Faith Formation for Gen Z, Gen Alpha and Beyond

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Your stories. Your community. Your future.

We’re launching this book differently.

We’re using this opportunity to lift up the people and ministries already shaping the future of faith.

From free books and downloadable chapters to webinars, reinvested proceeds and so much more, this is a launch rooted in generosity, shared stories, and sacred listening.

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Josh Packard is one of the voices I trust most when it comes to the faith and life journeys of today’s teenagers. His research is both profound and practical and gives us new lenses to see and appreciate the young people we care about most. If you care about the next generation, Faithful Futures is a must-read.

—Kara Powell, Fuller Seminary and Fuller Youth Institute

Faithful Futures Webinar

Lead with listening to build trust and impact the faith lives of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. In this conversation, sociologist Dr. Josh Packard, applied theologian Wesley Ellis, and a panel of young people and youth workers share practical tools, language, and stories you can use right now in your ministry.

What you will learn

Learn a simple Sacred Listening framework for one-on-ones, groups, and debriefs.
Use ready prompts that help young people feel heard and respected.
Turn small wins into rhythms that strengthen community.
Scale relationships across your context without losing care.

Speakers

Josh Packard — Author of Faithful Futures; co-founder, Future of Faith.

Greg Arthur — Host and emcee. Pastor, writer, and teacher focused on healing and unity in the Church.Find more at drgregarthur.substack.com

Megan Bissell — Executive Director and co-founder, Future of Faith. Sociologist who helps leaders listen well and act on what they learn.

Panelists

Kris Jordan — Youth and Community Pastor at House Church Tulsa and The Well Tulsa; ministry practitioner with Future of Faith.

Keedren Boston — Director of Student Ministry at The Bridge Frisco; ministry practitioner with Future of Faith; founder of Hey Dad Official.

David Edwards — Sacred Listening and Engagement Intern, Future of Faith.

Wesley W. Ellis — Pastor, practical theologian, youth-ministry scholar.

Website: wesleywellis.com

Books: Delighted (Eerdmans, 2020) • Youth Beyond the Developmental Lens: Being Over Becoming (Fortress, 2024) • Abiding in Amen: Prayer in a Secular Age (Fortress, 2025)

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Faithful Futures: Sacred Tools for Engaging Emerging Generations, addresses the urgent need to connect with Gen Z and Gen Alpha in faith-based contexts. Drawing on fresh data and innovative practices, it offers a comprehensive guide for religious leaders to understand and engage these generations authentically. As institutional trust declines and social media shapes young minds, traditional methods fall short. This book provides practical tools to build relational authority, foster belonging, and create meaningful faith conversations.

Now more than ever, we must lead with relationships. Faithful Futures offers a new way to approach emerging generations and new tools to get the job done.

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What if the biggest thing standing between us and reaching the next generation is not what we do not know, but what we think we already understand?

Trying to understand today’s young people by looking back on our own teenage years leaves us lost and out of touch. The world that shaped earlier generations is not the world shaping Gen Z and Gen Alpha. We need new maps and new guides for ministry in this new world. Faith formation today requires fresh data, sharper tools, and a posture of Sacred Listening that treats every interaction as an opportunity to build trust and connection.

Click on the tabs above to see more chapters. Use arrows to scroll.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Gen Z and Gen Alpha

Today’s young people are growing up in a radically different world, which means traditional ways of understanding generations no longer apply. Instead of relying on arbitrary birth years or generational stereotypes, we need a more meaningful approach that starts with the cultural forces and lived experiences shaping Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Declining trust in institutions, shifting religious identity, and the collapse of belonging are transforming the landscape in which faith takes root. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of social media have further reshaped how young people form identity, build relationships, and engage spiritually. To connect meaningfully, leaders must begin with context, empathy, and a posture of listening.

At stake is more than understanding the next generation, it is reimagining the very conditions where faith can flourish. When we stop reducing young people to categories and start attending to the realities of their world, ministry becomes less about defending old maps and more about cultivating new pathways of trust, connection, and belonging.

“The cumulative result of losing a little bit of trust every year for five decades is that we’re living in a profoundly different society.”

Young people do not experience faith as a static set of beliefs to memorize or a bucket to be filled once and for all. Faith develops more like a conversation, shifting in intensity and expression across seasons of life. Just as adolescents experiment with identities, careers, and passions, they also explore different spiritual perspectives as part of normal development.

Intense experiences alone cannot guarantee lasting commitment. Exploration, questioning, and even doubt are not signs of weak faith but essential pathways to durable belief. Research in psychology, sociology, and neuroscience shows that adolescence is a season of trying on and testing, which makes dialogue and mentorship more effective than rigid instruction.

Supporting young people in this process means creating safe spaces for questions, fostering mentoring relationships, and engaging them in meaningful practices like service. Rather than fearing exploration, leaders can embrace it as the groundwork for authentic, lasting faith. The task is not to deliver perfect answers but to accompany young people as they learn how to ask the right questions and integrate their faith into a changing world.

Chapter 2: Faith is a Conversation

"Perhaps the most powerful tool a trusted adult has is the statement, ‘That’s really interesting; tell me more about that.’"

Traditional measures like membership, attendance, and giving once reflected the health of faith communities, but in today’s low-trust society they no longer tell the whole story. Just as movie rentals no longer capture the reality of streaming culture, relying on old metrics gives a distorted picture of spiritual life. People may be less connected to institutions, but they are not less interested in meaning, purpose, or the sacred.

Disaffiliation is not unique to religion. Civic groups, schools, media, and government have all experienced the same decline in participation and trust. Institutional authority carries less weight, and the tools that once worked such as programs, titles, and credentials no longer inspire confidence. Young people in particular live in a world where information is abundant and choice is unlimited, which makes inherited trust in organizations much less relevant.

“The old metrics are the wrong numbers for a new era.”

Chapter 3: A Disaffiliated World

Faith communities that continue to focus on institutional markers risk managing decline rather than fostering growth. What matters now is relational authority, which combines expertise with listening, integrity, transparency, and care. Trust is built not through credentials or programs but through meaningful relationships. Measuring the presence and quality of those relationships offers a more accurate view of vitality than any attendance chart or giving report.

In a disaffiliated world, the opportunity is to shift from guarding institutions to cultivating connections. Leaders who track conversations, map networks of trust, and pay attention to the questions young people are asking will discover far more about the state of faith than by counting heads on a Sunday morning. Ministry in this era is not about propping up old systems but about nurturing the kinds of relationships where faith can take root and grow.

Young people today are growing up in what researchers now call the loneliest generation. Studies show that Gen Z reports higher levels of loneliness than any generation before them, even prior to the pandemic. Despite being digitally connected around the clock, many struggle with deep isolation that shapes their physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Loneliness is not simply an emotion but a condition with profound consequences, comparable in health risk to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.

This reality reframes how faith communities should think about formation. Loneliness erodes confidence, connection, and even openness to belief. Belonging, on the other hand, acts as a buffer, providing the relational foundation that allows spiritual growth to take hold. Decades of research confirm what ministry often overlooks: belonging precedes believing. People rarely adopt faith in isolation; they encounter it and sustain it inside relationships and communities that make them feel seen, valued, and supported.

The implications for ministry are significant. Efforts that prioritize doctrine or belief statements without first creating spaces of genuine belonging often lead to short-term commitments that quickly fade. Communities that invest in belonging through rituals, mentorship, hospitality, and intentional community-building create the conditions where durable faith can flourish. Spiritual growth is sustained not by fireworks of belief but by the steady snowball of belonging that grows over time.

"Gen Z is the loneliest generation."

Chapter 4: Belonging Precedes Believing

The pandemic disrupted every aspect of young people’s lives, including faith formation. Ministries that defined themselves by events and gatherings quickly found themselves adrift, while those that measured success through relationships adapted and endured. The difference came down to clarity of mission. Leaders who knew that their work was about connecting young people to Jesus, not just running programs, were able to pivot quickly into digital spaces, doorstep drop-offs, and constant personal check-ins.

COVID also accelerated shifts that were already underway. Young people reported the steepest declines in religious attendance, identity, and belief, with nearly one-third saying they attend church less often now than before the pandemic. For many, online options became a normal part of religious life, just as they have in education and work. At the same time, mental health challenges surged, leaving young people more anxious, more isolated, and less socially prepared to engage in communal life.

These changes make clear that faith formation cannot rely on old containers of time and tradition. Confirmation schedules and Sunday school calendars mean little to a generation that experiences faith on-demand and expects flexibility. If ministry is to matter, it must meet young people with empathy, create clarity in roles and expectations, and recognize that rebuilding trust starts not with programs but with relationships. The COVID effect is not temporary; it has redrawn the landscape for how young people encounter faith.

Chapter 5: The COVID Effect

"You’re here to use your knowledge and experience to help young people see God even as they navigate their own challenges, and there is no more important work in the world."

Young people no longer separate online and offline life. What older generations call “real life” and “digital life” has blurred into one seamless experience. To dismiss the digital world is to dismiss the very spaces where identity, belonging, and faith are being formed.

Social media brings both benefits and harms, shaping how Gen Z and Gen Alpha see themselves, connect with others, and make sense of the world. They are growing up fast—digitally savvy, globally aware, and deeply engaged with complex issues. At the same time, they are growing up slow—delayed in traditional social skills and milestones, often navigating anxiety and isolation amplified by online pressures.

Adults cannot stand apart from this reality. Ministry requires accompaniment that extends into digital spaces, guiding young people with wisdom, presence, and faith. Just as values and beliefs should shape life offline, they must also shape how young people inhabit online spaces.

"When adults dismiss my online life, they disqualify themselves from the conversation of my life."

-Emma

Chapter 6: Growing Up Online

Emerging generations are not rejecting truth. They are constructing personal “micronarratives”—integrated life stories that bring together faith, relationships, justice, and daily choices. What can seem fragmented to adults is, for young people, a work in progress aimed at building coherence and integrity. They are not turning away from meaning but searching for a truth they can actually live with.

This perspective reframes how we engage teenagers. Instead of treating them as empty vessels who need to be filled with information, we can see them as students and creators, piecing together a worldview through conversation, art, relationships, and trial and error. Trusted adults play a critical role in this process, offering guidance, feedback, and accompaniment without judgment.

Sacred Listening tools are designed for this very work. By systematically paying attention, recording what young people share, and following up with care, adults can dismantle stereotypes and assumptions on both sides. Listening well not only opens the door for young people to ask their deepest questions, it also rewrites their story about adults. In place of “they do not care,” young people can begin to believe, “here is someone who listens and walks with me.”

Chapter 7: Micronarratives

"The micronarrative is the centering of self in an integrated life that includes everything from relationships to religion to retail and recreation and everything else."

The Faithful Futures Fund

Everyday leaders are creating powerful, hopeful ministry with young people, often without recognition.

The Faithful Futures Fund is designed to change that.

You can nominate someone you know for a $250 cash award that celebrates and supports their impact. No strings attached. Every award is funded by 15% of Josh’s speaking engagements, turning each event into a ripple of generosity that lifts up local heroes.

Invite Josh to Speak

Nominate a Leader

Free Books. Shared Stories.

Faithful Futures was shaped by the daily realities of leaders who walk alongside young people with care, courage, and presence.

That’s why we’re giving away free copies of Faithful Futures to lift up leaders making a difference.

How it Works

If you’ve seen something beautiful unfold this year in your ministry we want to hear your story.

You can email it, post it online, share on social or anything else you can think of. Just send us an email pointing us to it at josh@futureoffaith.org.

We’ll select a handful to feature on the Future of Faith blog.

When we share your story, we’ll also tag you and your ministry and highlight the good work you’re doing.

Selected storytellers will receive a free copy of Faithful Futures.

Let us celebrate your work. Let your story lead.

Celebrating the First Faithful Futures Fund Recipient: Chad VanDosen

Every day across the country, leaders devote themselves to young people with a kind of steady, faithfulness that rarely draws attention. These leaders shape lives, build trust, and carry hope into places where young people gather. The Faithful Futures Fund exists to honor exactly that kind of work. Today we celebrate our first recipient: Chad VanDosen, Executive Director of Southwest Michigan Youth for Christ. His nominator described a leader who develops staff with intenti

Faithful Futures on TryTank Podcast!

In this episode of the Try Tank Podcast, Lorenzo Lebrija engages with Josh Packard to discuss his book "Faithful Futures: Sacred Tools for Engaging Younger Generations." They explore the evolving understanding of generational dynamics, the significance of sacred listening, and the role of relational ministry in today's diverse society. The conversation challenges traditional paradigms and offers new insights for faith communities. 👉 Listen to the episode here: https://www.

Faithful Futures on Pivot Podcast!

Gen Z and Gen Alpha have grown up in a world where institutional trust has deeply eroded—and that changes everything about youth ministry. In this episode, sociologist Dr. Josh Packard explains why the ministry strategies that worked for previous generations are falling flat with today’s young people. It’s not that Gen Z and Gen Alpha hate the church or are rebelling against it. Most simply grew up without any connection to religious institutions at all. Josh shares why the s

Dr. Josh Packard is the co-founder of Future of Faith and one of the foremost experts in the spiritual lives of American youth. He is an accomplished researcher in the sociology of religion and new forms of religious expression. He has authored numerous books and articles in both popular and academic outlets including Church Refugees: Sociologists reveal why people are DONE with church but not their faith and Meaning Making: 8 Values That Drive America’s Newest Generations.

Josh was previously a professor, founding Executive Director of Springtide Research Institute and Vice President of Strategy with the National Catholic Educational Association. He has a B.A. in English from Texas Lutheran University and Ph.D. in Sociology from Vanderbilt University.

He lives in Greeley, Colorado with his wife and teenage son where he is quickly becoming the third best golfer in his family of three.