How Gen Z Can Get What Millennials Missed
Generational frustrations
The Millennial Malaise
Imagine you were born in the mid- to late-1980s. This would put you graduating high school, getting your college education, and entering the workforce in the middle of the 2000s.
You’d been promised the American dream and that if you got that college degree, the world would be in your hands. And yet, as you came into adulthood, you ran into the cold, hard wall of reality.
Our country was bogged down in endless wars that seemed to benefit nobody and left our troops with rampant PTSD, leading to a devastating veteran suicide rate.
Our country’s economic prowess went into crisis right as the Millennials entered the workforce. Billionaires got bailed out while mom and pop paid the bill.
The university degrees that we were told to pursue above all else as our ticket to success? They proved to be largely worthless.
Our corporate media got exposed as liars and agenda-driven narrative creators again and again and again.
We also grew up in the megachurch, televangelist era in which numbers often became more important than truth and holiness.
The nation itself began to turn on its heritage as Critical theorists began to try to erase history. Meanwhile, ever-increasing immigration and the rise of DEI told everyone that this is not a nation to uphold, but an economic zone to be exploited by whoever can game the system.
Most importantly, we were already a couple of generations in to no-fault divorce, abortion, widespread birth control and declining birth rates, and the destruction of the family.
Every institution our parents and grandparents trusted ended up letting us down. Generation-wide cynicism and disenchantment were the natural result.
We largely stopped being patriotic.
We explored alternative economic and governmental models. Some went for socialism, others went for Austrian economics and libertarianism.
We still don’t know what to do with colleges. Some followed Mike Rowe’s advice and headed for the trades. Others seem to still view the university system as a necessary evil.
Alternate media exploded. Once-prestigious outlets like CNN regularly get dwarfed in viewership by YouTubers and podcasters. This helped move the spectrum well beyond Fox on the right and MSNBC on the left.
Most of my generation walked away from church. Some who stayed got caught up in movements like the Emergent Church, aimed at de-institutionalizing church for those who distrusted institutions. This almost always led to progressive doctrinal and social stances.
And, the family disintegrated. Fornication, cohabitation, and porn became ways of life. Marriage was delayed or abandoned. Children became viewed as an optional lifestyle accessory at best and an anchor at worst.
Every institution was put up for abandonment or replacement. My generation might not have known what we did want, but what we didn’t want was any of what we had been sold.
The old, filthy bath water had been thrown out. But the baby had gone right out with it. Those institutions all existed for a reason, and their existence was not the problem. Run properly, they could be an enormous benefit to the people. They just weren’t run properly. It was the corruption of the institutions that was the issue.
Millennials found the old ways corrupted, so they abandoned them. Gen Z can get it right by restoring them.
Belief in God, love of the church, honor for one’s nation, and priority of the home are all healthy aspects of human life. Wanting an economy that neither tramples the middle and lower class nor demonizes the upper class is a good desire.
It’s all been done before, and it can be done again. It just takes putting Christ at the center and building upon godly homes that are led by virtuous men who marry virtuous women and raise virtuous children. And I think we might see that kind of return in today’s youngest adult generation.
Gen Z is going back to church.
They are currently first among all the adult generations in Sundays attended per month. Some Millennials are coming back to church after drifting away (especially men), but Gen Z is leading the way. And this data was collected before the Charlie Kirk-inspired resurgence.
Where society was trending toward viewing marriage as irrelevant, Gen Z is pushing the needle back in the other direction. This is huge. Marriage is the backbone of civilization, as Genesis 1-2 teach us.
They are yet to take up a sense of national pride, but in some sectors I believe that is changing, too. Desiring your countrymen’s best interest (Jeremiah 29:7; Romans 9:3) is a great way to love your neighbor, honor your father and mother, and build something for your posterity.
Obviously Gen Z is not a monolith. For nearly every traditional, conservative, pro-religion Zoomer, there is a blue haired LGBT Zoomer counterpart. But after decades of decline, to see it moving back in the other direction is huge. The momentum is strongly on the side of those who see value in revitalizing flagging institutions.
Rather than staying neutral, we should be encouraging this return to prioritizing the home, the church, and the nation from our dinner tables, our pulpits, and on the public square—both digital and face to face.
Of course, we’ll have to get out of our own way to do this.
The “do whatever works for you!” message that has run through modern Christianity will have to be abandoned. Older men who make a mockery of marriage/headship and older ladies who scold young women for getting married young or having too many kids will have to be rebuked. The church will have to show people we take what we do very seriously (like attendance, the Lord’s Supper, the purpose of worship, and dress). We have to show that we believe these institutions matter.
Build up the younger men in your life toward faith, virtue, competence, and the importance of building a legacy through their church, home, and work. (Check out the Godly Young Men podcast for a great resource for them) (1 Timothy 4:12). Encourage the younger women to get married, have children, and work diligently to build a home (1 Timothy 5:14; Titus 2:3-5).
All my life we’ve observed decline, and for the first time there’s a real sense that things can be reversed. Pray for Gen Z, and invest in their success. They might just be the generation to lead us out of the Wilderness.
Notes
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Remember the lessons of bell curves. All of the things being attributed to these "generations" are indeed true of more members of these generations than of members of other generations, but they are still not true for whole lot of these people.