Dustin Bruce leads a break-out session

Tips for reaching Gen Z with gospel, life skills

Sharing the gospel might be challenging when attempting to reach each new generation that comes along, but Dustin Bruce says Scripture is clear that it must be done.

“Two primary passages are Deuteronomy 6: 4–9 and Psalm 78:5–8,” said Bruce, dean of Boyce College of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. “We have responsibility to share the gospel despite the challenges of reaching new generations.”

Bruce, who led the “Next Gen: Who They Are and How to Reach Them” break-out session at the State Evangelism Conference on Jan. 27, focused on the two newest generations.

Gen Z represent those born between 1995 and 2012, and Gen Alpha represent those born between 2013 and today. The latter group, he said, are pre-teens or younger and the research is yet to be done, but these children won’t remember much before COVID-19.

In contrast, much is known about Gen Z who are in their teens or nearing age 30.

Five characteristics

First, “technology has shaped Gen Z,” he said. “In 2012, half of Americans had smartphones, but this year 91 percent have them. The average age at which a child gets a smartphone is 11.6, and most parents having given their children phones at early ages later say they wished they’d not done so. A flip phone is probably sufficient for younger teens.”

second characteristic of Gen Z is the disruption of gender and sexuality.

“One out of 18 in this generation identify as something other than male or female, and one in six identify as something other than ‘straight,’” he said.

“The convergence of these two phenomena brings ‘porn into my pocket,’ since pornography is readily available online and the average exposure to this is age nine.”

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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.

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