Dari Validasi Digital Menuju Christ-Centered Actualization: Rekonstruksi Teologis Identitas Kristen Generasi Z

Abstract

Generation Z forms identity within a digital environment in which visibility, audience response, algorithmic selection, and continuous self-presentation have become ordinary parts of everyday life. This condition creates a theological problem when self-worth and personal growth are increasingly measured through recognition, performance, and digital validation. This study examines how the popular language of self-actualization can be critically reconstructed within Christian theology without rejecting human growth, creativity, and participation in digital culture. The study employs qualitative library research using constructive theological analysis. Recent Indonesian and international studies on Generation Z, digital identity, digital religion, Christian spirituality, and social media are placed in dialogue with the humanistic account of self-actualization and the Christian doctrines of imago Dei, identity in Christ, and Christlike formation. The analysis identifies three tensions that shape digital identity: authenticity and performance, validation and identity, and self-optimization and Christlikeness. The main contribution of this study is the formulation of Christ-Centered Actualization, a theological framework that reorients self-development away from audience-dependent recognition toward an identity received before God, centered on Christ, formed in community, and directed toward vocation and service. The framework offers a basis for churches, theological education, and youth ministries to engage digital culture without reducing ministry to content production or treating technology as an enemy.