Generations Z and Alpha: the Prodigals?
“No one gave him anything”
Luke 15 : 11-32
Generation Z - the name for the generation of people born between 1997 and around 2012.
Generation Alpha - the name for the youngest generation: born between 2012 and around 2025.
I once took 30 garden snails into an infant classroom. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d recommend it (especially if you are being interviewed) but let me tell you they go off in every conceivable direction surprisingly quickly (and that’s just the snails!).
My thoughts about the Parable of the Lost Son have been rather like those snails. This article is an attempt to impose order on my gastropod-like thoughts and to share just some of those silvery trails with you.
I have found the parable to be a Tardis - a spacious container. It is filled with invitation and welcome, refreshment, resonance, risk, truth and challenge, possibility and help, inspiration and reassurance, amazing grace, a place of security and shelter. And a perfect Father. Things our children and young people are looking for.
The parable features two young men, and it has much to say to young people today, and to those who love them and hope to minister to them. As I talk to people working with the next generation - who observe what young people say about themselves and to each other - it seems to me that many echo the circumstances and hurt of the younger son in the parable. They are sitting among filthy ‘pigs’ in a ‘far off’ place of extreme famine. Many are hurting or in need. Others are angry, like the older son. They are sick and need a doctor.
“he began to hurt” (Luke 15: 14)
Maybe their pain is to do with exam pressure, failure, anxiety, unrealistic expectations, to do with a boyfriend/girlfriend, county lines (‘hired themselves out’, Luke 15:15), grooming, bereavement, loneliness, abuse, with their identity, shame, cannabis use, pornography, maybe it is the comparisons and pressures of social media, cyber bullying, lock down left overs, sexting or perhaps just something someone has said to them. Many are struggling with their mental health. They don’t feel ‘good enough.’
“The son said, “Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son.” (Luke 15:19a)
Dillon Smith (aged 22) in his article, ‘7 habits of Generation Z Your Church Might be Ignoring’ identifies that this unique generation have grown up viewing themselves as a brand. (Thank you TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.) This means they can be self-absorbed and they market themselves on social media as though they are celebrities. This is a lifestyle that can be exhausting and often leads to disappointment, feelings of inadequacy and an acute awareness of their own shortcomings. What do we, the church say to them? How do we say it?
Back to the parable: the young son felt isolated and initially thought that there was no help available to him.
“no one gave him anything” (Luke 15.16)
Are we, the church, offering young people any help? There is much work to be done with our young people. Do they see us as a possible source of help? There are no (or very few) young people in many churches – Scripture Union believe 95% of children and young people have no contact with Christians. If we believe we have something to offer them and that it is important to serve them we need to go where they are: into schools.
This is the vision of CaSS – to see children/ young people served and supported in schools. We believe there is a role for school chaplains to do life with children and young people where they actually are - to walk alongside them in their world. CaSS offers practical, three-day School Chaplaincy and School Ministry Courses for people interested in becoming a school chaplain. (Contact me - fiona.walton@cass-su.org.uk - to find out more about how to join one.)
The younger son in the story has options: he has a home to return to. There is both a back-against-the-wall feeling, and an element of self-preservation in going home – he is prepared to work and he wants to be fed. He anxiously rehearses his speech - take me or use me as a hired worker and give me food. If he is surprised to be taken back as a son, surely he is shocked to be fed the prized, fatted calf! Do our interactions with or about young people surprise them or confirm their views?
“The father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:22 -24)
No doubt (?) young people would receive a warm welcome if they rocked up at a church, but as previously stated 95% of our young people have no church background or contact so are unable to ‘return home’- there is no relationship to rekindle. How can the church be a bigger part of their life?
“I will set out and go back to my father” (Luke 15:18)
Controversial statements/questions alert:
Does the church need to try something different in respect of our young people? Is what we are doing working?
Are we serving young people where they actually are (school) or where they would like them to be (church)?
Does the church need to employ more schools’ workers and school chaplains, rather than more youth workers?
Are Christians answering the questions that young people are asking or are we following our own agenda?
Are we trained to understand or help young people with the problems they are facing and the lives they are living?
CaSS, alongside others, is working hard to offer training to help resource those working with young people and the many challenges they face. Workshops at Joined Up Conferences have tackled difficult subjects, such as County Lines, Pornography, Bereavement, Risky Relationships, Identity and ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences). We cannot bury our heads in the sand about these topics.
Generation Z and Alpha often do not even know any stories or words from the Bible. CaSS works with Bible Society’s Open the Book to train teams of storytelling volunteers. They don costumes and using a script, share Bible Stories in primary schools during collective worship. Through this ministry young school pupils hear the Father’s words.
CaSS also works with Prayer Spaces in Schools, so pupils are offered safe, spiritual, soul feeding, reflective spaces and time.
These lost generations need to be found. Their dead need to be raised. They need to know they haven’t burnt their bridges. They need to understand forgiveness. That they can be known as sons, not hired out servants.
Let’s serve them and guide them home.
Questions
How could you tell the next generation they are good enough and celebrate with them, like the father in the parable?
Are most of the young people in your church from church families? How will you reach others?
Has this article challenged you (the snail thing doesn’t count!)? How?
Fiona Walton works for Christians & Sheffield Schools (CaSS). She also teaches and is the Open the Book Training and Development Officer for Yorkshire.
Contact Fiona at: fiona.walton@cass-su.org.uk