Last December, Youth for Christ carried out a blind survey of 1,001 11–18 year olds in Britain.
The findings of the research were published in May under the title Gen Z: Rethinking Culture.
Deeper insight
They asked Gen Z questions about their culture, influence, priorities and their views around religion and faith, to gain deeper insight into their world in order to rethink how to take the message of Jesus to this new rising generation.
Here are some headlines:
God
Just under half do not believe in the existence of God. While some do, it is significantly more common for young people not to have thought about God or spirituality at all. However, for those who do have a belief in God and who also pray, the majority pray regularly, either on a daily or weekly basis.
Sharing faith
Many said that they did have friends who were Christians and were very positive about them. However, significantly fewer people said that they would be interested in finding our more about God, despite having friends that were Christians and viewing them positively.
Sparking interest
In order to feel that an idea or suggestion is worth exploring further, it is primarily important that it makes sense to them and is something they consider worthwhile. However, 11–14 year olds put a heavy emphasis on the need for the idea or suggestion to appear to be fun.
Social media
A large percentage use social media on a daily basis and spend most of their free time in a week either online or with friends. Young people, though, identify these things as being in the top three activities that make them feel bad about themselves.
Family values
The majority see their family as individuals who make them feel good about themselves. The strongest motivating factor for this age group is to make their families proud of them. Young people who believed in God said that their families have the greatest influence over their view of faith.
Worry and concern
School and exams was the most commonly mentioned personal concern, appearance was the second most common. Their biggest global concerns were war and terrorism, followed by poverty.
