According to the Springtide Research Institute, which surveyed 2,500 members of Generation Z (ages 15 to 25) in February 2021, the report warns religious leaders, teachers, and parents there isn’t going to be a simple “back to normal” approach for young people after COVID 19 pandemic. Rather we should all be looking for ways to help them experience “the new normal.” Josh Packard, the executive director of Springtide says, “It is not going to be easy for young people to pick up where they left off. There’s a whole lot of things they missed, and they need help processing that, to make sense of it and understanding their lives.”
He listed the missed things: graduations, proms, summer camps, athletic competition, dates, college orientations, religious youth group retreats, school concerts, first jobs, and suggested we can help young people grieve lost milestones and relationships.
“Gen Z lost touch with faith communities during pandemic but kept their faith, study says” by Jana Reiss, Religion News Service, May 31, 2021