3 biggest questions every teen is asking; how church leaders should respond By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter
The Church is missing out on reaching a whole generation of young people for one simple reason: It’s answering questions Gen Z simply isn’t asking.
That’s according to Kara Powell, the chief of leadership formation and executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary, who in an interview with The Christian Post explained that many well-intentioned adults, pastors, parents and pastors often focus on subjects that aren’t the most pressing questions for young people.
“Our world is always changing, and at Fuller Seminary, we spent a fair amount of time the last few years not only interviewing kids but reflecting on, ‘What are the better Jesus-centered answers we would want young people to lean into and be discipled toward?’” the mother-of-three said. “We wanted to determine, what are young people’s most pressing questions? How do we point them to Jesus’ best answers for those questions?”
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Powell’s latest book, 3 Big Questions that Change Every Teenager: Making the Most of Your Conversations and Connections, co-authored with Brad M. Griffin, seeks to identify and answer these questions. Intended to serve as a resource for churches and parents, the book is based on landmark research from the Fuller Youth Institue and in-depth interviews with data from 2,200 diverse teenagers.
According to the authors, every teenager is asking, “Who am I? Where do I fit in? What difference can I make?” Powell placed these questions into three categories: Identity, belonging and purpose.
“Young people are basing their identity on the expectations of others; their friends, their family, sometimes their church, their volleyball team, their basketball teams, their neighbors, etc.,” Powell explained. “So they’re often figuring out who they are based on what others expect.”
