Anticipatory anxiety is on the increase. Scratch that. It’s skyrocketing. In one survey, 39% of Generation Z (1997–2012) were always worried about the future. Just as there is the Greatest Generation (1901–1927) and the Silent Generation (1928–1945), so Jonathan Haidt calls Gen Z the Anxious Generation.[1]
This anticipatory anxiety is bifurcated: Gen Z has global anxieties (their top three concerns are war, climate change and misinformation) and they have personal anxieties (home ownership and job security). We recognise that we have little power over global issues. But we are fast realising that we do not have control over our personal lives either. In a recent emotional ABC News article this year (titled ‘Generation “Screwed”’), Gen Y PhD graduate Chris laments that despite being a well-paid scientist he will never own a standalone house in Sydney. He compares himself to his father who only completed year 10 but managed to purchase a Sydney-side home and support a family of four with a single income. Generation Y workers like Chris are afraid that they will ‘never achieve what their parents or grandparents did’.
Gen Z Listened to Gen Y
Gen Z listened to Gen Y. Gen Y bemoaned the cost of living crisis: “You will never own a home in your lifetime!”; “You’ll never get a job unless you have work experience (but you can’t get work experience because you don’t have work experience).” Gen Y hustled, but like Chris, soon became disenchanted. Not Gen Z. They are hustling even harder, but doing it smarter. They juggle multiple jobs to ensure safety in a volatile job market. Christians among Gen Z seem to have been swept up in this response to securing their future.
One of the ways this has manifested that I have observed is the way that Christian university students approach their studies. Many students seek industry work experience as early as their first year. It is fairly common for final year students to cram all their classes into one day a week so that they can work four. Hang around on campus so they could bump into a non-Christian? Can’t afford it. They take two part-time jobs and a summer internship. Work experience: check.
Additionally, university students plan their work and finances to increase their savings. This is another reason they work multiple jobs. They don’t want to pay for too many Christian camps. They take less holidays. They avoid doing a ministry apprenticeship because it’s too risky. They race to double down on the First Home Super Saver Scheme. Home ownership: check. [2]
Still anxious, Gen Z Christians turn to books on burnout and boundaries, but they often provide little aid. How can we ‘ruthlessly eliminate hurry’ (to quote John Mark Comer) when we believe that hurry is the only way to secure the material things we are anxious about?
Gen Z: Listen to the Gospel
The antidote to anticipatory anxiety will not be found in self-help, self-management or self-care podcasts. The antidote to anticipatory anxiety is the gospel.[3]
The gospel tells us that we have squandered our inheritance and have acquired up a great debt of disobedience. But because of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death, we have had our debt wiped out and have been credited with his righteousness. More than that we have been made heirs to an eternal inheritance, having been adopted as children of God. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, our perishable bodies will be resurrected into glorious bodies that will never depreciate. In the new creation, we will enjoy countless gifts from the hand of God. Anticipatory anxiety feeds on the uncertainty of material provision. When we remember that our eternal future is one of complete material security, our anticipatory anxiety starts to quieten.
In this life, and only in this life, we have a miniscule amount of time to live in a land of scarcity. What will the record show of your brief earthly life? Will it say you hoarded as many resources as you could? Will it say that you rose to the top of the pile? Gen Z, you will have to give up much, and you have it much harder than previous generations. But no generation is without excuse. Jesus calls all people in every age, both the rich and the poor, to give up their whole life to follow him. Jesus rewards those who, unlike the world, are committed to a race to the bottom. Anticipatory anxiety ebbs away when we realise that we will spend eternity being clothed (Isa 61:10, Rev 3:5), housed (Jn 14:2–3) and fed (Lk14:15) by Jesus. Have pity on those who will not receive these things, do not imitate them. Do not try to outcompete them. This life now is the best life they will have.
If you are struggling with anticipatory anxiety about home ownership and career stability, you aren’t a bad Christian. But neither should it be something you succumb to. We can choose not to be in thrall to our anticipatory anxiety because ‘our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’ (2 Cor 4:17). There is no correct answer to how many Christian conferences you should go to, or how many days a week you should work. But let the gospel sing louder than the voices of the world which tells us to feed our anticipatory anxiety.
[1] See Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Penguin, 2024.
[2] The problem is of course that a collective response to the cost of living crisis means that (comparatively) they are not beating their peers!
[3] To be clear, I am talking here about the specific type of anticipatory anxiety which is a current cultural phenomenon caused by an uncertainty about future material security. I am not speaking about clinical anticipatory anxiety (which may contain cultural elements) that would be aided by medical help as well as the gospel.
