How to Reach an Exhausted Generation
Let’s start with a quote from a Greek economist about teenagers:
“They only care about frivolous things. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly impatient of restraint.”
If your grandfather read this, he’d probably nod along in agreement. What I didn’t mention is that this quote comes from Hesiod, who died more than 650 years before Jesus was born and lived around the same time as Homer. The idea that teenagers are somehow worse than previous generations isn’t new. As long as we’ve had recorded history, adults have complained about teenagers.
The truth is, teenagers themselves haven’t changed nearly as much as we think. What has changed is the world around them.
By almost every measure, today’s teenagers are more overworked and more sleep deprived than any generation before them, and that reality dramatically shapes how we do ministry with them.
The average high school student in high-performing schools now reports about three hours of homework a night, nearly double what students reported two decades ago.
When students are too busy for youth group, it’s worth remembering they didn’t choose that workload.
Long practices, extended rehearsals, and packed schedules are part of a world adults have built for them. Teenagers are expected to train more, perform better, and achieve more than ever before, and remarkably, most of them are managing. They’re keeping up academically, making teams, and hitting high expectations even though the bar keeps rising.
Now, let’s talk about sleep.
Adolescents need a lot of it. Many teenagers require eight to ten hours a night, and most aren’t getting close. When chronic stress, constant pressure, lack of sleep, and early caffeine use collide, the results are predictable. Depression, anxiety, self harm, and exhaustion take a real toll. Today’s teenagers are tired in every sense of the word.
In the middle of this pressure is a powerful opportunity for youth ministry. Every adult voice in a teenager’s life pushes for more. More studying, more practicing, more rehearsing, more working. Jesus offers something radically different. He invites the weary to come to him and find rest, describing his yoke as easy and his burden as light.
If we look at an exhausted generation and fail to tell them that Jesus offers rest, we miss one of the most important parts of the gospel they need to hear.
Jesus said this:
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30
What’s striking is that many teenagers today are drawn to exactly that. Quiet moments, silence, prayer, and stillness resonate deeply. They value space to breathe, to reflect, and to simply be with God. They aren’t asking for louder, faster, or more intense programs. Often, they want calm, conversation, and presence. More than anything, they want rest.
Right now, everything in their world is trying to wear them down. The promise of Jesus is the opposite. It’s rest for tired souls, and it may be one of the most compelling messages we can offer this generation.
Written by Aaron Helman & Nick Diliberto
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