By almost every measure of engagement, Gen Z is the most active generation the Church has seen in decades. A new study from LifeWay Research found that Gen Z churchgoers attend worship services more frequently than any other generation, go to small groups at the highest rates and are among the most likely to serve, share their faith and invest in spiritual growth. Nearly four in 10 have participated in an international mission trip. Two-thirds say they intentionally build friendships with non-Christians in order to share their faith.
The disconnect comes after Sunday.
Despite that level of involvement, 43% of Gen Z churchgoers say reading and studying the Bible has not made a significant difference in how they live. More than half — 52% — say that when forced to choose between their own way and God’s, they usually choose their own. Only 35% say they set aside time to pray every day, the lowest rate of any generation surveyed. Researchers also found deeper theological gaps: 49% said the God of the Bible is no different than the gods described by other religions, and 54% said someone sincerely seeking God could find eternal life through religions other than Christianity.
“While young adult churchgoers have strong participation, they also have high levels of doubts about God,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “It can be easy for church leaders to assume young people who are present are all in when they may still be deciding if their heart is willing to rest in Jesus Christ alone.”
Chuck Peters, director of NextGen ministries at LifeWay, frames it as a discipleship problem more than an attendance one.
“My biggest concern for Gen Z is not that they are disconnected from the church,” he said. “Our research shows that Gen Z is deeply involved. The greater concern is that they are not being deeply formed.”
Grant Skeldon, founder of the Next Gen Commission and a close observer of young faith for more than a decade, isn’t surprised by the gap — but he has a theory about how it formed. He traces it through a generational pendulum. Boomers built churches that were stable but, he argues, sometimes too comfortable. Millennials responded by trying to make Christianity cool — better branding, hipper pastors, a softer edge on hard doctrine. Gen Z inherited both impulses and rejected them.
“If they’re going to be a Christian, they’re going all in,” Skeldon says. “They’re becoming not just believers, but actual missionaries.”
But zeal without grounding, he argues, only goes so far.
“The breakthrough message, the purpose message, the calling message alone is not going to help them on those days,” he says. “They need a robust foundation.”
That foundation, Skeldon believes, has been quietly eroding for years. As seminaries lost influence and churches built their own leadership pipelines — residency programs, in-house colleges — the trade-off was theological depth for practical skill. Then social media removed the gatekeepers entirely, giving rise to a generation of Christian influencers with massive platforms and, in some cases, limited doctrinal training.
“Some of the biggest Christian voices to this generation are not pastors or in ministry or under any kind of covering,” Skeldon says. “That’s not necessarily bad, but there are blind spots we want to be aware of.”
The result is a generation being spiritually inspired by voices who may not be equipped to form them — and a Church that has sometimes prioritized inspiration over instruction. Peters sees it the same way.
“Young adults need to know that being a Christian isn’t about intellectual assent,” he said. “It’s about finding, knowing and following Jesus in relationship.”
For Skeldon, the solution starts with getting back to the source.
“We’re living and feasting off secondary experiences of someone else’s experience in God’s word,” he says. “We’re removing ourselves from that firsthand, intimate, anointed experience.”
He also pushes back on the idea that more content is the answer — pointing out that in 1996, Bill Gates predicted that whoever created the most content would dominate the internet, a frame Skeldon thinks the Church has mistakenly adopted.
“If we play the content game with the world, who is investing way more money and has done a lot more research — I don’t think that’s the game we’re supposed to play,” he says. “Connection is king.”
The data from Barna adds another layer. According to Barna’s State of the Church 2025 report, 77% of Gen Z teens express at least some interest in learning more about Jesus, and 52% say they’re highly motivated to do so. Commitment to Jesus among Gen Z men has jumped 15 points since 2019. The hunger is real. The question is whether the Church is meeting it with something that lasts beyond Sunday — not just a gathering to attend, but a foundation to stand on.
Gen Z is showing up. The challenge now is what happens when they get there.
