They take parts of the Bible that they approve of and combine it with other philosophies to create “their truth.” Many of them see no need to reject scripture completely, rather they see it as just one more in a long list of voices to pick and choose from. The younger generation of Americans, however, are even more syncretistic. Americans are a syncretistic nation in general, combining various cultures, ideas, and even religions. Millennials and Gen Z provide a unique challenge in teaching scripture. I believe the church is going to need new models of discipleship (or new wineskins, as Jesus described) to address the actual questions younger generations are asking of the Bible and of belief in general.” The sacred canopy under which they live - the plausibility of the Bible’s claims, the informational world they inhabit, the way screens shape their perceptions of reality is quite disconnected from the structures of discipleship that most congregations employ. No, it’s not just a stage-of-life thing that the younger set will simply ‘outgrow.’ “My firm conviction, based on our research over the past 26 years, is that the Christian community is woefully unprepared to address the questions, mindsets, and worldviews of Gen Z. Moreover, there exists a “massive gap” between younger and older generations when it comes to reading the Bible, with Millennials and Gen Z perceiving and engaging with the Bible much differently than do Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and those over the age of 76.ĭavid Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, stated, The study authors also noted that those who make up the middle group between loyal readers of the Bible and those who don’t read it at all “could be described as people who lightly like the Bible at worst, they are impervious to the claims of scripture, believing it to be irrelevant to their lives.” For example, 4 in 10 Americans view the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon as different expressions of the same spiritual truths, and only 32 percent believe that the Bible is unique or distinct from other spiritual books.
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