You have probably heard about teenagers and young adults protesting in many parts of the world. For example, there has been serious strife and even changes to the government in the island nation of Madagascar, near the east coast of Africa. There have also been reports of similar protests in places like Indonesia, Nepal, and Morocco. 

This is surprising, and in some places, people are being injured or killed. 

READ: Why is Gen Z Protesting Across the World?

These protests have appeared without warning, and they seem to be in many places in Asia and Africa. I don’t want to take sides in an argument that I can’t easily understand, but there is something for us to learn. Our world is changing, with a new generation growing to be adults.

Here are some lessons:

1) Gen Z or “Zoomers”:

Gen Z includes anyone born between 1997 and 2012. That counting method is sometimes disputed, but it is meant to include people who are teens, so at least thirteen years old, and people who are still young adults, not yet thirty years old. This is approximate, but we can understand the focus.

This generation seems to be very restless.

2) The Internet:

Zoomers are the most wired and connected generation in history. I’m old enough to remember when the Internet was new, and I had to tell people to stay off the phone, (the land line through which we got our internet) for a few minutes, so I could find some written comments with my antique Apple McIntosh. As soon as I finished reading, I told the family that the phone was available again. 

I lived through those ancient times.

We also have the results of work from companies like Nokia, who developed cell phones for people in poor countries, where land line connections were impossible. Poor people could rent a phone for a few minutes for important business.

This caught on and spread like a fire around the world. Now almost everyone has a cell phone with them, and they easily connect with an Internet that works almost everywhere.

My experiences are like something funny from ancient history.

3) COVID restrictions:

Probably we all remember living through COVID restrictions, and we never want to do that again. Imagine being a teen or young adult in that crisis. In many places, your only safe access to other people your age would have been the Internet. Pulling out a cell phone and connecting with friends became the only way to survive socially.

If we sum up all of the influences, we have many millions of bright young adults, or almost adults, with a lifestyle that the world has never seen before. With a new and different culture, young Zoomers are getting active, and sometimes angry.

I am not taking sides, but it is clear that the world is changing, as a new generation grows to maturity.

Brace yourself.

4) One more thing:

But wait, there is more. Sometimes the restlessness of young adults and teens has a specific focus.

In Morocco, for example, there seems to be anger about a new and expensive soccer stadium. Protesters are demanding that their government spend money on schools and hospitals, instead of on sport facilities. Apparently the government may try to make corrections, but there are already reports of demonstrators being arrested, and some have been killed.

Every place where Zoomers are demonstrating seems to have its own grievances. The emerging generation of young adults has many things to say.

One event that happened, when the protests were starting, was growing restrictions on the Internet. Some governments are interested in limiting what can be said to a public audience, through Internet channels. I don’t know how effective this will be, but we can see what governments are concerned about.

I am writing as a Christian, and at least one government is trying to restrict Christian content on the Internet. This is a picture of what could happen, and what concerns the people in power.

For example, the government of China has brought new restrictions on Christian content on the Internet:

READ: New regulations in China target online religious content

I understand how Christians around the world, may be offended, but we should also hear the applause. When Christian leaders examine the restlessness of Gen Z, they see the potential for a huge Christian revival.

We were told, in the Bible, by Jesus:

Then he appeared to the eleven themselves, while they were eating, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him resurrected. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16: 14 to 16)

Notice that the followers of Jesus were rebuked for their unbelief. Today, we have Atheists in governments who restrict what they fear the most. They seem to believe the words of Jesus more than many of His followers.

The world around us is changing, but some things may be revived, in the storms.

But the person who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24: 13 and 14)

Do we see the possibility?