In 2021, Alpha Canada and Barna Group released research on Canadian GenZ’ers and their understanding of evangelism. The findings were both startling and encouraging.

Christian GenZ appears ready to live out their faith and share it, one personal relationship at a time. But, while they’re willing, Barna research, released last year, revealed that only 16% of these same Canadian teens felt they had been equipped to share their faith.

"GenZ views evangelism as something that should be done with already established relationships. The thought of going to a random stranger is a little bit daunting, and actually, they might even feel it is offensive. We want to encourage students to still think about the stranger, but they are saying they want to have this conversation with their friends." said Tim Gonsalves, national youth director for Alpha Canada

The second most important piece out of that says Tim, is they saw that high school students believe that letting your actions speak louder than your words is the best evangelism.

"We're going to evangelize with our actions, demonstrate the gospel," Gonsalves explains.

Over the last couple of years, Tim says Alpha Canada has been dreaming up ways to help raise the temperature of evangelism amongst young people living in Canada.

"We designed this new series called Life on Purpose, and the goal is to do just that, to inspire and equip and train students for evangelism and mission," Gonsalves explains. "It's a four-part series. It's got a combination of stories of young people that have been wrestling with their call, wrestling with their faith and have been trying to live a life of purpose."

Deeply informed by insights from Alpha Canada and Barna’s research with 1,200 Canadian GenZ, Life on Purpose equips and inspires students to engage in conversations about faith with their friends leveraging their commitments to active listening, mutual understanding and a passion for a living faith. LIFE ON PURPOSE features a range of experts and contributors from across Canada, with each episode guiding youth groups in mission and evangelism. 

“In equipping students to engage in mission and conversations about life and faith with their friends and peers, we believe in a transformational movement across Canada,” adds Tim. “This generation astounds us with their boldness and creativity in finding ways to share the Gospel."

Today on Connections, Tim Gonsalves, national youth director for Alpha Canada, shares more about this new resource. He'll also share what they discovered through their study.