Curiosity is indispensable for church leadership – and for faith formation.
Gen Z was not supposed to be the religious generation. Pollsters have spent two decades describing this cohort as the most secular in American history, the one that would finally break the chain of belief passed down from their grandparents.
But new Harris Poll data suggests otherwise: 33% of Gen Z identifies as religious, compared with 18% of Boomers, 22% of Gen X, and 19% of Millennials. That makes Gen Z the most religious-identifying generation in the survey.
Two things stand out in this data and other research on the subject. First, younger generations are practicing their faith in concrete ways: praying, attending worship, reading scripture, getting more involved in their local communities. Second, spiritual curiosity is growing. Young people are actively seeking meaning and hope, even as they stay suspicious of ‘organized religion.’
So here is the question for your church board, which is itself a board of ‘organized religion’: how do you nurture curious, searching people of any generation in your church’s ministry?
Notice how often curiosity shows up in scripture in the form of a question asked at the wrong moment, to the wrong person, with something on the line.
When Moses encounters the burning bush (Exodus 3), he doesn’t pray or kneel. He says, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” God does not speak until Moses turns aside. A shepherd with a flock and a schedule stops for something that doesn’t fit, and that detour becomes his calling. Curiosity is the hinge.
Young Samuel keeps getting up (1 Samuel 3) and going to Eli because he can’t place the voice he is hearing. It takes three rounds, and it takes an older person who knows what to say, finally: “If he calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” Formation needs both the curious wonderer and the one who helps him wonder well.
Zacchaeus climbs a tree (Luke 19) “to see who Jesus was.” A wealthy tax collector, dignity abandoned, scampers up a sycamore like a kid. He is curious enough to look, and Jesus invites himself to dinner.
Then there are the Psalms of Lament (Psalms 13, 22 and 88). “How long?” and “Why have you forsaken me?” express curiosity under pressure. Psalm 88 never resolves into even one faith-affirming verse, yet the Psalter includes it anyway, which tells you something about what faith can hold.
Jacob at the Jabbok (Genesis 32) wrestles all night and demands, “Tell me your name.” He gets a blessing and a limp. Curiosity that engages God costs something and marks you.
The Samaritan woman (John 4) meets Jesus and keeps asking questions, and the questions get better: about water, about worship, about the Messiah. Then she runs to tell her town, and her testimony is a question: “Can this be the Christ?”
On the Emmaus road (Luke 24), Jesus himself asks the first question: “What are you discussing?” Their hearts burn while he opens the Scriptures. Jesus uses curiosity as a pastoral tool.
Churches can pitch programs, encourage participation, ask for support, point people to resources, and offer all kinds of activities. But if curiosity about faith in Jesus Christ – what a life of faith means, how you practice it, and what it will change in your life and mine – is not what drives all we do, how will your church connect with those who are seeking a deeper way of life?
In a witty ditty first published in 1911, American writer Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) suggests what people really want to know.
Reasonable Interest
by Ellis Parker Butler
I want to know how Bernard Shaw
Likes beefsteak—fairly done, or raw?
I want to know what kinds of shoes
M. Maeterlinck and Howells use.
I have great curiosity
Regarding George Ade’s new boot tree.
Has Carolyn Wells of late employed
Hairpins of wire or celluloid?
What kind of soap does London like?
Does Robert Chambers ever “hike”?
Or did he ever? Or, if not,
Does he like cabbage, cheese, or what?
I want to know the size of gloves
Oppenheim wears, and if he loves
Olives, and how his clothes are made.
What does he eat? How is he paid?
All sorts of things I want to learn,
That are not of the least concern
To anyone. For, Oh! and Oh!
I want to know! I WANT TO KNOW!
I want to know, and know I will—
The printing press is never still,
For me it prints such facts as these!
I am the Public, if you please!
What is the latest thing you have gotten curious about? Can you recall what sparked your curiosity? (Was it perhaps ‘the printing press’?)
What is the latest thing your church board has gotten curious about? Can you recall what sparked that curiosity? (Was it anything to do with Jesus?)
Can you think of other scriptures you would add to the list above on the theme of curiosity in faith formation?
What stands out to you in the Harris Poll report on Gen Z and religion? How could you use it to start a needed conversation with your church board?
How might you as a board practice greater curiosity as a path to your own collective faith formation? Why might that be good for your congregation as a whole?
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