Faithful Futures: Sacred Tools for Engaging Younger Generations
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Research-based strategies for Christian leaders to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha
In a world where young people are increasingly disconnected from traditional religious institutions and influenced by social media, church leaders face an urgent challenge: how to authentically engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha in meaningful faith conversations. Faithful Futures offers a research-based lifeline with practical tools and strategies designed specifically for connecting with younger generations in today’s rapidly changing cultural landscape.
This actionable resource provides church leaders with
● research-based insights - fresh data on Gen Z and Gen Alpha faith patterns, digital behaviors, and cultural values;
● practical ministry strategies - proven methods for building trust and fostering belonging;
● digital-age tools - effective approaches for engaging youth who grew up online and think in micronarratives;
● relationship-building frameworks - how to establish relational authority and create authentic connections with younger generations; and
● ready-to-use resources - exercises, tools, and discussion questions.
Traditional youth ministry approaches are often outdated and ineffective for digital natives who grew up online. Sociologist Josh Packard advocates a revolutionary approach that emphasizes relational authority, cultivates genuine belonging, and understands faith as an ongoing conversation rather than a one-time decision.
Drawing on fresh data, innovative practices, and more than twenty years of sociological experience, this comprehensive guide equips religious leaders to understand and engage younger generations authentically. It translates complex concepts into practical strategies, addressing the unique cultural and digital landscapes of today’s youth and offering new ways to resonate with their realities.
Whether you’re a senior pastor, youth minister, church staff member, or volunteer leader, this book provides the research-backed tools you need to build meaningful relationships with Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
From the Back Cover
”Helps youth workers move from theory to faithful practice"
In a world where young people are increasingly disconnected from traditional religious institutions and influenced by social media, Faithful Futures offers church leaders a lifeline: practical, research-based tools to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha in meaningful conversations about faith.
“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. If you care about the next generation, Faithful Futures is a must-read."
--Kara Powell, Fuller Seminary and Fuller Youth Institute
"Absolutely essential reading for anyone who cares about young people and faith. Packard reframes the research we’ve been (mis)reading about young people and religion and offers up a refreshingly readable and surprisingly useful book. If you read only one book on youth ministry this year, this should be the one."
--Kenda Creasy Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary
"Packard has once again given us a thoughtful, research-driven resource that meets this moment. His deep understanding of Gen Z and Gen Alpha helps youth workers move from theory to faithful practice. Anyone serious about reaching young people should study this work closely."
--Jake Bland, president/CEO, Youth for Christ USA
"Packard has given us an important way to listen to young people. And more, he’s given us a way to help lead them into listening. This book is filled with insights on the challenges and importance of listening and how this listening can reconnect us with the sacred. A timely and important book."
--Andrew Root, Luther Seminary; author of Evangelism in an Age of Despair
"Packard offers readers hope, practical tools, simple solutions, timely insights, and more. Faithful Futures is a road map that provides clear pathways for creating spaces where people of every generation can fully belong."
--Arthur L. Satterwhite III, vice president of strategy, Young Life
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
Introduction
1. Gen Z and Gen Alpha
2. Faith Is a Conversation
3. A Disaffiliated World
4. Belonging Precedes Believing
5. The COVID Effect
6. Growing Up Online
7. Micronarratives
Index
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, chief of leadership formation, Fuller Seminary; executive director, Fuller Youth Institute
Maybe since the dawn of modernity listening for the sacred has been a struggle. But even so, in this late modern moment, it’s particularly difficult. It is hard work. Trying to hold onto anything sacred inside technological advances, capitalist drives, and political struggles has been a hallmark of modernity itself. But most often modernity has given us an empty cacophony because the sacred has been drowned in subjectivity. The only way back to something sacred--into any form of the sacred--is to listen. Josh Packard has given us an important way to listen to young people. And more, he’s given us a way to help lead them into listening itself. This book is filled with insights on the challenges and importance of listening and how this listening can reconnect us with the sacred. This is a timely and important book. It will go right onto my syllabi.
—Andrew Root, Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary; author of Evangelism in an Age of Despair
- Title: Faithful Futures: Sacred Tools for Engaging Younger Generations
- Author: Josh Packard
- Publisher: Baker Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2025
- Logos Release Date: 2025
- Pages: 208
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Subjects: Church work with youth › United State; Christian leadership › United State; Generation Z › Miscellane; Generation Alpha › Miscellane
- ISBNs: 9781493451906, 9781540969514, 1540969517, 1493451901
- Resource ID: LLS:9781493451906
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-12-05T23:24:38Z