Gen Z and Millennial Men Driving New Church Attendance Trend
Over the past few years, churches in the United States have experienced a significant shift: Men are now surpassing women in church attendance.
Additionally, younger adults are now the most regular church attendees, surpassing older generations, according to the Barna Group’s recent “State of the Church” study.
In the early 2000s, women were more regular churchgoers than men, and according to researchers, it is unclear whether this new shift “is a story of women stepping back or men stepping up.”
READ: Americans Split On What Role Religion Should Play In Public Schools
The State of the Church study, compiled by Barna Group and tech company Gloo, confirmed the trend this way:
— As of 2025, 43% of men and 36% of women report attending church regularly on a weekly basis, the largest gender gap Barna has recorded in the past 25 years of tracking this key measure of religious engagement.
— Gen Z and Millennial men are driving much of the upward trend. In 2025, 46% of Gen Z men and 55% of Millennial men have attended church in the past week, compared to 44% of Gen Z women and 38% of Millennial women.
— The data also reveals a gap between single parents and married parents. Among current parents of children under 18 years old, 24% of single mothers and 21% of single fathers attend church weekly — compared to 30% of married mothers and 41% of married fathers.
“These shifts in church attendance reveal that different groups may experience community and support in different ways,” said David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group. “It’s an invitation to look closely at the barriers facing groups like women and single parents who are less engaged in church life. Listening well to their experiences and responding to their needs can help churches create spaces where everyone can grow spiritually and be fully included.”
These findings echoed those of other recent studies, which pointed to an exodus of young women leaving the church.
The Survey Center on American Life, a project from the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, found last year that for the first time, more young women than men were disaffiliated from the religion in which they were raised (54% of Gen-Z adults who left were women and 46% were men).
That study points to a few reasons why fewer young women choose to spend their Sunday morning in a church pew: nearly two-thirds of Gen Z women say churches do not treat men and women equally.
“Many conservative denominations do not allow women to serve in leadership positions and offer little formal authority,” wrote Daniel A. Cox and Kelsey Eyre Hammond. “The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., affirms an unambiguous gender hierarchy, requiring women to submit to male leadership. For girls and young women raised to believe they can do anything men can do, this message is becoming more difficult to digest.”
A similar trend is appearing in the United Kingdom. The UK-based Bible Society reported an increase in church attendance among 18 to 24-year-olds in recent years, with young men’s attendance jumping from 4% in 2018 to 21% in 2024.
While researchers have yet to pinpoint the exact cause of this renewed interest, there could be many driving forces — missions and church leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are noticing some trends in their conversations with young men.
John Simmons is the men’s pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church with several campuses throughout the Nashville area. Writing for Religion Unplugged, he observed that the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic nudged more young men toward recognizing the need for purpose and community in their lives.
“During that difficult season, many men began to acknowledge and accept that they can’t continue to walk through life alone,” he wrote. “The pandemic was a cultural condition that tore down the walls of self-dependency. And out of this came forth an existential angst, leading many to seek help from self-help/improvement authors, podcasts, and pastors who were speaking to the problems and tensions they were facing.”
Kenny Dubnick, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board’s European people’s affinity cluster leader, echoed similar sentiments in an interview with Baptist Press.
Dubnick said he noticed an uptick in interest in “spirituality and Christ’s teachings” among young people, while many are often simultaneously “suspicious and cynical towards religion and the church.”
Cassidy Grom is the managing editor of Religion Unplugged. Her award-winning reporting and digital design work have appeared in numerous publications.