Trends Suggest Gen Z Experiencing Both Religious Revival And Retreat
(ANALYSIS) Carey Nieuwhof recently released a video discussing five disruptive trends in the church, which included some sobering statistics. In this article, I’ll highlight one of these trends and offer thoughts on potential solutions from the front lines of reaching the next generation.
The first trend Nieuwhof highlights is that Gen Z is simultaneously experiencing revival and retreat. I generally agree with his assessment.
There’s no doubt God is at work among young people across the nation, particularly on college campuses. From the Asbury revival to the impact God is having among student athletes and the numerous thriving local college ministries, it’s clear God is at work.
My friend and ministry partner, Shane Pruitt, and I refer to this generation as the “revival generation,” as we are witnessing sparks of revival nationwide.
Gen Z in revival
An encouraging statistic from Barna shows two-thirds of Gen Z are highly or moderately spiritually open.
This level of spiritual openness should motivate us to engage more young people with the gospel. Nieuwhof correctly points out that being open does not automatically translate to an embrace of Christianity. In fact, there’s a rising trend toward New Age spirituality and meditation, which is gaining traction among the same young people who are exploring Christianity and other religions. This makes the moment even more urgent. If the church doesn’t bridge this gap, false spirituality will readily fill it.
The research also shows a drop off in spiritual openness between Gen Z teens and Gen Z adults. Whereas 46% of Gen Z teens have a high spiritual openness, only 28% of Gen Z adults have this level of spiritual openness. This highlights the critical need for urgent outreach to youth and college campuses, where society’s most open and formative members are concentrated.
If we miss this window, the chance to connect with them later diminishes sharply. A 2023 study from Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts found nearly 9 in 10 evangelicals (87%) came to their beliefs before age 30.
If the majority of people come to Christ before the age of 30, why is most of our evangelistic focus on reaching people after 30? Why is it the ministries that have the maximum potential for impacting God’s kingdom so often get the minimum investment?
Youth ministry is not a junior varsity calling. College ministry is not the B team. These leaders are on the front lines of the battleground for the next generation. We need our best resources and best troops where the battle rages hottest. Satan knows the next generation is strategic. When will more churches wake up to this reality?
Gen Z in retreat
That leads to the bad news. According to Barna, in 2020, 22% of Gen Z attended church weekly, but that fell to 16% by 2023. At the same time, the percentage of Gen Z that never attends church increased from 28% in 2020 to 37% in 2023. Although I could share countless stories of how God is actively working on college campuses nationwide, the truth remains there’s still a significant amount of work ahead of us.
According to my observation and experience, the average college campus in North America is less than 5% reached. And according to EveryCampus.com there are 1,762 college campuses in the United States with no known gospel community. There’s no reason the church shouldn’t have a multiplying gospel movement on every college campus on earth, seeking to connect with every student.
There are far more churches in the world than college and university campuses. Most campuses have dozens of healthy churches within striking distance, yet students remain largely unengaged. That’s why I was a part of a team that put together a free eBook for church leaders called “The Campus Across The Street.”
This resource includes case studies of ordinary churches reaching forgotten campuses. Many churches are launching local church sponsored college ministries and using a variety of effective models and methods. Coaching ministries like Elementum, Campus Multiplication Network, and Via Students can help equip local church collegiate ministries to thrive with various types of networking and training opportunities.
God is using campus-based ministries to reach, disciple, and send students to the nations. Most campus ministry leaders long for meaningful partnerships with local churches. Campus ministries have some of the most committed long-term leaders—and proven strategies to accelerate a church’s ability to reach students.
Solutions to Gen Z retreat
There are many stories of fruitful partnerships between churches and campus ministry organizations such as Baptist Collegiate Ministries. If you don’t know where to start in reaching college students with the gospel, set up a meeting with a local campus ministry leader. Communicate you want to partner — no strings attached — and start dreaming about how you can saturate every group on campus with the gospel.
Another innovative method God is using to impact the next generation is collegiate-focused church plants. With church closures outpacing openings, there’s a need for more church planting. Why not direct some of this outreach toward college campuses?
Planting new campus-based ministries and collegiate-focused church plants must be one of our solutions to this Gen Z retreat. Networks like The Salt Network, Resonate Collective, Collegiate Church Network, Summit Collaborative, Round Up Network, Acts 2 Network, and many more are intentionally focusing on planting churches in major university centers to accelerate multiplication.
If you’re interested in launching or growing a ministry to college students, the free interactive Collegiate Coaching Network I lead at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) could help you craft a custom strategy for reaching students in your community.
An encouraging study by Barna found Gen Z is more comfortable in spiritual conversation than even the generation before them. Let’s lean in and equip students to start those spiritual conversations. If we are serious about reaching Gen Z, then equipping them to engage their peers with the gospel must be a top priority.
Reaching Gen Z is simple but not easy. Let’s not shrink back from one of the greatest gospel opportunities of our lifetime.
For more ideas for reaching Gen Z, check out the free courses on Creating a Culture of Evangelism for collegiate leaders and youth leaders, the GenSend Podcast and the growing list of resources at GenSend.org.
This article is republished with permission from Lifeway Research.
Paul Worcheter serves as National Collegiate Director at the North American Mission Board.