Apologetics is the gateway to reaching spiritual Gen Z
At a time when the American Christian population continues to decline — with a Gallup poll suggesting that church membership has dropped below 50% and a Pew Research Center study projecting that less than half of Americans will identify as Christian by 2070 — you would be forgiven for thinking that younger generations are becoming more secular. However, this is not what we see happening in reality.
Repeated surveys have shown that interest in spirituality is in fact on the rise among Gen Z. Research from Springtide Institute in 2023 found that one in three Gen Z adults believe in a higher power, up from one in four only two years prior. And a UK study by Theos Think Tank found Gen Z (57%) are more likely to believe that religion has a place in the modern world than any other generation.
My own research has found that worldwide, 200 people each second type “Is God real?” into search engines, begging the question: why? Why do some people seem to have such inbuilt spiritual urges? And is this seemingly innate interest in spirituality evidence in and of itself that God exists?
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Our longing for the transcendent can be a clue that the transcendent – or God – does exist. As C. S. Lewis said, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist.” American philosopher Douglas Groothuis said: “We all experience a deep sense of yearning or longing for something that the present natural world cannot fulfill – something transcendently glorious.” If God created us in His image, it makes sense that we would have a natural longing to connect with Him.
I was an atheist trained in journalism and law, and I lived a lifestyle consistent with the idea that there is no God or eternal repercussions for how we conduct ourselves. When my wife became a Christian, I wanted to rescue her from this “cult” by disproving the faith, especially the resurrection of Jesus, which I recognized as the foundation of Christianity. I spent two years using my journalism and legal training to systematically investigate the faith.
I reached my verdict on November 8, 1981, when I realized that in light of all of the evidence for Christianity, it would take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus. In the years since, I have written several books on my findings, many of which I will be speaking about at the Hope Together Conference in Dallas Fort Worth in September with Hope for the Heart.
We live in a world dominated by the philosophy of scientific materialism, which rules out the existence of a supernatural or spiritual realm, causing many people, including Gen Zs, to rule out the possibility of God at the outset. It also rules out using spiritual arguments to convince people that Christianity is real. But when you look at the implications of cosmology, physics, and our genetic code, they provide compelling scientific evidence for a divine Creator.
For example, one of the most cogent arguments for God is that whatever begins to exist has a cause; we now know that our universe began to exist at some point in the past; therefore, there must be a cause behind the universe.
What kind of a cause could bring a universe into existence? It must be transcendent because it exists apart from creation; immaterial or spirit, because it existed before the physical world; timeless or eternal, since it existed before time was created; powerful, given the immensity of the creation event; smart, given the precision of the creation event; personal because it had to decide to create; creative, given the beauty and complexity of the universe; caring or loving, because it so purposefully created a habitat for us to flourish in; and the scientific principle of Occam’s Razor says there would be just one creator. If that is not a description of the God of the Bible, then I don’t know what is.
Of course, there are still objections to Christianity, and I address two of the biggest: If God is real, why is there suffering and why does He seem so hidden? In my latest book Is God Real? Exploring the Ultimate Question of Life. I’m seeing more and more people from all generations reaching out for hope amid this turbulent and troubling world, and this book seeks to build a robust case not just for the existence of a higher power, but for the specific existence of the God of Christianity.
Police detective J. Warner Wallace, an atheist who also became a Christian because he investigated the faith, said that evangelism in the 21st century is spelled A-P-O-L-O-G-E-T-I-C-S. I believe he was being a bit hyperbolic for effect, but he’s on the right track. Because of the rise of the internet and secularization of our culture, many people in Gen Z and Gen Alpha (those under the age of 12) have what I call “spiritual sticking points” — doubts or objections that hinder them in their path toward God. Apologetics can help clear away those impediments.
For Christian parents and church leaders worried that their children will eventually leave the faith, this does not mean that you must become apologetics experts. Focus instead on living out a consistent and authentic Christian faith in front of them. Values are caught more than taught, and young people need to see us having an active and honest relationship with God to ground their understanding as to what we believe as well as why we believe it.
Second, let young people know it’s okay to have questions and doubts. If they hold these things in, they can erode them from the inside, but when they feel free to openly discuss their questions and concerns, these doubts tend to lose their power over them. My wife and I created a safe time right before bed when our kids could ask whatever questions were bothering them. We wanted to create a healthy environment in which there was no stigma in expressing any objections or doubts. I think it worked — our son is now a theology professor at a seminary!
I’m optimistic about faith among younger generations. As society becomes more secularized, people are becoming more honest about where they stand. When I was a kid, virtually everyone claimed they were Christians — but were they? Of course not. My friend Greg Stier, who leads an evangelistic ministry for young people, put it this way: “The bad news is that Gen Z is flat on its back, knocked down by sadness, loneliness, and anxiety. The good news is that this sense of hopelessness is resulting in an increased openness to seeking spiritual answers.”
My friend Shane Pruitt, who travels the country to present the gospel to high school and college students, said: “I’ve personally seen more college students and teens start following Jesus in the last three years than in the previous eighteen years of ministry combined.”
God loves this next generation of young people — and we do, too. We need to commit to bringing them the only message in the universe that can bring true hope and eternal security.
To hear me speak in more detail about these issues sign up for the Hope Together Conference 2024 by visiting: www.hopetogether.com/
Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, a New York Times best-selling author, is founding director of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics at Colorado Christian University. For a free excerpt of Is God Real?, visit www.IsGodrealbook.com.
