Why young adults are leading the way in evangelism

A decade ago, a story like his would have stood out. Today, it’s one of many. It’s clear that God is doing something among young adults. But what’s just as clear is that young adults aren’t sitting on the sidelines watching it unfold; they’re active participants in God’s mission.

The numbers back it up. The Evangelical Alliance recently surveyed more than 600 under-35s, and the results are striking: 85% of those surveyed had spoken to someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus about faith in the past six months, and 74% said that people around them are open to hearing about faith at the moment.

Put those two figures together and the picture is clear: young people have non-Christian friends who are open to the gospel, and they’re making the most of that opportunity. 
 

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Young adults are leading the way in evangelism, and three shifts have made this possible.

For a while, it looked like the story in the Western world was a slow, but inevitable march toward a new world without belief, without transcendence, without God. The new atheism movement of the early 2000s preached that science and reason alone would be enough; that religion would quietly fade into the background of society, and predicted the extinction of the church; but that’s not what has happened. Young adults have found that being told that they are collections of cells here by accident with no inherent value, purpose, morality, or eternal destiny is hard to believe. They’ve watched their atheist parents and have concluded that their worldview doesn’t work. 

In fact, secularism hasn’t produced a generation of contented atheists; it has produced an anxious, morally confused and lost generation with deep longings that have not been fulfilled, in turn producing an age of spiritual curiosity. The new atheist movement has created a spiritual awakening. The cry of young adults today is: ​“There must be something more!” It’s a very exciting time to be a Christian and a young adult, with so many opportunities to make Jesus known. 

“Live your truth” has been the motto of a generation, with the promise that living out your own personal truth would produce freedom. The culture we live in has tried to redefine justice, dignity, good and evil, right and wrong, without reference to God. For a time, that vision seemed compelling. But Gen Z have grown up being told they can believe whatever they like, and that whatever they feel is true is true and have found themselves on shaky ground. 

There is a renewed hunger for truth that doesn’t change with the latest cultural trend. Gen Z is searching for something permanent, for a foundation strong enough to build a life on. For a growing number of young people, that search is leading them to Jesus. It’s still not simple to talk about contentious issues, but it does seem to be easier than a decade ago. People seem to be generally more open to a conversation around objective truth. 

Social media can be used for real evil, but it is also being used for wonderful good. The online world has made it possible to share the gospel more widely than at any other point in history. Stories of celebrities exploring faith have gone viral online, and the public conversation about faith has made it more plausible for young people to consider Christianity. 

Many young people are using social media to share the gospel with people who might otherwise never hear it. Like in the baptism I saw recently, we’re hearing many young people with stories that start with a YouTube video, a podcast, or a reel that made them start reading the Bible for themselves or try praying. Social media is our modern-day marketplace of ideas, like the one we see Paul walk around in Acts 17. Just as Paul is invited to speak after observing all the idol worship, we too have an incredible opportunity to make Jesus known online and to provoke thought and discussion.

No matter what generation you’re part of, let’s encourage young people to continue making Jesus known and equip them well for the work they’re already doing. 

If you want to explore these ideas more deeply, have a listen to the new season of our Being Human podcast, where my co-host Peter Lynas and I explore the rise in spiritual curiosity, look at celebrity Christians, alternative spirituality, Christian nationalism and much more. 

We would also love to help you practically. If you have young adults in your church who are wanting to share Jesus with their friends, please get in touch with us. We would love to help you equip your young adults for mission.