For decades, religious affiliation across the West had been in free-fall. However, recent developments suggest that post-pandemic, Gen Z is leading the charge to amend things. According to a recent report from the Bible Society, 16% of 18–24 year olds in the United Kingdom now attend church monthly — a notable rise from just 4% in 2019. These churchgoers feel less depressed, closer to their local community, and have deeper hope for the future. 

The kids may just be alright yet.

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This is not a return to a bland and therapeutic Christianity that many mainline denominations peddle. As First Things editor R.R. Reno describes, this generation seeks  “Strong Religion:” faith that demands something of them. They accept accountability, sacrifice, and formation. In exchange, they find spiritual purpose and a life quest.

This generation has grown up in a thoroughly broken world: family collapse, digital alienation, and intense institutional distrust. As a result, Gen Z is acutely aware of the ills of pervasive secular progressivism, and many are choosing another path.

Theirs is a cultural paradigm that insists that tradition is akin to bondage and that liberation comes through complete rational autonomy. It assures them that they are in control of their reality. 

Reno contends it is a “broken, dysfunctional world that a sane and reasonable person would reject.” This gospel of fulfillment, however, has led them not to happiness or contentment, but to a deep rootlessness. Yet, even when this desire for order veers into post-liberal extremes — integralism or traditionalist zealotry alike — it signals the same thing: a radical refusal to return to the spiritual desolation that largely characterized their upbringing. 

This strict revivalism concerns youths who see a fundamental chance to take charge of their life. Instead of the hollowed-out institutions they perceive to have failed them, Gen Z seeks the enchantment of permanence, the challenge of virtue, and the refuge of a real community. 

GENERATION Z IS HAVING A JESUS REVOLUTION

Especially in a society where men feel increasingly alienated and families are fractured, the “serious” church offers more than doctrine. It offers a cadence to life, an intergenerational civil society, and a place to nourish the soul. With it comes an escape from cultural nihilism present elsewhere in their lives.

This renewal, however, is not self-sustaining and requires real work. If Gen Z’s encouraging spiritual seriousness is to continue, then churches aspiring to win the hearts of younger people must offer more than Instagram sermons and platitudes. Rather, they must provide a package of formation, beauty, discipline, and truth. Gen Z has been remarkably resilient thus far and may just go a long way toward healing the cultural sins of the recent past.