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October 16, 2024

The Bible and Gen Z

Every generation faces its unique challenges.

Young people today experience an unprecedented level of noise. First, they are bombarded by relentless and skillfully designed information, coming at them through videos, messages, pictures, and buzzing reminders from powerful ever-present computers disguised as smartphones.

Teenagers spend over 6 hours a day interacting with their mobile devices, and a total of 7.2 hours a day staring at some screen. These portals give them instant access to 160 trillion gigabytes of information, up from 60 trillion gigabytes in 2020. This unending flood of data assaulting the brain is unprecedented in all of human history.

Coupled with this outer noise is the rapid raise of inner noise – the rising epidemic of anxiety and mental health issues faced by this generation. Since 2014 the percentage of teenagers with a major depressive episode during the last year has gone from 8% – to 20%. Teens are struggling with the noise of their inner world with epidemic proportions.

The Apostle Paul gives us an antidote to this problem in his letter to the Romans. His challenge is to “… not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

This is not an easy verse to apply. Youth leaders need special skill in cutting through the outer and inner noise of this generation with the transforming Word of God, so that young people are formed by God’s truth rather than the flood of opinions around them.

In September the JV team gathered our staff and key young leaders from 21 countries for our Fall Training Conference, centered on the theme of being “Word Formed.” Along with powerful worship and inspiring testimonies, we focused on the truths of Psalm 119 and the many benefits that the Word of God brings.

The participants learned how to frame the “why” of God’s Word to this next generation, and how to get young people into the Word for themselves so they get in connection with the original source, not just the thoughts of the latest podcaster or popular teacher. We talked about how to build “atomic habits” that keep us in the Word every day, and how to teach the Bible in a way that is faithful to the author’s original intent, but also relevant and interesting to today’s generation.

The 400+ leaders in that room will share the good news of Jesus with over 30,000 young people in the next year, and train close to 5000 young leaders.

Thank you for making it possible for us to respond to the new challenges of this generation with ancient truth.

Dave Patty President

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Events, Spotlight

What’s Forming You?

Hot pink posters with neon yellow stripes popped across the back of the auditorium. Meaningless words reached out, grabbing the attention of the audience. It was snappy, busy, and attractive. But no one was focused on that. Almost 400 youth leaders from across Central and Eastern Europe had their eyes closed with a hand laid on their neighbor’s shoulder. The theme of this year’s Fall Conference was Word Formed. Tyler Patty urged the audience, “Pray for a fresh vision of hope that is shaped by God’s story. Pray that young people in this region of the world would become Word Formed.” NOISE. Inner noises of anxiety and outer noises of technology snatch up our attention. “How do we hear the voice of God in the midst of all these voices?” asked Dave Patty. As Christians, we must be on guard in the midst of this. We must have discernment regarding the words that we hear. For Christ is the Word. Through him, we are Word-formed. If we ignore Christ’s words, we will fall prey to the noises of the world. In order to distinguish true words, Dave pointed out four points of formation to look for: 1) Delight. God will bring about an affection for his words. 2) Comfort. God’s words will be a strength to our emotions. 3) Correction. The Word of God will form our actions. 4) Teaching. God forms our convictions through his law. God’s Word will overpower the noises of the world. STORY. Jeremiah was a young man who was given a story from God to tell the nation of Israel. It was full of words that were both bitter and sweet. So how did Jeremiah know if these words were actually meant to form the nation of Israel? Tyler Patty explained that, as Christians, we are to wrestle with similar thoughts in order to bring about both honesty and humility. We must approach the strangeness to be transformed by the sacred. God is the great storyteller. THE EQUATION. Open awareness + selective attention + self-intervention = Word Formed. Sean Smith pointed out that as people navigate the path of life, hearing all sorts of noises, they can live purely from emotion or purely from reason—whatever they want to hear. However, as Christians, our emotions and reason must be in tune with the Word of God. We must equip ourselves alongside our brothers and sisters and stay on his path to be Word-Formed. God is the strongest pathmaker. RELATIONSHIP. Are you Word-formed or world-formed? “God’s words function as an extension of himself,” said Landen Llamas. “He is entering into a relationship with his people through his Word.” It is easy to get distracted by the meaningless words of the world. Our actions are always a response to the words around us. We must remember to recognize God as the Word and choose to live in light of that relationship: Word Formed. WORSHIP: Our God is sovereign! He is the Word made flesh that dwelt among us. “We sang Praise until we had no voice left and jumped so much on that last song,” said Nia from Bulgaria. “I could see all around me young people from Latvia, Poland, Czech, Albania…so encouraging. It really felt like Heaven.” When we distinguish the noises of the world, share God’s story, live out his equation, and cherish a relationship with him, we can worship him as those who are Word-formed. Nia was right. In Heaven, we will be perfectly Word-formed. We will dwell forever with the Word, face to face. Meaningless noise will have no more power. So while we are here on earth, seek out the Word. Pray for a fresh vision of hope that is shaped by God’s story! He will give you one that is formed by the Word so that we may go and be Word-formers.
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Events, Spotlight

Word Formed

Have you ever felt frustrated in your growth as a Christian? Have you ever had the feeling that “I am not satisfied with who I am and should be further in my journey as a Christian growing in my faith?” I definitely have had and sometimes still have those thoughts and feelings. I think they could come from a perfectionist mindset. We could do well by relaxing and understanding that it is okay to be where we are at in our journey, and, instead of comparing ourselves to others or to who we could become, we could compare ourselves to who we were in the past and praise God for how far we have come! Thoughts of dissatisfaction could also come from a heart that is eager to grow and know God more. This is a good desire. In John 14:26, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit an “advocate” and a “teacher”—he wants us to grow and be formed back into his image. The thing is, we are all being formed by something, but, we have the free will to decide what we allow to form us. Growing up in a Christian family and at summer camps, I always heard of how important it is to read the Bible. Honestly, I found it pretty hard to enjoy my quiet time. I felt a lot of pressure reading the Bible and praying. I thought I would not be a good disciple if I had missed one day in my reading plan. At other times, I did not read my Bible at all, and I felt helpless and stuck in my emotions. It changed over time when I started studying with ForMission College. We talked a lot about God’s omnipresence and how he, too, is on mission in this world. That means God is everywhere—even if I do not feel him—and that it is God’s desire to have a relationship with people. This took a lot of the burden off of my shoulders. It also helped me to remind myself when opening the Bible: this is not the time to improve myself but to spend time with my Lord who is forming me. This year at Josiah Venture’s Fall Conference, our annual equipping conference for youth leaders across Europe, we will talk about what it looks like to be Word Formed. Attendees will be invited on a journey on the pathway of formation, with the Word as our North Star. We will hear how God forms his people in the Bible and through the Bible, and the impact this has for our daily lives and our ministries. We will also hear about formation from the perspective of social science, learning some practical tools to participate with God in our own growth. I recently got married, and I was reminded very quickly that knowing someone is nearly not enough to have a relationship with that person. Depth of relationship also requires time for listening to each other, hearing their words, and trying to understand that person. Similarly, knowing that God is there can give us a sense of security and hope, but only by engaging with his Word and trying to understand him will we be led into a deeper relationship with Him. This is a process that will take longer than the 10 seconds of attention span I have from watching reels on Instagram. In Isiah 55:10-11 we read: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” This passage encourages me that the Word of the Lord will fulfill its purpose in me, has transformed me, and will continue to form me in his ways—not only for me to barely survive, but for me to flourish and to live life in abundance. It also speaks directly into the needs and wants of Gen Z. The American psychologist Jean Twenge says that Gen Z is more pessimistic than the Millennial Generation, so they need to hear this as encouragement. But, at the same time they are “waiting to be inspired” to then go on and be a force of change. Imagine a young generation, inspired and formed by the Word of God, ready and active to reach their communities with the gospel of hope. What a great future they are heading into! Fall Conference is a great opportunity for youth leaders and leaders of youth leaders to be inspired and equipped to face the challenges of ministry in a fresh way. But, my prayer is that we don’t only approach this as a time to learn, rather as an opportunity to go deeper into our relationship with God through spending time in his Word and being formed by him. How have you been formed by the Word and what is your hope for the next generation of leaders in Europe?
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Events, Spotlight

Summer Festivals

Dear Friends, Not all of your fruit grows on our trees. The vision of Josiah Venture is a movement of God among the youth of Central and Eastern Europe, a movement that finds its home in the local church and transforms society. Over the years, we have developed powerful vehicles to pursue that vision through Training, National Conferences, Camps, Fusion Music Ministry, Edge Sports, and Exit Ministry in schools. Thankfully there are also others working with youth in the region, and helping them be successful with their programs is also vital to seeing our vision become a reality. Summer festivals are a great example of this investment. Young people love to gather in large groups around passionate worship, inspiring teaching, and encouraging relationships. Summer is a perfect time to make this happen. Though we do not directly lead any of these festivals, our staff often serve in key roles, teaching, leading, hosting, and counseling. Campfest is the largest festival for young people in Slovakia, gathering over 4000 young people for three days of passionate pursuit of God in early August. Peter served in the planning group for this event and spent most of the festival in the counseling tent, talking individually with the hundreds of young people responding to the challenges or seeking help. This year the counseling team lead over 70 to faith in Christ, and every evening the tent was packed with young believers lining up for prayer and spiritual guidance. Darina spoke on the main stage about what it means to know God as Father, and I led a follow-up seminar based on my book “Father God”. This key resource has been translated into Slovak so young people can read it in their own language. My seminar started at 9:00 at night, so I expected a small group, but the tent was packed with several hundred, with just as many sitting on picnic tables or the ground outside, listening in the dark. There was such a teachable spirit and hunger for God in their faces. Many are experiencing breakthroughs that allow them to experience the Father’s love and transforming connection with their heavenly Father for the first time. Festival United gathers over 3000 young believers from across the Czech Republic, which is significant, given that there are only 50,000 evangelical believers in this very secular country. Kuba hosted the main stage for this event and teamed up with his wife Monika to teach young people about God’s view on sex. As you can imagine, the tent was full for this subject. Lucie served on the counseling team and other JV staff led seminars. Kristfest is an event hosted for young people from the Apostolic church in Czech, and Justin and Lucie lead the main team for this event. Their deep commitment to the Word of God, coupled with an amazing understanding of this young generation, has made this festival a rallying point for their entire denomination. Adam, the head of youth ministry for the Apostolic church, trusted Christ through a JV Exit club when he was in High School, which gives him a special heart for young people who need the gospel. It is a joy to see gifted leaders we have discipled serving in key roles throughout the national church. None of these Festivals are JV events, but I’m so thankful for how our JV team sacrifices to see fruit increase wherever young people are reached. They can only do this because you stand with them through your support and prayers. This month, I am especially thankful for your fruit on other trees.