Are the winds of revival blowing across the nation? More specifically, is there an awakening of young people here and abroad right now?
Pastors citing increased church attendance after the shooting death of Christian political activist Charlie Kirk would say yes. Two national polls just before that event appear to agree that something more long-term is happening — especially among young men.
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Barna Research Group said 43% of men reported attending church weekly in a new survey, compared to 38% of women. The increase, tracked over five of the past six years, is highest among Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen-Z (born 1997-2012). After the Covid-19 low point, this reverses a 25-year slide. And young men are leading the way.
“Across every generation, women are trailing men in weekly church attendance,” Barna researchers wrote in their new survey. The surprising attendance gap between men and women is bounded by young married men with children under age 18, who have the highest regular attendance (41%), while single mothers had the lowest attendance (24%). Barna blamed an erosion of trust among women caused by church scandals.
“When women see repeated examples of moral failure, abuse, or hypocrisy in church leadership, it deepens their disillusionment,” Barna CEO David Kinnaman surmised.
Single women “often feel isolated in congregations that cater to nuclear families.” Some may oppose the traditional roles of men and women in conservative denominations, which is where much of the young men’s attendance is growing.
A ‘pivot point’ and ‘quiet Revival’
On a late summer Sunday at Pirate’s Cove Beach near San Luis Obispo, California, more than 10,000 people were baptized. The place is where the first wave salvations of thousands of teens and hippies occurred in 1970. This was depicted in the 2023 film The Jesus Revolution. Pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie was there — first as a teen and now in his 60s, leading a new evangelistic wave in the region.
But not only there.
A fist-sized cloud was spotted on the horizon at the Asbury College revival of February 2023. Hundreds of students packed the chapel for prayer and weeping for more than two weeks. Similar outbreaks were reported in a few other spots, but not to the extent of the 1970 student awakening that birthed the Jesus People movement.
A group of 650 non-denominational churches claimed 27,000 immersions on a single day in June. Oceans Church pastor Mark Francey organized that event, starting first at that California beach in 2023. “They’re coming in by the thousands,” Francey said of Gen Z men. “And there’s this hunger.”
Francey took the event nationwide this year, calling it Baptize America. They wore T-shirts emblazoned with the Greek word “baptizo.”
“We wanna see America experience the goodness [and] kindness of Jesus and respond to the Great Commission in Matthew 28, which is to go into all the world to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them,” Francey told CBS, a view that Southern Baptists would clearly embrace.
Francey points to the pandemic as a pivot point for this age group. “There’s something about going through a hard season that wakes people up to what really is important in life,” he said. “I think it’s the first generation that’s growing up completely inundated with technology, social media, raised on tablets.”
“Gen Z males are becoming fed up with a virtual world run by algorithms and dating apps… and are seeking something real,” Cory Marsh of independent-Baptist Southern California Seminary told Fox News. “Churches should respond to the current trend by modeling grace and truth, without elevating one above the other.”
A return to church by young men has been reported in the United Kingdom, where chapels and cathedrals have languished for decades. The Bible Society of the UK is calling it “the Quiet Revival.”
Worship attendance by young men increased four-fold in six years, from 4% to 16%. Young women’s participation increased to 13%. The numbers may not seem dramatic, until you consider how close they were to zero. Scripture reading and missions giving increased among the Gen-Z age group as well.
Charlie Kirk’s death
Closer to home, it is the shooting death of activist and apologist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus as he spoke up for his conservative political and religious views that may be prompting a response in young men. Kirk’s death on Sept. 10 produced a wave of church attendance and baptisms in the weeks immediately afterward. The numbers are anecdotal, and the long-term effect remains to be seen.
Also at issue, will the church make the most of the moment?
A month before Kirk died, Laurie wrote about the lasting effects of the Jesus revolution. “I preached for the first time at Pirate’s Cove,” he recalled, something unusual and even risky in 1970. While he is encouraged by growing response at his own Harvest Crusades, Laurie warns the church must train young adults to share their faith, if awakening is to spread.
Laurie pointed to another Barna study that showed almost half of Millennial Christians (47%) agree at least somewhat that “it is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith.”
“If we desire revival, then we need to encourage these younger generations to pick up the baton of the gospel,” Laurie wrote. “We need to pray and prepare the ground for God to move by doing our part: teaching them, mentoring them, and loving them.”
And Kinnaman advised, “The influx of new generations represents a massive opportunity for congregational leaders, but this renewed interest must be stewarded well.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Eric Reed and originally published by the Illinois Baptist, with additional info from CBS News, Fox News and the Christian Post.
