Notes

Chapter 1: Love Responds

“Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences (2018),” Common Sense Media, accessed January 20, 2019, www.commonsensemedia.org/research/social-media-social-life-2018.

For a complete list of the surveys related to the departure of young people from the church, please read: J. Warner Wallace, “UPDATED: Are Young People Really Leaving Christianity?,” http://coldcasechristianity.com/2018/are-young-people-really-leaving-christianity/.

Lee Miller and Wei Lu, “Gen Z Is Set to Outnumber Millennials within a Year,” Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-gen-z-millennials-20180820-story.html.

“The Nielsen Total Audience Report: Q1 2017,” July 12, 2017, www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/the-nielsen-total-audience-report-q1-2017.html.

“Atheism Doubles among Generation Z,” Barna Group, January 24, 2018, www.barna.com/research/atheism-doubles-among-generation-z/.

“Spirituality in Higher Education: Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose,” Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, accessed July 31, 2018, www.spirituality.ucla.edu/.

J. Warner Wallace, “UPDATED: Are Young People Really Leaving Christianity?,” Cold-Case Christianity, January 12, 2019, http://coldcasechristianity.com/2018/are-young-people-really-leaving-christianity/.

“What Is Sticky Faith?,” Fuller Youth Institute, accessed January 21, 2019, https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/stickyfaith.

Christian Smith, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 89.

Michael Lipka, “Why America’s ‘Nones’ Left Religion Behind,” Pew Research Center, August 24, 2016, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/ (wording changed slightly to fit the context of this chapter). See also “Choosing a New Church or House of Worship,” Pew Research Center, August 23, 2016, www.pewforum.org/2016/08/23/choosing-a-new-church-or-house-of-worship/.

Mark M. Gray, “Young People Are Leaving the Faith. Here’s Why,” OSV Newsweekly, August 27, 2016, www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/PapalVisit/Articles/Article/TabId/2727/ArtMID/20933/ArticleID/20512/Young-people-are-leaving-the-faith-Heres-why.aspx.

I (Sean) have personally heard reasons like these before. For similar responses and information, see Gen Z: The Culture, Beliefs, and Motivations Shaping the Next Generation (Ventura, CA: Barna Group, 2018).

Daniel Cox, “College Professors Aren’t Killing Religion,” FiveThirtyEight, October 10, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/college-professors-arent-killing-religion/.

Larry Alex Taunton, “Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity,” Atlantic, June 6, 2013, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/listening-to-young-atheists-lessons-for-a-stronger-christianity/276584/; and Gray, “Young People Are Leaving the Faith,” www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/PapalVisit/Articles/Article/TabId/2727/ArtMID/20933/ArticleID/20512/Young-people-are-leaving-the-faith-Heres-why.aspx.

“When Americans Say They Believe in God, What Do They Mean?,” Pew Research Center, April 25, 2018, www.pewforum.org/2018/04/25/when-americans-say-they-believe-in-god-what-do-they-mean/.

Vern L. Bengtson, Families and Faith: How Religion Is Passed Down across Generations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 19; see also chapter 5, “The Unexpected Importance of Grandparents (and Great-Grandparents).”

“When Americans Become Christians,” National Association of Evangelicals, Spring 2015, www.nae.net/when-americans-become-christians/.

Chapter 2: Love Understands

Thanks to our friend Jeff Myers, in his presentation for the Cultivate Project, for drawing our attention to these kinds of generational comparisons.

J. Walter Thompson Intelligence Edudemic Survey (2012), as cited by Sparks and Honey Consulting and Advisory, “Meet Generation Z,” SlideShare, June 17, 2014, www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17/28-They_multitask_across_5_screens28Age.com.

“Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences (2018),” Common Sense Media, accessed January 20, 2019, www.commonsensemedia.org/research/social-media-social-life-2018.

“Generation Z Facts and Stats Marketers Need to Know [Infographic],” Acorn, accessed March 15, 2018, www.acorninfluence.com/blog/generation-z-stats-facts-marketers-infographic/.

Lenna Garibian, “Gen-Z Trusts Mobile, Social Content More Than Other Generations Do,” MarketingProfs, April 4, 2013, www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10462/gen-z-trusts-mobile-social-content-more-than-other-generations.

“Attention Span Statistics,” Statistic Brain Institute, March 2, 2018, www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/.

Alex Williams, “Move Over, Millennials, Here Comes Generation Z,” New York Times, September 18, 2015.

Gen Z: The Culture, Beliefs, and Motivations Shaping the Next Generation (Ventura, CA: Barna Group, 2018), 46.

Gen Z, 46.

“Generation Z: Marketing’s Next Big Audience,” Marketo, in Sparks and Honey Consulting and Advisory, “Meet Generation Z,” SlideShare, June 17, 2014, www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17/28-They_multitask_across_5_screens28Age.

Innovation Group, “Meet Generation Z,” report, J. Walter Thompson Intelligence, May 18, 2015, www.jwtintelligence.com/2015/05/meet-generation-z/.

Ryan Scott, “Get Ready for Generation Z,” Forbes, November 28, 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/causeintegration/2016/11/28/get-ready-for-generation-z/#7251db6c2204.

Susanna Schrobsdorff, “The Kids Are Not All Right,” Time, November 7, 2016, 47.

Erin Anderssen, “Through the Eyes of Generation Z,” Globe and Mail, November 12, 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/through-the-eyes-of-generation-z/article30571914/.

Jean Twenge, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood (New York: Atria, 2017), 93.

Joel Stein, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation,” Time, May 20, 2013, http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/.

“Getting to Know Gen Z: How the Pivotal Generation Is Different from Millennials,” Barkley and FutureCast, January 2017, www.barkleyus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FutureCast_The-Pivotal-Generation.pdf.

Twenge, iGen, 132.

Jonathan Morrow, “Only 4 Percent of Gen Z Have a Biblical Worldview: New 2018 Barna and Impact 360 Institute Research Shows,” Impact 360 Institute, accessed January 21, 2019, www.impact360institute.org/articles/4-percent-gen-z-biblical-worldview/.

“Innovation Imperative: Portrait of Generation Z,” Northeastern University and FTI Consulting, November 18, 2014, www.fticonsulting.com/~/media/Files/us-files/insights/reports/generationz.pdf.

Chapter 3: Love Relates

Ellie Polack, “New Cigna Study Reveals Loneliness at Epidemic Levels in America,” Cigna, May 1, 2018, www.cigna.com/newsroom/news-releases/2018/new-cigna-study-reveals-loneliness-at-epidemic-levels-in-america.

Paul Vitz, “The Psychology of Atheism,” chapter 7 in A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life’s Hardest Questions, ed. Dallas Willard (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2010), 136–53.

Joan Hope, “Get Your Campus Ready for Generation Z,” The Successful Registrar 16, no. 7 (September 2016): 6.

Sean Keach, “Watching Over You: Teens Want Parents to Restrict What They Do Online, Study Suggests,” Sun, February 6, 2018, www.thesun.co.uk/tech/5506367/teens-parents-parental-controls-online-restrictions/.

Jingjing Jiang, “How Teens and Parents Navigate Screen Time and Device Distractions,” Pew Research, August 22, 2018, www.pewinternet.org/2018/08/22/how-teens-and-parents-navigate-screen-time-and-device-distractions/.

Mark Abadi, “Adults Who Went Undercover at a High School Found Seven Things People Don’t Realize about Life for Teenagers Today,” Business Insider, February 12, 2018, www.businessinsider.com/undercover-high-teenagers-lives-2018-2.

Chapter 4: Love Equips

Gen Z: The Culture, Beliefs, and Motivations Shaping the Next Generation (Ventura, CA: Barna Group, 2018).

David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity … and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007), 81.

Find out more about Summit ministries at www.summit.org.

Gen Z, 25.

Julie Beck, “The New Age of Astrology: In a Stressful, Data-Driven Era, Many Young People Find Comfort and Insight in the Zodiac—Even If They Don’t Exactly Believe in It,” Atlantic, January 16, 2018, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-new-age-of-astrology/550034/.

John C. Maxwell, Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters (Nashville: Hachette, 2015), ebook section “Intentional Living Encourages Us to Finish Well.”

Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 461.

James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2016).

“Jonathan Morrow on Building Lasting Faith in Gen Z,” Barna, July 19, 2018, www.barna.com/gen-z-qa-with-jonathan-morrow/.

Chapter 5: Love Ignites

“Atheism Doubles among Generation Z,” Barna Group, January 24, 2018, www.barna.com/research/atheism-doubles-among-generation-z/.

Dictionary.com, s.v. “apathy,” accessed January 23, 2019, www.dictionary.com/browse/apathy.

K. Robert Beshears, “Apatheism: Engaging the Western Pantheon of Spiritual Indifference,” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, April 2016, https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:11094/datastreams/CONTENT/content.

Paul Rowan Brian and Ben Sixsmith, “Apatheism Is More Damaging to Christianity Than Atheism and Antitheism,” Public Discourse, August 13, 2018, www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2018/08/21919/.

“Silent and Solo: How Americans Pray,” Barna Group, August 15, 2017, www.barna.com/research/silent-solo-americans-pray/.

“Porn in the Digital Age: New Research Reveals 10 Trends,” Barna Group, April 6, 2-16, www.barna.com/research/porn-in-the-digital-age-new-research-reveals-10-trends/.

“Pornography Survey Statistics,” Proven Men, survey conducted by Barna Group, 2014, www.provenmen.org/pornography-survey-statistics-2014/.

Theodore Roosevelt, “American Ideals in Education,” speech to Iowa State Teacher’s Association, November 4, 1910, reel 421, Theodore Roosevelt papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington DC.

Chapter 6: Love Trains

“Dig Deeper: Critical Thinking in the Digital Age,” MindEdge, accessed January 23, 2019, https://mindedge.com/page/dig-deeper.

For more information about the TRAIN acronym, please refer to J. Warner Wallace, Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith (Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2017), esp. ch. 2, “Targeted Training.”

Bob Smietana, “LifeWay Research: Americans Are Fond of the Bible, Don’t Actually Read It,” LifeWay, April 25, 2017, https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/04/25/lifeway-research-americans-are-fond-of-the-bible-dont-actually-read-it/.

Russ Rankin, “Study: Bible Engagement in Churchgoers’ Hearts, Not Always Practiced,” LifeWay, January 1, 2014, www.lifeway.com/en/articles/research-survey-bible-engagement-churchgoers.

“Competing Worldviews Influence Today’s Christians,” Barna Group, May 9, 2017, www.barna.com/research/competing-worldviews-influence-todays-christians/, italics added.

John Stonestreet, “The High Price of Utilitarian Thinking: Bad Ideas Have Victims,” CNS News, April 19, 2017, www.cnsnews.com/commentary/john-stonestreet/high-price-utilitarian-thinking-bad-ideas-have-victims.

For more about Dr. Parrott, see his Northwest University faculty page at www.northwestu.edu/social-behavioral/faculty/les-parrott/ (accessed January 23, 2019), and read about his identity categories here: Amy Bellows, “Your Teen’s Search for Identity,” Psych Central, October 8, 2018, https://psychcentral.com/lib/your-teens-search-for-identity/.

Arlener D. Turner, Christine E. Smith, and Jason C. Ong, “Is Purpose in Life Associated with Less Sleep Disturbance in Older Adults?,” Sleep Science and Practice 1 (July 10, 2017): 14, https://sleep.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41606-017-0015-6.

Nathan A. Lewis, et al., “Purpose in Life and Cognitive Functioning in Adulthood,” Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition 24 (November 7, 2016): 662–71, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13825585.2016.1251549.

Patrick L. Hill, et al., “Purpose in Life in Emerging Adulthood: Development and Validation of a New Brief Measure,” Journal of Positive Psychology 11 (June 3, 2015): 237–45, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2015.1048817.

Barbara L. Fredrickson, et al., “A Functional Genomic Perspective on Human Well-Being,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 13, 2013, www.pnas.org/content/110/33/13684.

Andrew Steptoe, Angus Deaton, Arthur A. Stone, “Subjective Wellbeing, Health, and Ageing,” Lancet 385 (February 14, 2015): 640–48, www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)61489-0/fulltext.

Stephen Cranney, “Do People Who Believe in God Report More Meaning in Their Lives?: The Existential Effects of Belief,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 52 (September 2013): 638–46, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jssr.12046.

Chapter 7: Love Explores

To learn more about Brett Kunkle and his powerful ministry to young people (and to schedule your own worldview mission trip), please visit www.maventruth.com.

Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace, Generation Z Goes to College (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2016), as referenced by La Monica Everett-Haynes, “Generation Z: A New Class of Students Arrives,” University of Arizona, January 28, 2016, https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/generation-z-new-class-students-arrives.

For more on this, please see J. Warner Wallace, Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith (Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2017).

For more information on Utah Lighthouse Ministry, please visit www.utlm.org.

For more information on Mormon Research Ministry, please visit www.mrm.org.

Chapter 8: Love Engages

See Jean Twenge, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood (New York: Atria, 2017), esp. ch. 4, “Insecure: The New Mental Health Crisis.”

Donna Freitas, The Happiness Effect: How Social Media Is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).

As we saw in chapter 3, 69 percent of teens think parental controls online are a good idea. Sean Keach, “Watching Over You: Teens Want Parents to Restrict What They Do Online, Study Suggests,” Sun, February 6, 2018, www.thesun.co.uk/tech/5506367/teens-parents-parental-controls-online-restrictions/.

This is from her presentation “Three Critical Thinking Skills Every Child Should Have,” which she sent to us personally. See natashacrain.com for information about her ministry.

Nancy Flory, “Saints’ QB Breaks Yardage Record, Tells His Kids ‘God Has Equipped Us for Great Works,’” Stream, October 9, 2018, https://stream.org/saints-qb-breaks-yardage-record-tells-kids-god-equipped-us-great-works/.

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