Christian parents can welcome hard questions from Gen Z at home and church

Today’s teens and young adults want more than surface answers. Ashleigh Hull thinks that Christian families can create space for real conversations, deep doubts, and faith that stands up to scrutiny

Imagine that your son or daughter in their teens or twenties comes to you with a question about faith. They’ve found a thorny problem in the Bible, or they’re wondering about the basis for some of your religious habits as a family or church. I wonder how you’d respond to them. And I wonder how they would feel about that response.

Our teens notice when we don’t have satisfactory answers, or when we dodge a question

As I write, Gen Z roughly span the age bracket from 13-31. If you’re parenting a teen or a young adult (or indeed interacting with others in your church, youth group or workplace) then you’re interacting with Gen Z. And according to some recent research from the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), here’s how they feel about some of our responses: ……