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Will Your Kid’s Faith Survive YouTube?

Worldview training is not optional for today’s teenagers.

As a parent, pastor, educator or youth pastor you need to know that training in worldview, apologetics, and theology is good for the heart and soul of the next generation.

I believe in the next generation. I love getting to spend time with them talking about the big questions of life and the everyday stuff of life.

Gen Z has amazing potential and I think God will use them greatly. (Here’s my interview with David Kinnaman of the Barna Group and Catalyst podcast on Gen Z)

But they must be trained.

Worldview training is not optional for today’s teenagers

Here’s the bottom line—it’s exhausting to live a compartmentalized faith.

Yet, many Christian teenagers are trying to do this impossible task every day. And it’s taking a toll on their soul and faith.

The cultural messages are strong, and the challenges are unrelenting. Students are being shaped more by YouTube and Netflix than by what they are hearing on a typical Sunday morning.

There’s a disconnect.

Faith and feeling goes in one category of life on Sunday; reason and thinking goes in another category the rest of the week. That kind of faith will not survive.

All the while, what they come to see as normal is being subtly changed—without rational argument by the way—by the videos they watch on YouTube and the shows they watch on Netflix.

Nancy Pearcey on Worldview Training and the Next Generation

Nancy Pearcey’s words are very preceptive here:

As Christian parents, pastors, teachers, and youth group leaders, we constantly see young people pulled down by the undertow of powerful cultural trends. If all we give them is a “heart” religion, it will not be strong enough to counter the lure of attractive but dangerous ideas. Young believers also need a “brain” religion — training in worldview and apologetics — to equip them to analyze and critique the competing worldviews they will encounter when they leave home. If forewarned and forearmed, young people at least have a fighting chance when they find themselves a minority of one among their classmates or work colleagues. Training young people to develop a Christian mind is no longer an option; it is part of their necessary survival equipment.

Confidence and integration come from knowing why you believe what you believe and then how to live it out. And that’s really good for the heart.

We don’t have to pick between thinking well and loving well.

We don’t have to choose between reason and relationships. As Christians, we get to do both.

As Christian Parents, Where Do We Start with Gen Z in a YouTube World?

That’s why I am so excited to share my new online course–5 Things Every Teenager Needs to Build a Lasting Faith—with you as a next step here.

It can be confusing to know where to start or what to focus on. There never seems to be enough time for the things that matter. I’ve removed the guesswork and created a Faith Ownership Dashboard for you to follow.

For years I have been sharing these truths with parents and church leaders in conferences and breakout sessions as an application of my book Welcome to College.

Now they are available for you to work through at your own pace on the go and apply to your own family.

We can’t choose for our kids and God will do what he will do in his providence—but our part is vital if we want to give our kids the chance to build a lasting faith. There is not a silver bullet formula, but there is a framework that we can apply by God’s grace to make a lasting difference!