Gen Z goes to church more often than their grandparents. The typical Gen Z churchgoer now attends 1.9 weekends per month, according to the Barna Group's 2025 survey — the highest rate among young Christians since the firm began tracking attendance in 1991.[2]

Millennials follow at 1.8 weekends per month. The overall average for all attendees was 1.6. Boomers and the Elder generation — the cohorts that historically filled the pews — are now the least frequent.[1]

This is the first time in Barna's tracking that older people are not the most regular church attenders.[2]

The trend tracks with a broader shift in religious commitment. Sixty-six percent of U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that remains important in their life today — a 12-point increase since 2021, when commitment levels hit their lowest point in more than three decades of Barna tracking.[3]

Gen Z men are driving the change. The survey found growing interest in Jesus Christ among young men specifically, a demographic that had been the least religiously engaged cohort in previous surveys.[1]

The data carries a caveat. Even at 1.9 weekends per month, Gen Z attends less than half the time. "Every touchpoint matters," Barna noted.[2]

The reasons are not entirely clear. The survey did not isolate causation. But the pattern is consistent: younger adults are showing spiritual curiosity and a desire for belonging that the pandemic disrupted and has not fully restored to pre-2020 levels.[3]

Churches that noticed empty pews in 2021 are noticing fuller ones in 2026. The people filling them are not the people they expected.

-- MAYA CALLOWAY, New York