A Worried Generation (Part 1)
FEBRUARY 7, 2023 | 26 MINUTE LISTEN
HOSTS: JOHN RINEHIMER & CONNOR OWEN
Episode Overview
Worry and anxiety seem to be topics we’re all familiar with. But why are we so worried? Why are our kids so worried? Join Connor and John on today’s episode as we talk through the factors playing into this generation’s level of worry. We’ll also be joined by Jace Martin, a WGM employee who coaches varsity girls’ basketball, as he prays over the next generation and all of us who walk through life’s ups and downs with them.
Show Notes
- Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults by Christian Smith and Patricia Snell
Read the Transcript
Connor: Welcome to The Approach, a podcast where we help you walk with and pray for the next generation. My name's Connor Owen, and, as always, I'm joined by my co-host John Rinehimer. And we work at World Gospel Mission where we serve in about thirty different countries. John also is focusing his PhD right now on spiritual formation within Gen Z, and this is the second part of a three-part series that we've been working on. This second part is on the topic of worry, but overall we're talking about hurry, worry, and distraction. And these three behaviors are what John calls the enemies of abiding. So, John, before we jump into our topic today of worry, let's do a brief recap. Can you just give us—the folks listening and watching—why these three topics? What are you seeing in these three topics? Why are we taking time to talk about these things?
John: Yeah, just a quick refresh. These are just reoccurring, broad categories, broad buckets, of things that I just see over and over again in research, as well as just general observation. But there's arguably lots more, and you can probably put a lot of things under these. But these are just three I've seen and really connect with my heart, and also just in terms of spiritual formation, too. And so, you look at the statistics and studies and, man, Gen Z especially is living a hurried pace of life. A lot of things are structured, a lot of schedules, and we all get stretched too thin. And that's kind of what they've always grown up with. You know that causes anxiety and worry and we know those things, as well. And some of them are worrying about things we didn't ever have to in our generations. And then the easily distracted speaks for itself. My phone, Netflix, YouTube.
Connor: All day long.
John: Squirrel outside, just whatever it may be. And so, those are just some of the big rocks, or big categories, when it comes to what is shaping spiritual formation in this generation that I think are really significant.
Connor: Sure. So, I know some listening, we've had this conversation throughout history. We've seen economic slumps, outbreaks of a disease, or maybe some issues as far as conflicts in other countries or wars. Why, though, does it feel like this is hitting this generation, these types of things, why is it hitting them so differently? Some may be asking that as we're thinking about this topic of worry and anxiety.
John: Yeah, I think one of the most significant factors is, I mean, it probably just flies past us because we're all used to it now. But this is the first generation to grow up completely with smart technology, to always have a smartphone, and that is pretty significant.
Connor: Yeah.
John: Even millennials before that still didn't quite have that. Everybody didn't have that.
Connor: Yeah.
John: And so, that shaped just their everyday life, even. Even how calendars are done in school and where do you get answers from and what do I look at.
Connor: Right.
John: Those kind of things. And so, just a recap, though, of this generation, thinking what else they've always known is they've always known TSA at the airport, legalized abortion, and same-sex marriage, and school shootings, and economic and racial political unrest. But they've also seen a ton of amazing things. Just incredible inventions, like self-driving cars and 3D printers and, dare I say, even privatized rockets to the moon.
Connor: Just normal things. Normal things.
John: Just normal things. If you think about those shifts, and the other generations had huge shifts, too.
Connor: Sure.
John: Like electricity, big deal.
Connor: Yeah.
John: It just seems like some have called it just the speed of the information. Some have argued that the speed of information is doubling now rapidly. A hundred years ago, one report I found said that, information doubled every hundred years.
Connor: Okay.
John: Eighty years ago, information doubled every twenty-five years.
Connor: Okay.
John: Forty years ago, information doubled every other year. Now, some are now saying information doubles every twelve to fourteen hours.
Connor: Wow.
John: If that's not enough to stir up some angst in people. And it's like the amount of information you're taking in it, our brains weren't made for that. God didn't design it. We are wore out with the number of these things coming at us. And so, the speed information with the technological revolution, I think, it makes it harder. We've all gradually eased into it, us being the other generations.
Connor: Sure.
John: But this is what Gen Z has just grown up with.
Connor: Yeah.
John: So, they are much more aware, with the 24/7 newsfeed and all that stuff, of what's going on in the world. And so, that stuff's hitting him at a younger age, and it makes it hard for other generations to fully relate, I think, because they're like, "Well, yeah, it's just what happens." But every generation has challenges. I think they're being faced with them more frequently, and I think a lot of times sooner.
Connor: So, that's a little bit of, I think, maybe why this is hitting them differently. Do you think there's anything we, as parents, or just those walking with the next generation, things we're doing differently? Or maybe ways we're shaping them that are making this hit them in a different way?
John: Yeah, I mean there are also some really great things, right?
Connor: Yeah.
John: Now, there's kids Bible apps that are walking you through the meta-narrative of Scripture, and it's really creative. There's some awesome things happening, too. But I also think with so much information and being aware of it's also helped. This isn't new, but again, parents, it's not new for parents to want to keep their kids safe.
Connor: Right.
John: But I think, arguably, that that's really increased the term helicopter parent or snowplow parent. Those are terms we didn't necessarily have in previous generations. Or maybe they were there, we just didn't coin them that way.
Connor: Yeah, yeah.
John: But I think it just feels like things are somehow simultaneously easier and harder. And so, parents don't know always how to wrestle with that, right? And of course, you want what's best for your child or the Gen Z'er in your life. But I love this. That transition, though, in adulthood is, it's really tricky. I love how sociologist, Christian Smith, says it. He says, "The transition to adulthood today is more complex, disjointed, and confusing than in previous decades. These steps through schooling, your first real job, marriage, parenthood, they're all simply less well organized and coherent than they were in previous generations." So, he just cites in his research, which he did a fifteen-year study on the previous generation. He's out of Notre Dame. And those complexities make it tricky for parents. The natural response is, I want to keep my kids safe.
Connor: Right.
John: Of course, no one, again, wants their kid to be hurt, but there is a certain amount of appropriate risk that starts stretching both their physical muscles, as well as spiritually and decision-making. Just learning to cross the street or going to the park or using the monkey bars or just some little things like that that we're not seeing quite as much. Kids playing in neighborhoods because so much is scheduled or on a device. And I'm not trying to hate on those things. I'm just saying those are observations that I think we're seeing some shifts that are a little bit different than other generations. And I think it's possible, if we're not careful as adults and parents, specifically, that we have to be careful not to spend too much time protecting our children and make sure we're being intentional about how are we preparing them? What does that actually look like?
Connor: Yeah. I think Tim Omar says, "You're preparing the child for the road, not the road for the child."
John: Yeah.
Connor: And when I first heard that, I thought of all the times I do that. I'm moving obstacles so they don't ever have to deal with it. But at the end of the day, my kid's still tripping over the shoe because I forgot to move at that time. But I should be telling them, "Look out for the shoe when you're walking." And I think that feeds into things we're seeing. One third of adolescents and adults talking about having mental health issues or anxiety. A 12 percent rise in college students having anxiety compared from 2011 to 2016. So, in a five-year gap, you had a 12 percent increase there. And when we talk about forming people, or for people being formed, it makes me think of the great theologian, Wall-E. So, it's the story where these people move to outer space.
John: Wall-E, the movie. Not like your Uncle Wally or something like that.
Connor: Not a real Wally.
John: Because I played volleyball with a Wally.
Connor: Oh, did you?
John: I liked him a lot.
Connor: Good guy.
John: And he's not a bad theologian.
Connor: This is not that Wally.
John: You mean Wall-E.
Connor: Wall-E.
John: That was great.
Connor: Was that good?
John: Wow. I didn't know you could do voices.
Connor: I watched it a lot. Sorry.
John: Okay.
Connor: So, they moved to outer space, and they get up there and you start to realize their lives are great. They have all this technology, all these things they need to make life easier. Their bone mass, because they're in space, starts to shrink. They become way overweight because they're on these electronic scooters moving them around from place to place. They have screens in front of them all the time, which was amazing. This was made in like '07, '08 before smartphones were the big deal.
John: Yeah.
Connor: And you start to see these people become essentially robots, to where they couldn't think for themselves. And I wonder if, sometimes, that's, that's beginning to happen to us as far as spiritual formation and how we're shaping ourselves.
John: Yeah, I think it's interesting. One study I read, Jean Twenge out of San Diego State. She has written several different books and done lots of studies on this. But she talked about cell phones. Smartphone, specifically, became ubiquitous in 2013, meaning everybody, or about 75 percent of the population had them, including teenagers.
Connor: Which is right in the middle of that increase we see in anxiety in college students.
John: And that same year, they saw a spike of 75 percent increase of people feeling anxious, being diagnosed with anxious, or needing anxious medication. These mental health things started to rise. And so, again, it's not saying that smartphones are evil necessarily.
Connor: Right.
John: But there are some things that happen when you start comparing yourself and you start feeling some angst, or why am I not included in this or that? And so, all of that, it starts forming us. That's spiritual formation, which is how am I being formed ideally into Christ-likeness to be like Jesus?
Connor: Sure.
John: But in many times, it's what James K. A. Smith talks about, cultural liturgies. Now, I grew up in this great church, an old school church of liturgy, being like, "I say this response, you read it back."
Connor: Right.
John: So, maybe you have, "This is boring or lame." But what he's saying is basically, what are the daily things shaping my life? So, he calls them cultural liturgies. From what I'm taking in, viewing, listening, habits I'm forming or not forming, all of that is actually shaping or maybe deforming.
Connor: Yeah. Shaping me into something.
John: Right. And so, is it creating or reforming my image in Christ-likeness? Or is it actually counterproductive to that? Well, yeah, that could cause some pretty serious angst in my life if I'm not aware of all the things that are culturally shaping me. I don't know. Does that make sense?
Connor: Yeah, it does. We're being shaped in one way or the other, whether we're trying to or not.
John: And then, someone much smarter than me turned me on this.
Connor: That list is pretty long, though.
John: Okay, easy now. All right? Let's hear your Wall-E voice again.
Connor: No, thank you. Keep going, please.
John: The term technocratic age was new to me, and it was, let me make sure I get it right, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. Now-
Connor: We'll put this in the show notes for listeners.
John: ...that is a great title. He talks about the technocratic age, basically meaning that instead of all the things that we used to go to, not all. But many of the things we used to go to humans for?
Connor: Sure.
John: We now go to technology for. And so, he talks about instead of, I used to when I was sad, I would read a psalm or pray or go talk to my pastor or a friend. But now, if I'm sad or depressed or anxious or worried, I may pop a pill, or go buy something out of my wishlist, or go eat something.
Connor: Sure.
John: Again, I'm not talking about extremes, but the technocratic age basically just means the things that I used to go to God and people for, I'm now going to technology for.
Connor: Sure.
John: And that has some implications of forming or deforming us and the next generation. And so, how can we be intentional with that is, I guess, my question.
Connor: Yeah. And those things are when I buy a new pair of shoes on Amazon. It feels really good. About a week from then, I'm as empty as I was before, maybe even more empty. And my wallet is more empty, as well.
John: I feel so old because I'm always leery to buy shoes online. Is it going to fit right?
Connor: They don't make my shoes in stores, usually. They laugh me out of shoe stores. Or they bring me the one pair of all black.
John: You're assuming it's because of the shoes, right?
Connor: Yeah.
John: Okay, there we go. All right.
Connor: So, John, how does the enemy use, I think, all of these things, worry and anxiety to maybe get this generation off of mission or create self-doubt within them? They begin questioning themselves. Maybe it's causing them to second guess themselves constantly. What are we seeing? What do you think is happening there?
John: Yeah, I think when you're seeing how other people are living regularly on social media or watching YouTube or whatever, it's easy to play the comparison game and feel like you're not measuring up. I'm not as good as so-and-so, or I'm not as good an athlete. I'm as pretty, or I'm not making as much of money, or I don't have my life figured out. It seems like everyone else does. It makes sense why that would cause a lot of worry in your heart. And then, if you call, your cultural liturgy, is not to be, okay, I'm spending time in the word. I'm not in prayer, or I don't have maybe a solid home life, all that together, you do feel pretty lonely and isolated and you can draw some pretty strong conclusions. Where is God in all this? And so, we're seeing a lower percentage, generally, in Gen Z. Some studies say as low as only 4 percent have a biblical worldview.
Connor: Yeah.
John: And so, the cultural narrative, the stories, the things they're listening and seeing and participating in, they're trying to have all these cheap substitutes and exchanges of this will fill you up. This will really form you. This will make those shoes feel good.
Connor: Yeah.
John: And it doesn't. And so, it's a great opportunity, though, to step in with that Gen Z'er in your life with, "Hey, how can I point him back to Jesus? How can I point him back to the Word? How can I, again, in this technocratic age, point him back to, hey, Jesus wasn't superhuman. He was human the way we were supposed to be." Not Genesis 3 and 4, Genesis 1 and 2, right?
Connor: Right.
John: We're created in His image. How could I push him back? How could I gently walk with them in that way?
Connor: Yeah. I know I think about the comparison game. This isn't exclusive to Gen Z. This is the forty-year-old getting on LinkedIn, seeing their buddies are getting promoted, or they're getting this new gig and, oh, I'm not, too.
John: I'm laughing about LinkedIn because my LinkedIn profile has not been updated in a long time. So, I just remembered about that.
Connor: We should all look that up.
John: I'm not looking. I'm just saying. It's embarrassing how far behind it is.
Connor: A little far behind.
John: That's the name of my game, far behind. That's our next podcast.
Connor: That's the next series we're going to do.
John: Far Behind.
Connor: Far Behind.
John: Shoe Shopping with Connor. This is fantastic.
Connor: So, John, those are some theoretical things. And normally we don't get down into the nitty gritty of pragmatic things. What could you do? But let's go ahead and do that because maybe some people are wanting those next steps. Or what are some small ways people could maybe, I don't want to say challenge, but nudge their Gen Z'er, right?
John: Yeah.
Connor: Or help guide them along as they maybe try to build some resiliency or take some risks?
John: Yeah, I think so much of this is just accidental. No one thinks of the unintended consequences or implications. We get lulled into things a little bit. And so, I think this generation's become a little bit more risk adverse and maybe not have as many experiences yet. Those are things that they crave. I think just as humans we crave, right?
Connor: Yeah.
John: We see Jesus' teaching. It was experiential. It wasn't just sit down in the classroom in rows kind of thing. And so, I would say that's kind of an unattended consequence. So, how could we help the next generation maybe take some bold God-sized risks? I mean, appropriately. I'm not talking about just like, "Okay, try to fly. Good luck." And push them out. But maybe with age-appropriate things that would be experiential.
Connor: Right.
John: I was with my small group of middle school guys, which there's a prayer request. Love those guys.
Connor: Just that alone.
John: But when they all show up, it's sixteen of them, that's a lot of dudes. That's a lot of smells.
Connor: That's a lot of smells. A lot of smells.
John: But we got into this conversation about who is Jesus and all that kind of stuff. And I said, "Hey, what about your middle schools where you guys go? How many kids there do you think know the name Jesus?" And they were like, "Less than half."
Connor: Yeah.
John: And I was like, "What do you think would happen if you guys share Jesus there? Have you ever thought what if Jesus has you in that school to do that?" And they chuckled. You know how little boys do, right? Like, "Ha ha." And I was like, "No, seriously." And they have never thought that thought. And I was like, "Did you know the disciples probably weren't much older than you guys."
Connor: Yeah.
John: And they thought the disciples were eighty years old or something.
Connor: Yeah.
John: I was like, "What if God would have you guys start praying?" You don't even have know how to do that. But what if we started teaching the next generation, start praying for the kids at their school that don't know Jesus?
Connor: Yeah.
John: Or for that neighbor? Just can we lean into that? And then, on the other end of the spectrum, it may just be as practical as when you run to the grocery, take one of your kids with you and give them an assignment. "Hey, go the next row over and find this for me."
Connor: Sure. Simple little things. Yeah.
John: I mean, I'm not saying go drive the car when they're five or something. That's a little bit of risk.
Connor: Yeah.
John: Gives them a little bit of faith. And you may be like, "That's not spiritual formation." I would argue it starts teaching you to trust Jesus in some little things. Learn to say yes to mom and dad, or grandpa, or aunt, uncle, or a teacher, or coach.
Connor: Yeah.
John: All those things start forming this positive habit of, okay, experiencing walking with Jesus, saying yes to Him. He always shows up. It's not that big of a risk because He's calling me to it.
Connor: Yeah.
John: It's bold, it's courageous, and there's this pretty good history of Jesus showing up when people do that.
Connor: Yeah.
John: And then, just another practical thing, I would just say balance, face time and screen time.
Connor: Yeah. Hard for us to adults to do sometimes, too.
John: Yeah. So, I mean, I'm guilty of it, we all are.
Connor: Yeah.
John: But being a intentional, and even what they're viewing in the amounts of time. But teaching little things, like look someone in the eye or make a handshake or-
Connor: Sure.
John: ...say hello to the Amazon person when they drop your package off. Anything just to teach some of those soft skills that I believe have pretty big spiritual formation implications. So, yeah, there's a couple things. And of course, I would definitely say as they get a little bit older, increase those risks, if you will. And man, go on a mission trip, experience another culture, work, or do a prayer walk in your neighborhood and teach them who's someone in our neighborhood Jesus maybe inviting us to go love on, or share. Or is there something that He's calling us to in our town or our city. And so, modeling the Jerusalem, Samaria, to the ends of the earth-
Connor: Yeah.
John: ...with our kids, whether that's your small group, or your soccer team, or Sunday school class, or your kids, or whatever it may be. So, I don't know, a couple ideas.
Connor: Yeah.
John: Everybody's smart. They'll think of other things. But leaning into prayer, some experience, and taking some age-appropriate risks with Jesus.
Connor: Sure. And you can teach them, "Hey, you can get involved in missions right here in your own community-"
John: Right.
Connor: "...in your school and in your neighborhood." Whenever that looks like for you.
John: Yeah.
Connor: Yeah. That's great. Well, as usual, we always have someone come on and pray about the topic that we're talking about. We believe it's an important part of who-
John: He's got a huge heart for the world and the Great Commission.
Connor: Huge heart for the world and Great Commission. And as we talked about that whole Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth, our guest, Jace Martin, who works here at WGM. He also coaches girls varsity basketball at a high school in the area.
John: He's pretty good.
Connor: Pretty good. He's got a son. He's a busy guy. He and his wife served in Spain for a little while. So, he's got a heart for the world. He has a heart for his community, and he lives that out each day. So, Jace is going to lead us in a time of prayer and Scripture, and then we'll come back.
Jace (prayer at end): Listen to these words from Jesus in Matthew 11:28 through 30. He says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you'll find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
And we praise you for that Jesus, because You don't weigh us down with heavy obligations or worries. And in fact, You want to take those things from us. And so, for the young people in our lives and in the world, we pray against comparisons, games we play where we try to make ourselves look good compared to other people. We pray against isolation and hopelessness and the heavy burdens that young people feel like they need to carry. And on the other hand, we pray for nurturers for young people who can guide them through the maturation process. And for counselors and resources that are helpful and accessible to battle against anxiety. We pray for secure, stable, loving presence in their lives, and close relationships with adults who will decrease anxiety and give healthy ways to increase faith.
We pray that young people who know You would give You their anxiety over and over again, and each time they're tempted to pick it back up, we pray that Your spirit would nudge them to give it back to You. And for young people who don't know you, we pray that anxiety and worry would not be an obstacle, but would rather push them towards You, toward the God who takes those things away, that their anxiety would be what urges them to chase after a better way and accept the fact that Your yoke is easy, and Your burden is light.
We pray for parents and grandparents and guardians who are raising their children, who are raising young people. Give them words to say and ears to hear the correct things, things that push young people toward You. We pray for patience as anxiety is something that is hard to explain and hard to articulate, especially for young people. We pray that the adults in their lives would be calm and considerate as they hear these things. And above all, God, we recognize that anxiety is not something that's from You, but it is something You can use. And we pray that You would do that this young generation who we believe are going to be world changers and who have the ability and the confidence to extend Your Kingdom to the ends of the earth. We pray that anxiety would not be a stumbling block for them. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Connor: Well, thanks for taking the time to join us today, Jace, to pray over the next generation. Thanks for all you're doing for the next generation, as well in your day to day. And thanks to all of our listeners and those watching for joining us today for another episode of The Approach, which is a podcast where we pray for and walk with the next generation as they seek to use their gifts and talents and experiences to journey with Jesus and participate in the Great Commission. But we'd love to encourage you to begin inviting your friends to join us in this moment as we believe God is stirring in the hearts of each generation. And as we seek to walk with and pray for the next generation, it will require more mentors and coaches, like Jace, and teachers and parents to do this work. So, please share this with somebody who you think would love to come on this journey with us. And be sure to like and subscribe and give a rating on your podcast platform of choice. For some of our resources and show notes, check out the website at wgm.org/podcast.