Why Gen Z Is Good for the Church

We often hear about Gen Z in the context of disconnection, distraction, and deconstruction. But while much of the world focuses on their screen time and skepticism, a different and more hopeful story is unfolding inside the Church. This new generation is not just passively inheriting the faith they're reshaping it with honesty, hunger, and an unrelenting desire for what’s real.

Jennie Allen, author, speaker, and founder of IF: Gathering, has spent years listening to and walking alongside Gen Z believers. And what she sees in this emerging generation isn’t apathy or indifference it’s a spiritual movement that mirrors the seismic shifts of past revivals. Only this time, it’s happening in the middle of digital chaos.

They’ve Tasted the World and Found It Wanting

If previous generations had to chase worldly pleasures, Gen Z has been handed them from birth often through the glowing screens in their hands. Whether it's entertainment, sexuality, influence, or escape, they’ve experienced it all earlier and faster than any generation before them. But what was promised to satisfy has left many empty.

Allen draws a powerful parallel between Gen Z and the seekers of the 1970s Jesus Movement. Back then, cultural upheaval and disillusionment with sex and drugs drove many young adults into revival tents and into the arms of Christ. Today’s youth may not face the draft, but they’re navigating a different kind of war: a spiritual one, raging beneath the surface of TikTok trends and cultural confusion.

“They’ve gotten everything the world has to offer,” Allen says, “and they realize it’s hopeless. They want something to mean more than the world they’re being offered.” That realization is what’s pushing them back to God. They’re not looking for polish or performance they want purpose. They’re not impressed with production they’re desperate for presence.

Hunger for the Authentic

What’s striking about Gen Z’s spiritual awakening is not just the depth of their need, but the sincerity of their response. Allen recounts a moment at a recent youth conference where hundreds of teens flooded the altar during a prayer many without her even seeing them move. “It was so sincere. It was so simple. It was so pure,” she recalls.

This is what revival looks like in this generation. They aren’t chasing emotional highs or aesthetic church experiences. They’re longing for connection to God, to truth, and to each other. And the Church would do well to stop underestimating them.

They’re not all addicted to devices. In fact, many are quietly revolting against the very technology they grew up with. Allen describes how her own kids take regular breaks from social media, removing apps and intentionally detoxing. This isn’t forced by parents it’s coming from within. They know what tech has done to their minds and relationships, and they’re craving something more human, more grounded, more sacred.

Real Community, Not Just Connection

This hunger explains why many Gen Zers are flocking to small towns, rural communities, and intimate churches. In contrast to the loud digital world they’ve always known, they’re searching for quiet spaces where real faith can grow. Not more noise, but more meaning. Not more connection, but deeper communion.

They want eye contact, dinner tables, and long conversations. And while they may not always articulate it, they’re searching for the sacred in the ordinary. They want pastors who know their names and churches that function like families.

But as Allen points out, this desire won’t reach maturity without help. That’s where the Church must step in not with condemnation, but with encouragement. “Believe in them,” she urges. “Don’t shame them. Raise them.”

Gen Z doesn’t need criticism about their screen time they need modeling of healthy rhythms. They don’t need lectures about their doubts they need mentors willing to walk through the valley with them. They need space to wrestle and a spiritual family willing to wait with them.

The Message They Most Need

So what should the Church be proclaiming in this moment of openness?

Allen’s answer is simple and non-negotiable: the gospel.

Not moralism. Not behavior management. Not politics. Not culture wars. Just Jesus.

“I think we’ve preached a lot of things,” she says, “but we better have an end goal and the end goal is to introduce them into a relationship with Jesus.”

It’s that relationship, not a list of rules, that transforms lives. It’s Christ’s death, resurrection, and invitation to eternal friendship that breaks through confusion, depression, and distraction. And that’s the message Gen Z is responding to. Whether it’s a college campus or a church altar, they’re being moved by the simple, powerful truth that Jesus loves them, died for them, and wants to live with them.

Till the Soil, Then Preach the Gospel

Of course, spiritual growth doesn’t always happen in a moment. “The process to get there takes time,” Allen reminds us. “The tilling of the soil, the cultivating of the soil that takes a while.”

Gen Z isn’t a finished project. No generation is. But we do have a chance to walk with them, believe in them, disciple them, and equip them to live counter-culturally in a distracted age. When the Church shows up with real love, patient guidance, and the bold proclamation of the gospel, this generation doesn’t walk away they come alive.

They’re not waiting for flash they’re looking for fire. And many are finding it in Christ.

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