Our world that we live in today is wild. It’s really an amazing time to be alive! Just in the past couple of years, we’ve all lived through a global pandemic, seen inflation impact everything from gas prices to home prices, we’ve seen racial tensions, riots, election cycles draw out every polarizing issue, we’ve seen wars and rumors of wars.
It’s as if history is being written daily and there is no more life as usual. For those of us who are adulting for the first time or ministering to young adults whether in churches or on college campuses – these world events bring up a lot of questions and issues to wrestle with. My intent in writing this article isn’t to stir the pot or to answer these questions even necessarily or to solve these issues – as much as it is to point out six ideological challenges (and I’m sure there’s a lot more) that young adults are facing:
1. Scripture & Biblical Literacy at an all-time low.
According to Barna Research, 96% of Generation Z lacks a biblical worldview. People of every demographic and generation today are asking the question: “Can I trust the bible?” This is such a key question that is being asked and we need to be ready to give an answer. We can look at the canonization of scripture as in which books made the cut to be in the bible, which didn’t, and why. We can also look at the works of Flavius Josephus and other historians.
Having recently visited Israel myself, I’m inspired by the land geographically, the archeological findings, the maps of both present day and bible times reveal that there was and is a Sea of Galilee, there was and is a wall and a temple in Jerusalem. If I can trust the place these writings took place exist to this day, and I can trust the person of Jesus did live and teach and perform miracles in Israel, it builds my faith to grow in the knowledge, meaning, and applications of scripture as well as the bible’s reliability.
On the youngadultstoday podcast, we recently talked with Doug Clay, the general superintendent for the Assemblies of God. In our conversation he outlined three distinctives to help us read the bible: biblical absolutes, community standards, and personal preferences. The example he gave was the attire we wear to church is a personal preference or a community standard, but a biblical absolute is the grace, mercy, and salvation of God!
A GENERATION IS ASKING QUESTIONS THE CHURCH ISN’T ANSWERING. . . AND OFTEN TIMES THE CHURCH IS ANSWERING QUESTIONS THAT AREN’T BEING ASKED!
2. Fall of Prominent Leaders
If you visit the Apple podcasts app, click on top charts for Religion & Spirituality – you’ll see right now one of the top 10 trending shows is “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” Whether you’ve listened to this podcast or not, chances are that you’ve heard of pastors and Christian leaders who did not stay faithful and did not finish well. Far too common of an occurrence in our world is leaders from every sphere of influence falling into evil and giving in to the desires of money, sex, and power.
One of the things I’ve heard repeatedly as an accusation of Christians from those who are outside of the faith is “they are a bunch of hypocrites.” Moral authority is lost when creed doesn’t match deed. Not only is this unattractive and off-putting to the person outside of the church – it’s also very hurtful for those who’ve participated in the life of these faith communities.
I will say it’s a very challenging concept to reconcile – when God and His church are good and we see the bad, ugly, corruption, or evil that has found its way into the church. A key question we must ask is are we trusting in God – or is our faith in humans, pastors, and churches?
3. Doubts, Deconstruction & Deconversion
Deconstruction is one of the buzzwords in today’s culture. And when it’s used – I think it’s important to define what is meant, because it could mean a lot of things to a lot of people for a variety of reasons. When I discuss this topic, I find that it’s almost a scale. On one end you have doubts and questions, on the complete other side of the scale you have deconversion and denunciation of faith like the #exvangelical movement and the scale itself can be defined as everything in between.
I’m careful with this topic to not speak on behalf of others. Rather, to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. I recently had the opportunity to read 170 or so responses from the community of people who’ve deconstructed their faith. I think listening is a great place to start. As we listen and ask kind questions, seeking to understand, two other encouragements are:
Romans 14:1 “Accept the one whose faith is weak.”
Jude 1:22 “Be merciful to those who doubt.”
4. Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation
For those of us who’ve spent time in campus ministry… we’ve already experienced the culture shift that the church may see in the next five years or so. One reason being is that the college campus is where culture is created, culture is changed, and ideas are spread.
Two important terms to understand are gender identity (what is someone’s birth assigned sex or gender definition currently) and sexual orientation (which would be more of the attraction side of this topic such as being attracted to the opposite sex or LGBTQ+).
Some of the questions that are being asked are:
· What does it mean if my friend is gay?
· Can I be _____ and still be a Christian?
· Do you accept me?
· Am I welcome to attend church, small groups, and events?
· What is a New Testament, Christian sexual ethic?
5. Politics that Polarize
I’m not suggesting how you should vote. In fact, anytime we tell someone how they should vote about half of those listening are alienated. I don’t remember where I heard this recently, but I thought it was worth sharing that people are much more likely to change churches to align with their politics than they are to change their politics to align with their church.
Just this week as I write this article, we saw the Supreme Court rule to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Some people are mourning, others are celebrating. This is a perfect example of how all of us are being asked to choose sides. Which side are you on? What is your stance? For us or against us?
Wherever we land as individuals on these tough topics, and regardless of which “side” those we minister to find themselves… are we willing to model what it means to love people who disagree? Or are people on the other side of the conversation demonized? Canceled?
Let’s lead well, live well, and love well!
6. Racial Tensions
I live in Minneapolis – not far at all from where George Floyd’s murder took place. One of the things we have observed with racial tensions across the country is that college students have been upset that the church is the only place in their lives where things like Black Lives Matter weren’t talked about. Workplaces have been forced to respond. Colleges & Universities have been forced to respond. When you think about it – we have a massive opportunity as the church to respond in a Christ-like manor and help people navigate cultural challenges.
The kingdom of God and the people of God have always been called to live united upon the heart of Christ even when the world around us is divided, and despite our differences – be those ethnicity, background, or race.
What could it look like if the church was the one place where people were unified in a divided world?
It can be incredibly challenging to navigate what it means to be a Christ follower as a twentysomething in 2022. May we be people that young adults can look to as they navigate living and adulting. We don’t need to have all the answers – or pretend to. Our role is to foster environments where they can ask their questions and healthy, fruitful conversations can be had.