We are witnessing a silent crisis in slow motion — a generation brimming with potential, quietly unraveling.

More Gen Z young adults are dying by suicide than any generation before them. In some states, the rates have soared more than 60% over the past decade. Behind those numbers are faces, futures, and families — young men and women who never got to discover who they really were.

The tragedy isn’t just that they died. The tragedy is that they never saw their greatness.

Why Are So Many Giving Up?

A federal report from earlier this year showed 1,148 Gen Z suicides in just the first two months of 2025. It’s become the leading cause of death for young Asians and second leading cause for young Hispanics. Black and Hispanic men make up 85% of the rise, especially in southern and midwestern states.

How did we get here?

Experts suggest several reasons:

• A wave of untreated depression

• Social media bullying and isolation

• Economic despair

• Cultural resistance to vulnerability, especially among men

But behind every theory is a simple reality: too many young people are in pain, and they don’t know what to do with it. They haven’t been shown how to face pain with purpose. So the pain swallows them.

Greatness Doesn’t Begin with Strength — It Begins with Brokenness

The world tells Gen Z to hustle, to curate an image, to prove their worth. But greatness doesn’t grow in the spotlight. It grows in the valley. Pain helps us deconstruct faulty paradigms. God gifts us with the pain we need to grasp truth.

We’ve taught young people to avoid pain instead of training them to walk through it. We shield them from hardship but never show them the sacred path of endurance. So when suffering inevitably comes, they assume it means failure — not formation.

The truth is: the world needs what Gen Z carries. But we will only see their greatness emerge when they learn how to name their pain, process it in community, and discover the God who redeems it.

The Secular Script Falls Short

Our culture offers coping mechanisms, but not hope. It diagnoses pain but can’t redeem it.

We tell young people: “Be true to yourself.” But what if that self is anxious, lonely, or afraid? We say, “Live your truth,” but what if your truth is despair?

The gospel gives a better story.

Jesus doesn’t avoid pain — He enters it. He doesn’t shame weakness — He dignifies it. In His Kingdom, those who mourn are blessed, and the last are first. And the greatness He offers doesn’t come from fame or performance, but from surrender.

This is what Gen Z is longing for: not a platform, but a purpose.

How Do We Help Them Find It?

If we want to see Gen Z rise into their greatness, we can’t stand back and wait. We have to step into the places they are most wounded and walk with them. Here’s how:

1. Give them permission to be in pain

Don’t rush to fix or advise. Create space for lament. Normalize struggle as part of the human journey. Jesus wept — they can too.

2. Model vulnerability

Let’s stop pretending we have it all together. If you’ve battled darkness, tell them. If you’ve doubted God, say so. Your story may be the map they need.

3. Invite them into something bigger

Greatness doesn’t come from self-focus. It comes from losing your life to find it. Invite them to serve, to lead, to build. Help them see that their story can impact others.

4. Call out what’s good

Tell them who they are becoming. Don’t just comment on talent — call out character. “I see courage in you. I see compassion. I see leadership.” Many have never heard those words.

The World Is Waiting on Their Greatness

There are young men right now wondering if anyone would miss them if they disappeared. There are young women scrolling in the dark, comparing themselves to strangers and believing the lie that they’ll never be enough.

And here we are — the Church, the mentors, the parents, the friends — holding the words of life.

What if your voice is the one that reminds them they were made for greatness?

What if your table is the one where they learn to be known and loved?

What if your story is the one that helps them believe theirs isn’t over?

This generation doesn’t need perfection. They need presence. They need people who will wade into the mess with them, point to Jesus, and stay.

Let’s be those people.