An Opened Book

What it is: Barna’s survey of 25,000 teens around the world revealed that many of today’s biblically engaged teens see the Bible as a justice manual.

Why it’s different: According to the results of this massive survey, teens who Barna classifies as “justice-motivated” say the Bible is their impetus for standing up for what’s right, promoting fairness and justice, making a positive impact on others’ lives, and taking care of people who need help. The majority of teens who described themselves as “justice-oriented” or “justice-motivated” said that Jesus provides a model for justice, and 58 percent of teens who identified as committed Christians said the Bible addresses injustice. Today’s teens are especially dedicated to activism, righting wrongs, and championing equality for marginalized groups, so the fact that they see the Bible as source material for that kind of work is a signal that they’re taking scripture seriously.

In 2000, American cultural theorist Eric Gans introduced a social theory called postmillennialism, or post-postmodernism. The idea of the theory is that the generation arising after the millennium have flipped the script on the victim mentality of the previous generation. Instead, this generation — Gen Z — chooses not to use victimization rhetoric and instead see themselves as able to overcome difficulty and produce positive change. The results of Barna’s global survey would seem to indicate that the predictions of this theory, at least in some part, are coming to pass. Teens who identify as Christians, and teens who don’t, expressed a belief that their generation has the ability to have a positive impact on the world.

Perhaps the most exciting thing the Barna survey shows us is that teens are seeing and believing in the heart of Jesus for the needy and the disenfranchised. They say they feel motivated by the Bible to fight for justice for those people. They view Jesus as a radical figure with a style that disrupted the status quo. These are qualities that appeal to the activist generation as admirable and worth imitating. Jesus not only accepted but encouraged and elevated the poor, the sick, the women, the social outcasts, and many others that society at the time overlooked. He embraced the marginalized in a way that was, and still is, revolutionary.

In his book Gentle and Lowly, Pastor Dane Ortland says this of Jesus’ character and attitude towards those who needed him: “This high and holy Christ does not cringe at reaching out and touching dirty sinners and numbed sufferers. Such embrace is precisely what he loves to do. He cannot bear to hold back.” Teens grounded in Scripture who love the lost will see their own desire to reach out to the marginalized as one inspired by the person of Christ himself. Their pursuit of justice should inspire us all to see the just Lord for who he is—Defender of the weak, Savior of the lost, and Rescuer for all who come to him in need.

Questions to spark conversation with your teens:

Do you believe that you can have a positive impact on the world? How?
Do you see the Bible and Jesus’ ministry as a call to justice?
How can you model Jesus’ desire for justice in your own life?

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