When I was a teenager and we would travel to a youth event or our corps officer (pastor) would take us to a restaurant, we usually stopped at a buffet. It makes sense; teens can put away food. You could roll up to a CiCi’s Pizza and get a buffet and a drink for $2 and everyone would eat to their heart’s content. You could get a little bit of a lot of different things. It was great. 

Here’s the thing, though. Buffets are great for food, but not so much for building your faith.

Studies show that Gen Z is the “faith buffet” generation. We have the world at our fingertips. This isn’t a bad thing, in and of itself. God made the world and it’s good to learn and understand it. But it means that anyone can get on a platform and teach the “truth.” The problem is that it might not even be truth, but it’s presented as such and if you don’t know the Word, it’s easy to be deceived.

And so, Gen Z, who identifies as spiritual but not religious, builds their faith like a buffet. Take a little of Jesus and a little of zodiac, a little from Buddha and a little of manifesting. Take a piece from here and a scoop from there and build your faith on a variety of beliefs. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 says, “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” This was an identity marker for the Israelites and was incredibly countercultural. They were surrounded by polytheistic cultures, so to say that there was only one God was unheard of. 

This claim of total loyalty made Israel stand out in a world that wanted everyone to worship whoever and whatever they wanted. The truth is that we aren’t so different from the Israelites today. When we, as Christians, say we serve one God and we follow His ways, we too are countercultural. 

1 Corinthians 8:5-6 (The Voice) says, “And even if the majority believes there are many so-called gods in heaven and on earth (certainly many worship such “gods” and “lords”), this is not our view. For us, there is one God, the Father who is the ultimate source of all things and the goal of our lives. And there is one Lord—Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King; through Him all things were created, and by Him we are redeemed.”

It might be tempting to worship at a faith buffet, but it’s a dangerous game. Only through Jesus can we find redemption and purpose. My prayer for you is that you would be bold in your faith, standing out in a generation of buffet-worshipers, and live out that claim: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” 

Illustration by Lan Truong