It's no longer about Millenials, the youth you encounter today will be mainly Gen Z. Here are some characteristics to consider if we want to reach out to this generation.

1. Gen Z
This ain’t your Millenial Generation!

2. Traditionalists (75+)
Baby Boomers (60-75)
Gen X (40-60)
Millenials (25-40)
Gen Z (5-25)
Generation Alpha (5 and below)

3. Why Does Studying
Generations Matter?

5. I believe youth ministry in general
has not made the best impact on
the Millenial generation… and now
we are looking at another
generation with different
perspectives on many things.

6. –Psalms 89:1
“I will sing of the steadfast love of
the LORD, forever; with my mouth I
will make known your faithfulness to
all generations.”

7. –Ephesians 3:21
“…to him be glory in the church and
in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever.
Amen.”

8. Is There Really That Big
A Difference Between
Millenials and Gen Z?

9. Gen X (40-60) - Scroll through their phone during service.
Will use Google to fact check what the preacher is
saying.
Millenials (25-40) - Watch church on their phone at home
instead of joining the church
Gen Z (5-25) - Take selfies and play with filters during
service.
Generation Alpha (5 and below) - Watch YouTube on
their parents phone with earphones.

10. Who our parents are and common
shared experiences define a
generation

11. Baby Boomers (60-75)
Gen X (40-60)
Millenials (25-40)
Millenials (25-40)
Gen Z (5-25)
Generation Alpha

14. visioncritical.com has an infographic
highlighting some more of these
differences:

19. Phigital
Hypercustom
DIY
Interesting Internet Habits
Realistic

20. Phigital
Gen Z has only know a world where for
every physical element, there is typically a
digital equivalent. And it’s not either/or.
Rather it can be both or a combination.
Think GPS map navigation, video calls,
online shopping, online dating, job
interviews.

21. Most of Gen Z learned to
swipe a screen before they
learned to talk

22. 91% of Gen Z say that a
company’s technological
sophistication would impact their
decision to work there.

23. HYPERCUSTOM
Remember music CDs?
This generation makes
their own playlists of music
and YouTube videos,
developed their own
personal content and T-
Shirts, the choices to fill
out for religion and gender
Think GPS map
navigation, video calls,
online shopping, online
dating, job interviews.

24. ““It used to be that you came to work at Panera as a
retail associate and there were six steps to make it to
assistant manager. It was very linear and prescribed.
What we saw with Gen Z was that they wanted to each
be seen as their own individual and actually resented
conversations that grouped them together.”
-–Kathy Watkins, VP of learning and
development for Panera Bread

25. Silo or Self-contained
Mentality could be the
case for most: Gen Z can
custom-pick the sources
of the news and opinions
they hear. The result
being that Gen Z may not
be as adept in thinking
through other lens or
world views.

26. According to a Nielsen
study, 83% of Gen Z
trusts recommendations
from their peers the
most. 66% trust
consumer opinions
posted online. 66% trust
editorial content
(newspaper articles)

27. DIY
Do It Yourself

28. Julius “Mr. YouTube” Yego
He learned to be world-class at javelin throwing from
watching YouTube videos, an inspiration to this generation.

29. “Why go to church at all if I can
worship and learn better from
streaming music and online videos?”

30. From
“Sage on the Stage”
To
“Guide on the Side”

31. –Melissa Kondrick, teacher
“We have to meet Gen Z where they are if we want to engage with
them. You can’t just take printed materials and repurpose them online.
It needs to be interactive and ideally gamified to keep their attention…
The older model was “sage on the stage” where the teacher stood in
front of the classroom and “deposited” knowledge to students. There
was only one right answer. Since they were the one with all of the
knowledge, they belonged up front. Now, the model is “guide on the
side” where often the students are collaborating in small groups and/or
looking at a screen, not the teacher.”

32. What does this mean for how we Share
God’s Word?
What does this mean for how we Do Relief
and Missions?

35. FOMO is real.

36. At the Old Navy company, they
noticed that Gen Z employees had a
harder time focusing on the job
because they felt so disconnected
and that they might be missing out
on something they really needed to
know.

38. Gen Z has great skills at
amassing information online.
However they are more
susceptible to misinformation
because they don’t give much
time to comprehension.

39. Gen Z are more pragmatic than Millenials in
things such as college and career.

40. Previous generations went to college to figure
out what they wanted to pursue. For Gen Z it
is about implementing a predetermined
career.

41. 61% of Gen Z said they believe they need to
know what career they want before entering
college. The conversation is less about where
you would go to college and more about what
you would want to be.

42. Gen Z knows that the ones who get jobs are
the ones who have real-life work experience
and not necessarily the ones who know
calculus and has memorized all the Philippine
presidents.

43. 75% are more worried about getting a job
than finding a soul mate.

44. Your Purpose Statement is going to come
under scrutiny. Over-the-top mission
statements will not encourage Gen Z to be
involved and they want proof that you can
stand behind any claim you make about your
ministry.

45. 61% of Gen Z would stay at a company for
more than 10 years. Of these, 31% would be
willing to stay more than twenty years!

46. Of the 5 Gen Z characteristics what is the
most striking for you?
Knowing this of Gen Z, what is one change
you will make in your ministry going forward?

47. –David Kinnaman
“…accelerated cultural change prompts us to revive
the biblical metaphor of exile as a helpful
description of today’s Christian experience. We call
this place of exile “digital Babylon”—comparative in
size and power to the ancient empire that took
God’s people into captivity, but armed with weapons
we willingly use on ourselves:
our screens.