[1]ATLANTA – Southern Baptists recognized Student Baptism Sunday Oct. 26 during a season in American religious life when church attendance among young people has been on the rise.
“For a few years, I personally witnessed more and more young people coming to faith in Christ when I would preach around the nation,” said Shane Pruitt, national next gen director for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). “I called Gen Z the ‘revival generation’ more as a prayer request based on what I was witnessing anecdotally. Now, we’re seeing some of the data bear that out.”
Barna reported the uptick in church attendance in research they released in September [2]. Their study showed that Millennials and Gen Z have begun attending church more regularly than older generations.
When comparing recent interactions with students to those from nearly a decade ago, Alex Edwards has seen an uptick in evangelical fervor among middle and high school students in his ministry at New Hope Baptist Church in Senoia, Ga.
“One thing that is really a big difference, not that the students didn’t love Jesus or love the Gospel, but there is a sharing of the Gospel like never before,” said Edwards said, students and young adults team leader at New Hope. “I’ve had a lot of students come up asking me advice on how to share Jesus with different types of people.”
That eagerness to share the Gospel has played a role in the church baptizing 13 students in the last two months, including one on Student Baptism Sunday.
In Minnesota, Greak Oaks Church in Mankato baptized several college students on Sunday. Great Oaks is a Send Network church plant and a part of The Salt Network, a family of churches committed to planting churches in university centers.
Donovan Brock, associate pastor and youth pastor at Neals Creek Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., baptized five people and recognized Student Baptism Sunday on his social media. Youth minister Lathan Limones shared news of a student baptism [3] at First Baptist Church Tahoka, Texas.
Brock and Limones were among several churches and student leaders providing updates on social media [4].
In analyzing the data about church attendance among younger generations, Barna’s vice president of research said in a statement the “data represents good news for church leaders and adds to the picture that spiritual renewal is shaping Gen Z and Millennials today.”
For Edwards, that’s looked like students starting Bible studies, discipling their peers, and wanting to engage more deeply with their faith.
“They want to hear the big, technical words. They don’t want messages to be really shallow, and if it is shallow,” said Edwards, “they’ll call me out on it, or they call their small group leader out on it.”
That desire likely stems from the challenges they face from the broader culture, which Edwards said his students are eager to engage with the Gospel. Whether the questions center on issues of human identity and sexuality or how their faith plays out in the public square, Edwards regularly interacts with students who want to be equipped to face those challenges.
This generation has also been the first to grow up as digital natives. They have only known life where the internet and the smart phone have become a dominant lens through which to view the world.
Students see others living different lifestyles and expressing their opinions on politics and other cultural issues. They start relating to people whom they have never even met.
“We have to respond with empathy because we don’t fully understand what they’re going through, but we do have the truth that they need as well,” Edwards said.
As part of an effort to help their students detach from the online world, New Hope hosts their Wednesday night student worship service outdoors for one month. The service features an acoustic worship set away from the lights and comforts of their indoor space.
“They absolutely love it,” Edwards said. “That’s just one more thing that shows their seriousness about the things of Jesus. It’s not Jesus and all this other stuff. It’s just, ‘We want Jesus. Would you please just show us Jesus, and let’s go reach the world.’”
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PHOTOS and CUT LINES
Donovan Brock.jpg
Donovan Brock, associate pastor and youth pastor at Neals Creek Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., baptized five people and recognized Student Baptism Sunday through social media on October 26. (Facebook photo)
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Stephen Jones (left), lead pastor of Great Oaks Church in Mankato, Minn., and Max Juergens (right), Salt Company college ministry director, stand with one of the college students baptized on Student Baptism Sunday, October 26. (Photo submitted by Stephen Jones)
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Alex Edwards, students and young adults team leader at New Hope Baptist Church in Senoia, Ga., baptizes a student during the church’s September baptism service. (New Hope Baptist Church Facebook photo)
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