Reaching Gen Z – The Answer
Today’s episode of TeachKid’s is an introduction to teaching the youth of today also known as Generation Z. Those born from 1999 to 2015 are known as Gen Z. So, in the year 2020, they’re approximately 5 to 21 years old. The oldest were alive when the Twin Towers were attacked, but don’t remember it. They don’t know of life without a personal computer and cell phone, and most of them don’t remember there not being smartphones. Technology is delivering a mountain of information, but what are they learning? According to the Barna Research Group, there’s an alarming trend from each success of generation. From elders to boomers to Gen-X to millennials to Gen-Z. There has been a smaller percentage of people with a Biblical worldview in each success of generation until we’ve reached an all time low of only 4 percent of Gen-Z teens. So those in Gen-Z who are not yet teens will probably have an even lower percentage. 
What is a Biblical worldview anyway? Basically, it’s the practice of viewing every aspect of life from a Biblical perspective because the individual believes that the Bible reveals absolute truth about all aspects of life. Some basic Biblical worldview tenets would be that the God of the Bible created the universe and rules it, mankind needs salvation from the power of sin and its consequences, and Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. These foundational beliefs impact every decision of life if one truly has a Biblical worldview. How can a person have a Biblical worldview if he doesn’t even have basic Bible knowledge? This knowledge is not being passed down from generation to generation. Parents are not equipped, and they aren’t taking children to church. One final really important statistic from the Barna Research Group is that a person’s worldview is typically developed between the ages of about 18 months and 13 years. 
So how are we to reach Gen-Z? We need to reach them where they are, which is in school. According to churchleaders.com only 18 percent of Americans attend any stripe of Christian church. However, 90 percent of youth attend public school. Did you know it’s legal to have Bible clubs after school just like other after school clubs. A Supreme Court Ruling in 2001, Good News Club v. Milford School District guaranteed equal access to all clubs regardless of religious viewpoint. The Good News Club is the flagship program of Child Evangelism Fellowship. When we reach Gen-Z in school, we need to start with the basics of who the God of the Bible is and the basics about the Bible, since Gen-Z has no basic grounding in Christianity. It used to be that even unchurched children at least knew a few Bible stories. Now they’re children who have never heard the name of Jesus except as a swear word. It used to be that when talking to anyone, you could assume basic knowledge about God and skip straight to Jesus. Or when you talked about God with a person you could assume you were talking about the same thing. Now you should wonder if the person you’re talking to believes that humanity is God. You are God. I am God. Or believes in an impersonal force is God. Or that nature is God. Or any number of other unconventional ideas. 
By now you might be quite discouraged, but you can take hope in the fact that God gave humans a spirit which can respond to His Spirit, recognize truth, and have faith. When even a young child hears the truth of God’s word he can respond, be born into God’s family, and begin to grow in God’s grace. In fact, Jesus even said that unless you become like a little child you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. The answer to the Gen-Z problem is to reach elementary age children in the schools where they are with the truth every week in Good News Clubs.