“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
—Albert Einstein
While watching a story on the 2025 documentary “SPEAK,” my attention was captured by the term weaponized nostalgia, described as, “nostalgic thinking cloaked as a crisis of morality.”
Conflict begins with small groups who desire to preserve the traditions and fundamentalisms of the past. Obsessed with a comfort zone of customary conduct they employ weaponized nostalgia to frame new voices and visions in a crisis of morality and praxis, blinding them with the light of a heavily redacted glorious past.
Christians who are serious about sound theology interpret scripture through the lens of the love of JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More Christ. “Christian truth and its message needs re-interpretation for every new generation,” states Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe, Jr. in “Reinterpreting Scripture for a New Generation.”
Worldwide transitions have taken place that many churches remain ill-prepared to handle. Congregations are among the last adopters of technology and practices that can be used to set up Kingdom signposts to serve and guide the present age. We serve as co-creators with the God of all creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More. We have power for greater works according to Ephesians 3:20, but many allow themselves to remain weighed down with the status quo and continue to work beneath God’s potential. Thus, opportunities to engage and serve Gen Alpha are lost.
Gen Alpha is the first generation born in the 21st century. They learn best with visual and interactive content because they are digital natives from birth. While prior generations may be concerned with predatory actors, Gen Alpha is savvy enough to protect themselves from predatory activity in the digital space.
The church must embrace the way Gen Alpha learns, understands, and—of primary importance—the way it communicates and what it sees as the major challenges of their generation.
Gen Alpha responds to strategies that will equip them to act on their concerns with justice and social issues. They don’t want to sit in a classroom; they want to “go and do likewise.”
Gen Alpha as an indigenous population
Churches can improve connections and outcomes the same way the Department of Education in Australia attempted to improve outcomes with indigenous populations by adapting teaching and learning strategies to leverage indigenous ways of knowing and learning. This approach resists labeling indigenous peoples as the problem. In the same way, Gen Alpha has its own ways of knowing and understanding. Transformation begins when institutions let go of practices that fallThe Fall refers specifically to the disobedience of Adam and Eve when they listened to Satan rather than adhering to God's command not to eat the fruit from the tree. When people act contrary to God's will, they are said to fall from from grace... More short in successful engagement. Indigenous populations should not be expected to give up their identity to be reached and included. This distinguishes the mind of imperialism from the Kingdom of GodThe kingdom (reign) of God is a central theme of Jesus' teaching and parables. According to Jesus this reign of God is a present reality and at the same time is yet to come. When Christians pray the Lord's Prayer, they ask that God's kingdom... More .
At PentecostPentecost was originally a Jewish harvest or pilgrimage festival that fell on the fiftieth day after Passover. It was during this festival that the Holy Spirit visited Jesus' followers in tongues of fire and caused them to speak in many languages, as reported in Acts... More, it wasn’t the people of the nations who spoke the language of the TempleThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged... More. The Spirit caused the infant church to speak the languages of the nations!
Why is Jude Great for Gen Alpha?
Length
The average attention span of Gen Alpha is 8 seconds. Thus, grabbing their attention requires resources that pack a punch. Jude fits the bill. It is short, but it is Gospel through and through. Jude’s quick pivot is a Gen Alpha characteristic:
I was gonna text y’all something chill, but nah — we gotta talk.
You gotta hold the line for the real faith, the OG gospel, the one-time drop for the squad. Some shady folks have ghosted into the chat — spiritual scammers. Long predicted, still suss. They’re twisting God’s graceGrace is the unmerited gift of God's love and acceptance. In Martin Luther's favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More like it’s a cheat code, turning holyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine More freedom into a free-for-all.—Jude 1:3-4 GAV (Gen Alpha Version1)
Confesses the church’s downfall
Jude’s exposure of shady folks perpetrating spiritual scams aligns with Gen Alpha’s respect for accountability. Shady spiritual scammers are very active today. Many false teachers fit Jude’s description of intruders and liars who mount pulpits every Sunday morning, turning people away from the truth. Gen Alpha understands the Church is not perfect, but desires to see the Church holding itself accountable. Like Jude, Gen Alpha has no problem being Christ’s servant, especially when shady scammers are held to account.
On ramps to subjects of interest
Gen Alpha openly shares their calling and desire to teach, preach, and witness well. But the enemy takes advantage of many of the tools the Church rejects to influence them. Jude’s illustration of invisible, spiritual conflict appeals to Gen Alpha’s interest in spiritual subjects. The conflict between Michael and Satan over Moses’s body makes for a compelling conversation about conflict in the spiritual realm. Gen Alpha will take an interest when teachers and ministers are equipped to discuss encounters with spiritual and doctrinal adversaries.
Jude: Gen Alpha Version
The following was done through ChatGPT. There is more to reaching a new generation than running the New International Version of these verses through a bot, but Gen Alpha interacts with these kinds of tools regularly. It is also the very thing churches mock as a crisis of morality. Don’t weaponize nostalgia, though. Remember William Tyndale.
Jude 1:20-23 — Stay rooted, stay lit
But you—God’s real ones—build yourself up on your spiritual servers.
Keep your God-connection strong, stay buffering in the Holy Spirit, and live plugged into God’s love while waiting for Jesus to drop the final update: eternal life.
Save the ones who are doubting—no judgment, just grace.
For others stuck in fire? Pull them out—quick.
But keep yourself clean. Show mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God's mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. More, but don’t get infected by their mess.
Jude 1:24-25 — Final drop: Doxology
To the real MVP—God —
The only One who can keep you from rage-quitting,
who’s gonna present you flawless and flexing in glory with joy:
Big ups, major honor, and power to God through Jesus Christ our Lord—
Before the world began, right now, and forever.
💯 Amen.
Guided with a new vision and new voice, Gen Alpha will give God the glory. God will make sure of it.
- The passages marked as the “Gen Alpha Version” are the result of the author running the NIV translation through ChatGPT with a prompt asking for it to be translated into Gen Alpha speak/slang. ↩︎
