Duck Dynasty star and Christian author/speaker Sadie Robertson Huff pointed out that Generation Z is “craving” absolute truth, despite their fearfulness in coming forward.
The 23-year-old spoke during last week’s 2020 Q&A: A Virtual Townhall event and discussed issues like discipleship, mental health, and social media. The event was hosted by Christian author Gabe Lyons and focused on Gen Z’s, ages 18 to 23, The Christian Post reports.
Huff said church leaders should ask more from the younger generation and stop making “excuses” for them.
“I’ve sat in a room with church leaders who I love and adore,” Huff said. “But there are times where I’ve even heard them say things like, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do a conference at night because that is the night that college kids like to party.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s why we should do a conference that night because people are going to party if we expect too little.'”
“Let them decide if they’re going to go with the world or if they’re going to go with God because you’ve got to make that decision,” she added.
Additionally, Huff stressed that society is becoming more divided and young Christians should be exercising wise judgment.
“The world is kind of polarizing; it’s either black or white, and so you do have to choose,” she said. “I think we do need to say to this generation, ‘choose,’ and let the people who are going to be on fire, be on fire. I think, in that way, we can reach more of the lost than being confused by who’s actually lost.”
“It’s pretty hot or cold because it’s actually really cool to stand for something these days,” Huff added. “It’s cool to 100 percent follow God, and it’s cool to 100 percent stay in the world. It’s really not cool to be in the middle anymore. And it used to be different.”
During the conversation, Huff discussed social media and its effects on mental health.
Huff, who has dealt with anxiety issues and panic attacks, said it’s become “so common” to see people struggling with mental health issues and that it’s “almost weird if you don’t struggle with mental illness in some capacity on a college campus these days. It’s sad.”
And the mother-to-be emphasized that she’s a “huge advocate” for social media being used in the right way, explaining that she’s “seen God do incredible things” with this tool, but there’s also a “huge negative” to it.
“There have been many studies that have shown that the ‘like’ button is directly impacting people’s mental health because what it’s saying is, ‘This is how liked you are. This is how approved you are,'” Huff said.
“It’s created this thing for us where we’re always performing; we’re always filtering, we’re always trying to be the best version of ourselves – and not in a good way,” she added. “And that is mentally exhausting.”
She encouraged everyone to focus less on being “liked” and to go to God for approval. Huff noted that social media “can’t give you what only God can give you.”
“Sometimes, our generation is fearful to ask for a mentor or fearful to ask to be discipled, but we crave it,” she said. “And so if you are in the older generation…if you came up to us and said, ‘Can I disciple you?’ I know my answer would be ‘yes’ every time. And I know a whole lot of people who would agree with me who are my age.”