Gen Z Men Now Outnumber Gen Z Women at Church

A HISTORIC SHIFT

According to a recent poll done by the Survey Center on American Life, more young men are showing up at church than their female peers. This trend is a sharp reversal of the status quo because up until now, women have led the way in church attendance.

“For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers. They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious,” reported Ruth Graham of The New York Times. So why are Gen Z men bucking the trend?

The reasons behind this pattern shift are thought to be two-fold. First, young women are making a bigger exodus from churches. Of those checking the box for “religiously unaffiliated,” the poll discovered that there is over twice the gap between Gen Z and Baby Boomer women, than among men in those same categories. So even though more men are deciding to stay, women leaving the church is still a large factor in understanding this emerging trend. In better news, Gen Z is overall more religiously affiliated than the generation before them – Millennials. Axios reports that Millennials are the most nonreligious of any generation on earth today.

Understanding what is driving this trend in Gen Z is important because its ramifications are far-reaching. If the gap between genders in religious preferences is widening, there must be a common factor. It also is important for Christians to understand why this is happening so we can more accurately understand the hurdles in sharing the gospel with this crucial generation.

Young men and women are on increasingly different paths in more areas than just religion. According to the Denison Forum, Gen Z women are:

· More educated than Gen Z men

· Earn a higher income in prominent cities like New York and Washington

· Less likely to say they want to become parents, by a margin of 12 percentage points

· More likely to report feeling like they are treated unequally in most churches

That final point is especially important in putting a finger on what’s going on. The Denison Forum offered this explanation:

“Many Gen Z women came of age during the #MeToo movement—and its religiously based cousin #ChurchToo. As such, some of their most formative years were spent hearing about the abuse and scandals perpetrated against women, far too often by leaders in the church. It is understandable that many would find it difficult to separate that kind of abuse from the faith of the abusers, even if drawing such a correlation overlooks the basic realities of who Jesus is and what the gospel is truly about.”

Even though Gen Z men also grew up hearing the same things, their experiences of those events were not the same. Derek Rishmawy, who leads a ministry at the University of California, Irvine, offers a possible explanation. He said that Christianity is, “One institution that isn’t initially and formally skeptical of (men) as a class.” He commented further, saying, “We’re telling them, ‘you are meant to live a meaningful life,’” which is especially impactful in a world that sends mixed signals, including automatically lumping all men together in one demonized group. 

It’s no wonder that many young men are finding the clear message of Jesus Christ attractive in a world that is increasingly hostile. At church, you can find community, friendship, and purpose, which is a rare commodity these days. However, that is true for all people, including their female peers, and we as Christians have a dire responsibility to make that clear to Gen Z and beyond.

How to Reach Gen Z

A big hurdle in reaching Gen Z men and women is their agreement on the issue of mental health. Forty-six percent of them named mental health as the biggest problem for not only themselves, but their communities, too. Additionally, the issue of addiction was a large contender at 31 percent.

“Considering that the church represents a source of mental health problems for a relatively large portion of Gen Z women, it makes sense that they might be more hesitant to attend and more willing to look outside of the Christian faith for answers,” wrote Ryan Denison of the Denison Forum. “While God’s truth does not change with our experiences, our experiences often provide the lens through which we understand the Lord. As a result, one of the best ways we can reach out to young people regardless of gender is to make our communities of faith a place where they can feel welcome and safe.”

This certainly doesn’t mean bending content and practices to accommodate all desires. Let it not be so. If churches were to tailor their services and outreach to fit the ever-changing whims of what the world wanted, the gospel would be sadly diluted. Ironically, however, “authenticity” is one of the most important values that Gen Z is after. What better vessel than the gospel to sound out the truth in a real, lived-out way? Gen Z is searching for people and organizations that actually live out what they say they believe. All this to say, however, that how we reach out to Gen Z is vital. You can’t just plonk down a hymnal on a pew anymore and expect they will come.

While He walked this earth, Jesus’ followers were a diverse, unexpected bunch. He talked to women and lifted them up into vital ministry work in a time that only saw women as second-class citizens. He saw people with disabilities and didn’t just walk by. He healed them. He asked to come into the houses of men the world had already decided were lost causes. He looked at each person as a person, not as a stereotype. 

Despite whatever trend is happening, all people need Jesus. We are to represent Jesus on this earth as His ambassadors. Will you?