Authors: John Stonestreet and Shane Morris
In recent months, at two synods for different diocese of the Anglican Church of North America, I encountered a significant number of impressive young men, mostly in their twenties. In one case, they humbly served the clergy and leadership throughout the multi-day proceedings. In the other, they attended a local parish but chose to join and stay for the entirety of an exceptionally long ordination service. I see something similar at my church, where there is often a row of single, young men, faithful, spiritually hungry, and interested in cultivating a deep, personal faith. I should note, that there is no corresponding row of young women, nor did I see similar numbers of young women at either of the aforementioned synods.
Though these stories are anecdotal, there is growing evidence of a “quiet revival” of Christian belief among Gen Z men. The New York Times reported last fall that, for the first time in American history, men now outnumber women in churches. The trend is especially pronounced among twenty-somethings. Last year, a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 39% of Gen Z women identify as religiously unaffiliated, compared with just 31% of men. Among white evangelicals, young men had begun showing significantly more religiosity than women.
Newer data from the U.K. shows a surprising reawakening across the pond, where church attendance overall has long been much lower than in the U.S. In April, the Bible Society reported that church decline in England and Wales “has not only stopped, but the Church is growing, as Gen Z leads an exciting turnaround in church attendance.”
This turnaround happened in a short time. In 2018, only 4% of 18– to 24-year-olds in the U.K. attended church regularly. By last year, that number had quadrupled. Among 25– to 34-year-olds, attendance more than tripled, raising the overall rate from 8% to 12% of the population. Though still a low number, it represents a historic reversal of the country’s century-long de-churching. Like in the U.S., young men in the U.K. are leading the return to church. Among the 18 to 24 age group in the Bible Society survey, 21% of men attended at least once a month, compared with just 12% of women the same age.
As statistician Ryan Burge wrote on X, “It seems very clear now that men are more likely to be regular church attenders than women. And those gaps are the largest among the youngest adults.” He also pointed out that these numbers are not due primarily to immigration, as the white-only sample showed the same trends.
Why are young men returning to church? And why aren’t young women joining them? The Times pointed to a shift in cultural and political attitudes among men that seems to correspond with their search for traditional faith. As young women have skewed increasingly progressive, young men are now much more likely to call themselves politically conservative. In fact, the partisan gap between men and women has doubled in the past 25 years. Surprisingly, young men are also more likely than young women to say they want to have children someday.
One pastor told The Times that young men “are looking for leadership, they’re looking for clarity, they’re looking for meaning.” Another college minister at the University of California-Irvine suggested that religion is perceived as traditional, and Christianity in particular as the “one institution that isn’t formally skeptical of [young men] as a class.”
This trend also corresponds to what Justin Brierly has called the “Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God” among high-profile secular thinkers. It’s a reminder that we can’t predict where the Spirit will blow, that narratives of inevitable religious decline are far from certain, and that we still live in the same world where the Great Awakenings occurred, the Wesley brothers, Whitefield and Spurgeon preached, and where St. Peter saw 3,000 converted in a day. It’s also a reminder that the same God they all served is at work in the world.
Still, the growing disparity between men and women poses significant challenges. The reversal in the historic tendency of church to be mostly female is proof of how our culture has lied to young women. And it won’t help the decline of marriage or birth dearth much either.
It’s also possible that some young men are returning to church for the wrong reasons. They still need to hear Christianity taught accurately and in its entirety. Church should not be sold to them as a “based” social club, but as a place that belongs to the God of the universe, and the faith as a way of seeing all of life and reality in surrender to Christ’s loving lordship.
Even as we praise God for this “quiet revival,” we should ask how we can fan the flames of belief in Gen Z and make disciples rather than just cultural converts. God is up to something. We should be eager to play our part in His providential movement in young hearts.