Comedian and SNL alumna Amy Poehler won the first ever Golden Globe in Podcasting this year for her hit show Good Hang. The format is simple. Amy interviews a celebrity she finds interesting in front of her bookcase full of fake food. It is Amy’s perceptive questions and comedic timing that have made the show an instant classic.
A few weeks ago Amy hosted actress Kerry Washington. Both moms to tweens and teens. Amy sets up the interview as she often does, glowing about the current generation of teenagers before asking Kerry about how she balances celebrating and creating drive in her children. “I try to sit on the bench,” Kerry said. Let the teenager direct the conversation. Poehler agreed and added, "I want to look where they are looking.” Teenagers need adults in community who are willing to sit on the bench and look where they are looking. The faith research around Gen Z and Gen Alpha agrees.
A Fuller Youth Institute study on Gen Alphas, published earlier this year, highlighted the unique relationship between influence and trust for this generation. As digital natives, teenagers have not only quantifiably more access to information, but chronic access to an ever-expanding universe of information. This phenomenon has been reflected in what researchers are calling the “YouTube Accent.” Current teenagers are less likely to share behavior, word choice and pronunciation with their local community or family. They instead have a more general accent that does not represent their geography, but instead what they hear from influencers, gamers, and actors. Teenagers today are influenced by an overwhelming amount of data points every day, and we know that this is profoundly shaping their behavior, perspective, and faith.
While their circle of influence is expanding, the recent Fuller report asserts that teenagers’ circle of trust may be shrinking. Students are asking who they can trust as they navigate an overwhelming amount of information. Being a teenager has always been hard. Being a teenager in the age of AI… I can’t even describe.
Consequently, those who are in a teen's circle of trust are deeply formative. This is where families, trusted friends, and hopefully church community become essential. Teenagers are looking for people who love them, people they can trust, and people who can help them navigate a world that adults are still figuring out. This does not mean having the right answers to their questions, but rather creating space for them to be heard, appreciated, and known.
Last week I attended a design summit meeting for a youth devotional app in Louisville, Kentucky. The ecumenical meeting included siblings in ministry from the Episcopal Church, Presbyterians (PCUSA), Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. I will let you guess who I was there to represent. Rarely do I feel so deeply Baptist as I do in these sacred spaces.
Together, we spent three days discussing the spiritual needs and behavior of teens in America right now. The operating manuals for each Christian tradition differed, but each voice came back to some key truths about teenagers in local churches across the country. Teenagers want community they can trust.
One of my favorite things about Gen Z and Gen Alpha is that they want to wrestle with the hard things. They are less interested in the binary responses and more interested in the deep, honest struggle to make sense of the world. They avoid the hard lines and easy certainties and instead opt for a more rugged path.
According to a Barna study of Gen Z students, 46% of individuals reported experiencing doubts about their religious faith. This generation is articulating their doubts with their faith in a way that invites honest conversation. Could we have something to learn from our students? Could they have something to learn from us?
The Fuller Youth Institute proposes 3 action steps for moving these insights into practice to be a community of faith teenagers need.
Get Curious:
This summer when our youth have leadership spotlights, or share their perspective, ask them questions like, “Can you tell me more?”
Provide non-judgemental opportunities for students to tell you more about their life and thoughts.
Follow Up:
When you hear students share specifics about their life, ideas, or events, take the opportunity to follow up.
Ask them who won the soccer game, how the recital went, or what crazy food creation they tried at camp.
Be Dependable:
Let’s do what we say we are going to do. Show up when we can and follow through with our actions.
In the swirling world of online community and AI, dependability matters deeply to our teenagers.
Teenagers need the Church. They need the beloved community that has shaped so many of us so deeply. And, the Church needs teenagers with their big ideas, creativity, faith, honesty, and robust commitment to see the world as it is.
As we work together to build a loving and active community of faith shaped by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we also remember the gift and opportunity we have to build a multigenerational community where our teenagers trust they matter and they belong.
Here is our invitation:
Let’s sit on the bench.
Let’s look where they are looking.
Let’s listen to our teenagers’ perspective.
This is the way to have a Good Hang.
Trusting Together,
Julia