Calver
Gavin Calver

On Saturday mornings I really enjoy grabbing a great cup of coffee and picking up The Times newspaper. It is a brilliant way to catch up on the news and to see where to direct my prayers.

How delighted I was to read the following headline last week: ‘Gen Z half as likely as their parents to identify as atheists.’ As I read on, it was amazing to see that those who are part of Gen Z (born between 1996 and 2010) are a far more spiritual generation than many think. This particularly impacted me as I am a parent of teenagers and had already sensed this might be true. Only 12% of under 25s are atheists which is far lower than for Boomers at 20%, or my own generation, Gen X, that is the most atheist of all the age groups.

6,000 young people in London mobilised for mission

6,000 young people in London mobilised for mission
Milla Ling-Davies
Milla Ling-Davies

This summer, the stands of Wembley Arena, normally filled with fans singing football chants, were instead filled with 6,000 young people singing the praises of God.

This was the launch event of The Send UK & Ireland - a new collaboration between churches and mission agencies for the purpose of inspiring teenagers and young adults to live missionally in five key areas: secondary school, university, family life, workplaces and the nations.

Can a Gen Z work ethic advance the gospel?

Can a Gen Z work ethic advance the gospel?
Graeme Shanks
Graeme Shanks

Working nine to five? What a way to make a living. Working life has moved on a lot since Dolly Parton first released her catchy and timeless 1980s hit, 9 To 5. Indeed, fast forward a few generations and it would appear that flexibility has trumped security as the key thing that Gen Z’ers are prioritising when it comes to employment.[1]

Have you noticed that recruitment firms are now fronting their adverts with their ability to perfectly match people to a job that fits with their lifestyle? Have you read about the companies experimenting with a four-day week, complete with flexible start and finish times, a nine-day fortnight, and compressed hours?[2] The desire for flexibility with our employment, it would seem, is here to stay.

Gen Z in Europe: more devout than their elders?

Gen Z in Europe: more devout than their elders?
Milla Ling-Davies
Milla Ling-Davies

A survey shows that Europeans born after 1997 are more spiritual than their elders.

The Global Religion 2023 survey, conducted by market research service Ipsos, interviewed 19,000 people in 26 countries. It has revealed that ‘in countries where religious practice is high, older adults tend to engage in it more than the young, while in countries where religious practice is low, young people tend to have higher engagement.’

Baby-boomers to Generation Z?

Baby-boomers to Generation Z?
Charlotte Mayhew

How do we bridge generational divides to make Jesus known together?

The recent London City Mission ‘Diaspora Conference’ was an opportunity to bring Christians together from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and elsewhere, to explore this vital question. With no easy answers to the complex tensions that often exist between generations in our church communities, we focused on listening and learning from each other’s experiences.

Evangelical Alliance asks: Can church reach ‘manifesting’ Gen Z?

Evangelical Alliance asks: Can church reach ‘manifesting’ Gen Z?
en staff
en staff

Young people are ‘open and spiritually curious’ – but it is ‘manifesting’ rather than Christ currently capturing their imagination, new findings show.

Katherine Brown, part of the Evangelical Alliance ‘Being Human’ team, says that the survey – on popular dating app, Tinder – reveals that though many people in their twenties (often labelled ‘Gen Z’ if born after 1997) claim to be atheists, ‘they believe in the power of the universe’.

Influencers: yay or nay?
culture watch

Influencers: yay or nay?
Milla Ling-Davies
Milla Ling-Davies

When someone says ‘social media influencer’ do you think of a teenager dancing and taking selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower? Picturing this, it can be easy to write influencers off as immature or vain. But is this the whole story?

An influencer is a normal person, like you or me, who has ‘built a large social media following typically due to their expertise on specific topics’ (Influencer Marketing Hub). They share videos and photos about subjects like parenting, food or travel, and can have millions of people listening in. They have, surprise surprise, influence.

Understanding Generation Z

Understanding Generation Z
Crispian Oates

Book Review THE XYZ OF DISCIPLESHIP: Understanding and Reaching Generations Y & Z

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Gen Z: what now… and where do we go from here?

Gen Z: what now… and where do we go from here?
Peter Brierley

If there was a prize for the number of key people you’ve influenced before you are 18, Greta Thunberg would probably be a strong contender. She has had an extraordinary time in the last year, speaking at major conferences, going to key places, and meeting so many important world leaders. It’s sometimes hard to remember she will only be 18 later on in 2020. She is part of the Gen Z generation.

The large numbers of people born after the end of the Second World War, especially in the US and the UK, caused the phrase ‘baby boomer’ to be popular for a while, quickly shortened to just ‘boomer,’ and usually taken for simplicity as those born between 1945 and 1963. Those coming afterwards were far fewer in number; they ‘stopped the boom’, or ‘busted’ it, and so for a while were called the ‘baby busters’. This is a disparaging title, however, and when Douglas Coupland published his book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture in 1991 his phrase instantly stuck and they became ‘Gen X’ (born 1964 to 1982) from then on.

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