A new study by the Barna Group has found that Gen Z is attending church at rates higher than older generations.
On average, Gen Z churchgoers attend services 1.9 weekends per month, slightly higher than millennials at 1.8 and above the overall adult average of 1.6. These figures represent the highest church attendance among young Christians since Barna began tracking the data.
Daniel Copeland, Barna’s vice president of research, said the trend marks a shift in typical attendance patterns, as young people do not historically have higher church attendance than older generations.
“The fact that young people are showing up more frequently than before is not a typical trend,” Copeland explained in a statement. “It’s typically older adults who are the most loyal churchgoers. This data represents good news for church leaders and adds to the picture that spiritual renewal is shaping Gen Z and Millennials today.”
The findings align with a Pew Research Center report released earlier this year, which found that 45 percent of adults under 30 attend religious services. While overall attendance among younger adults has declined nearly 20 percent over the past decade, Pew noted that adults ages 18 to 24 are not significantly less religious than those ages 25 to 34.
The trend of a growing number of Gen Z churchgoers appears to have a gender split. A 2024 report from the Survey Center on American Life found that young women are leaving the church at higher rates, driven by criticisms of institutions that uphold traditional social norms. 61 percent of Gen Z women identify as feminist, an amount far higher than women in previous generations.
