90% of young people in the world live in the Majority World (Asia, Africa, Latin America). 70% of Christians live in the Majority World. Demographically, the future of global Christianity seems bright. Studies suggest, however, that Christianity across the Global South is undergoing generational fragmentation, creating a divide that has entrenched older leaders in positions of authority while alienating emerging leaders seeking influence in church and society.
Situating the current generation of Christian youth in the Majority World, it’s important to highlight that in the last century Christianity grew at its most rapid rate in the Majority World in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s – which produced millions of first-generation converts, many of whom are parents to second generation Christians in countries throughout Africa and Asia. In Latin America, many young Christians are second generation Pentecostals and Charismatics. First generation converts are often most occupied by how the Gospel relates to the individual, whereas second generation Christians are often occupied by how the Gospel impacts broader spheres of society and community. The growing generational divide is also based on rapid social and cultural shifts where in many countries, cultures have moved from pre-industrial to post-industrial in a single generation. In many ways, this is a story of modernization, but a modernization that differs from the one experienced in the West.
Moving to current contextual realities, in contexts with a high-proportion of youth (“Youth Bulge” countries), youth are seen as primarily a “problem to be managed” and not an opportunity for investment. Power-sharing with emerging leaders is not the norm. In Africa, the most Christian continent by total population, leaders are older than the world average, whereas the population is younger. In global surveys of young people, they see the ecological crisis and corruption of leaders as the top two global problems. Young people show a strong distrust of governments and institutions and believe that global change will be pioneered by individuals and not institutions. Distrust of institutions and leaders extends to Christian youth who primarily look to their family or peer/friend digital networks for their faith formation and not local or national religious leaders. Unlike their parents, young people are prioritizing vocational and financial stability prior to family stability and family formation. Yet, forces like rapid technological change, urbanization, migration, and climate change mean that youth will unlikely work in a singular “field” but rather must be equipped to missionally engage multiple vocations in a volatile, everchanging world.
The recent global Barna study on Gen Z, “The Connected Generation,” describes committed Christian youth – versus nominal adherents – as “resilient disciples.” Compared with other youth, resilient disciples have broader local relational networks, are more engaged in their communities, are more committed to social justice, use digital media less, and have higher rates of mental health (other committed religious youth – Muslims, Buddhists, etc. – exhibit similar patterns). Global Christian youth are primarily formed in their faith through their families, through global or regional digital peer networks, and through prayer and music. The Bible and local pastors are less important to them (although the Bible is more formational than pastors). Committed Christian (and other committed religious) youth are resistant to the types of religious nationalism growing in Russia, India, and the United States and prefer global or regional Christian networks mediated by digital technologies for meta-level (i.e. non-local) religious belonging and influence. It is important to emphasize that Christian youth are being formed in their faith in multiple spheres, one local and in-person, and one digital and global (or regional). Digital networks, however, are more narrow in age and ideology/theology (as is the case with most digital network formation). Digital religious influence across generation and ideology is rare.
One significant religious trend among Gen Z is the rise of the “Nones,” or those who are unaffiliated with any religious tradition. Importantly, this trend is most pronounced in Western regions and less pronounced in the Global South. In China, for example, agnosticism/atheism has been declining for decades, fueling growth of Christianity, Buddhism, and more (a similar trend is found in most communist/post-communist nations that tried to actively suppress religion). That said, disaffiliation is still a global trend, and is most pronounced in younger generations. Being a None, however, does not typically mean being an atheist, secular, or even agnostic. In the U.S., for example, most Nones hold very Christian views about God and spirituality. Being a None primarily means lacking an institutional or explicitly relational connection with a religious system or community. Many youth are pursuing, or are at least open, to spirituality, but not to formal religious affiliation and belonging. Being a None, in fact, parallels a larger trend of declining relational belonging to any community, religious or non-religious. Even young committed Christians are more interested in personal spirituality/discipleship than institutional belonging to the Church. They are skeptical of institutions and older leaders, affiliate more with people of their own age group versus more generationally complex local bonds, and are vulnerable to the same volatile world that their non-Christian peers inhabit.
References:
1. The Connected Generation. Barna, 2020.
2. The Open Generation. Barna, 2022.
3. Swartz, Sharlene, Adam Cooper, Clarence M. Batan, and Laura Kropff, eds.
The Oxford Handbook of Global South Youth Studies. New York: Oxford
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4. “Shapers Survey.” World Economic Forum, 2017.
5. Nynäs, Peter, et al. The Diversity of Worldviews among Young Adults :
Contemporary (Non)Religiosity and Spirituality Through the Lens of an
International Mixed Method Study. Cham: Springer Nature, 2022.
6. Tsekpoe, Christian. “Changing Metaphors in African Theologies: Influences from Digital
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https://doi.org/10.3366/swc.2022.0371.
7. Agana, Agana-Nsiire. “Rethinking African Theology in Light of Emerging Digital
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https://doi.org/10.3366/swc.2022.0372.
8. Gareau, Paul L., Spencer Culham Bullivant, and Peter Beyer, eds. Youth, Religion, and
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9. Seemiller, Corey and Meghan Grace. Generation Z: A Century in the Making.
London: Routledge, 2019.