Around 2,600 years ago, a domineering Babylonian army carried many defeated Jews into exile. Israel’s sin had piled up over the years, resulting in God removing his protection from them.
But God didn’t leave them in their destruction. Through the pen of Jeremiah, he left them with instructions for their years in Babylon:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. (Jer. 29:4–9)
The key to this passage lies in the beginning: build houses and plant gardens. God didn’t encourage mere survival or give them permission to wallow in their suffering; he told them to get busy. “What should you do? You should do what I’ve always commanded you to do. Be fruitful and multiply. Live life. Love me and love others.”
These instructions aren’t so much a time-bound set of rules as they are a blueprint of God’s command to all humans for all time.
What does all this have to do with Gen Z and their evangelism? Everything.
Tweeting to Babylon
Growing up in the social media age, I’ve witnessed the development of internet ministry as a way to reach the lost. TikTokers post attention-grabbing videos to ask if they can pray with you, Twitter users share short Bible verses, and platforms are filled with quick devotionals. (I admit I’ve used my Instagram account to “evangelistically” post short devotionals in the hope people would find them during scrolling sessions.) No doubt God has used these means to bring people to himself, but the approach as a whole is insufficient.
Since people scroll all day and ingest endless bite-size pieces of entertainment, tossing a religious element into the mix often ends counterproductively, with the medium reshaping the message to its form. Following Jesus devolves from whole-life worship into scrollable “snack” entertainment. I appreciate how one post might inspire reflection, present biblical truth, and share the gospel. But I’m unconvinced this should be the strategy we channel our best energy toward.
Bite-size theology creates underfed, anemic Christians. Tweetable apologetics or TikTok theology rarely inspire substantive reflection from opponents because the medium urges us simply to swipe on to something else. If we’re to reach Babylon for Christ, we’ll need to do more than just post content that might be found—but might also get lost—amid the glut of media. We need to be a faithful, countercultural, compelling everyday presence.
Embodied Presence in Babylon
Unbelievers have always needed a steady diet of tangible Christian presence in their lives through which they hear the countercultural gospel and see it in action. This happens best in the mundanity of everyday life, not the ecstasy of social media’s dopamine shopping mall.
If we’re to reach Babylon for Christ, we’ll need to do more than just post content that might be found—but might also get lost—amid the glut of media.
And so we must build houses and plant gardens in exile—the ordinary stuff of “doing life” in a physical, offline, long-term way. When we pursue embodied presence (v. 4), seek the place’s welfare and pray for it (v. 7), and hold fast to the true word of God (v. 9), we’ll be better positioned to lead people to Jesus in a way that challenges and disrupts the worldly status quo.
Whether or not they realize it, Gen Zers don’t need the watered-down social media Jesus (or a hypercaricatured, wrath-only Jesus). They don’t need a Jesus whose teachings they “like” from time to time, whenever those teachings happen to fit with whatever else the algorithm serves up. They need a Jesus who truly transforms all aspects of their lives. This is the Jesus of the Bible, and he’s far more satisfying than the distorted versions we make in our own image.
The Great Commission commands believers not to attract followers but to make disciples—a term implying lifestyle apprenticeship to the way of Jesus (Matt. 28:18–20). In our flesh, we’re prone to love the Jesus who satisfies fleshly appetites (John 6:27), but when the going gets tough, the carnal followers often get going (v. 66).
The warning rings true that how you win the lost is how you’ll have to keep them. If shallow, crowd-pleasing evangelism is one ox, the other must be shallow, crowd-pleasing discipleship to keep the plow moving in a straight line. Perhaps we should pause to reconsider the direction the plow is heading.
Long-term, messy, foot-washing discipleship is the most fertile soil for Gen Z converts. Instagram devotionals can provide occasional rain to aid growth, but sustainable growth requires good soil tended with hands-on care. God can use any type of soil, but it’s wise for the farmer to focus on planting in rich soil. Yes, God gives the growth, but Paul still planted faithfully (1 Cor. 3:6).
One way my church is striving to live this out is through our training program. Inspired by Paul’s instruction to “train yourself for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7–8), the program provides an intensive environment for discipleship within intergenerational cohorts.
Long-term, messy, foot-washing discipleship is the most fertile soil for Gen Z converts.
Participants make deep connections, share burdens, and celebrate sanctification, not only in the short term but also after graduation. Young believers draw from the well of older believers’ experience and faithfulness, helping increasingly conform them to the image of Jesus. The goal is that as these disciples are equipped, they’re sent to evangelize and develop deeply rooted followers of Jesus in their relational networks.
Whatever it looks like in our local contexts and churches, let’s aim to follow the long-game example of Daniel and others who demonstrated faithfulness in Babylon. Let’s be faithful followers of Jesus in exile, preaching the gospel and discipling others in the countercultural way of Christ until he brings us home for good.
The Gospel Coalition