Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World

Rating – Put it on your list

Level – Pretty easy ready, goes quickly, about 200 pages.

Summary
The book is exactly what it sounds like, and introduction to Generation Z, who he defines as those born between 1993 and 2012, how they will be different form previous generations and what the churches needs to do about it.

The book is broken into two parts, plus a pretty extensive appendices. The first part is focused on the Zs and the second on the difference and the churches new approach. The focus is mostly on the changing demographic of Zs, they are less white, more multiethnic, more liberal (economically and socially), and less Christian. White does a good job explaining the way technology is changing their lives, especially as it relates to early sexualization and porn.

My Thoughts
I think White does a good job of not being alarmist. It is a fact of history that the next generation will be our undoing, people have been saying it for thousands of years. So, it was good to read him taking a measured approach. There is a lot of media hype over the ‘nones’, and he explores how it is possible that a middle group who could go either way on the church is now siding with the no-religion group because it is the more socially advantageous position as it is more of the culture norm (the same way the opposite was true 50 years ago and through most of American history). I’ll add two reason I think the ‘nones’ are overblown, one it is cool now to be ‘independent’, we see it with political parties. I see it in church going people who are very devout, they like to say that they don’t like names or denominations. This is already a bit of a tangent, but second, I’ve worked with detailed surveys throughout my career. People are bad at them. You can look at the polling data and see that 9% of self-identified Atheist are certain there is a god when asked. I think it is something like 14% when the question is asked of self-identified Agnostics. Likewise, there are a number of self-identified Christians who say it is impossible to know if God exist. Due to this, I do think church attendance will continue dropping with the Zs and whatever comes next, but the core of the devout won’t change too much.

I like his definition of Z better than some of the others I’ve seen. Other have them starting in 2000 or even as late as 2005, and I think his focus works a little better. More importantly, there is a difference between them and the millennials, just as there was between X and boomers, and SIlent and Greatest before them. The first half of this book is good for anyone looking for a brief primer on the upcoming generation. The book as a whole is important for Christians to understand the changes that are coming, especially pastors and youth workers. Anyone in this latter group should make reading this book a priority.

*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. See more here.