{"id":13721,"date":"2025-09-09T17:06:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=13721"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:06:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:06:27","slug":"are-gen-z-and-millennials-really-returning-to-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/09\/are-gen-z-and-millennials-really-returning-to-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Gen Z and Millennials Really Returning to Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On September 2, 2025, Barna published new data indicating a resurgence in church attendance led by young adults. <\/span>The report<\/span><\/a> comes amidst contentious debates concerning the religiosity levels of Gen Z and Millennials. Many articles are <\/span>declaring<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>decrying<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>doubting<\/span><\/a> claims that young adults are returning to religion in droves.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Barna\u2019s data, US adults typically attend church 1.6 times per month. However, Millennials attend 1.8 times per month, while Gen Z attend 1.9 times per month. When compared with rates of attendance among Gen X (1.6), Boomers (1.4), and Elders (1.4), young adults certainly attend church most often.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Gen Z and Millennials may not be ahead of older generations, Barna\u2019s report also includes how rates of church attendance have changed over time. As the next graph shows, the frequency of monthly church attendance for Gen Z and Millennials has almost doubled since 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Barna\u2019s data does not stand unchallenged in the debate over young adult religiosity. Much of the debate about whether Gen Z and Millennials are leaving or turning to religion hinges on what measure is being used and what dataset is being examined.<\/span><\/p>\n

Church attendance has long been used to measure how religious people are. But social scientists use other measurements, too. The Pew Research Center\u2019s <\/span>National Public Opinion Reference Survey<\/span><\/a>, for example, uses religious affiliation (whether a person identifies with a religion), how frequently one engages in practices like prayer, and how important someone considers religion in their life.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the American National Family Life Survey, administered in December 2021, Gen Z is <\/span>most likely to be religiously unaffiliated<\/span><\/a> (34%) compared to Millennials (29%), Gen X (25%), Baby Boomers (18%), and the Silent Generation (9%).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Public Religion Research Institute\u2019s 2024 Census of American Religion shows the same generational trend: Gen Z is <\/span>most likely to be religiously unaffiliated<\/span><\/a> compared to older generations.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 2, 2025, Barna published new data indicating a resurgence in church attendance led by young adults. The report comes amidst contentious debates concerning the religiosity levels of Gen Z and Millennials. Many articles are declaring, decrying, and doubting claims that young adults are returning to religion in droves. According to Barna\u2019s data, US…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":13724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Gen Z and Millennials Really Returning to Church?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Young adults are leading a resurgence in church attendance, Barna reports\u2014challenging doubts about Gen Z & Millennials\u2019 faith journeys.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/09\/are-gen-z-and-millennials-really-returning-to-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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