11 June 2025
The Decision Decade: Gen Z and the Church
Ben Powell
A quiet surprise is unfolding in the spiritual landscape of the West. For decades, the path of faith between the ages of 15 and 21 has felt increasingly precarious. Many Christian parents, youth leaders, and mentors watch with a kind of spiritual anxiety as young people move through this season, wondering: will they stay the course?
Recent research, however, from both McCrindle Research in Australia and the Bible Society UK is painting a picture that’s more complex — and more hopeful — than we might expect.
For those of us working with Gen Z in ministry, it confirms some deep intuitions — and brings a great deal of encouragement. What’s happening?
Gen Z and Faith in 2025: A Surprising Turn
In the UK, there’s been a striking rise in church engagement among young people, particularly young men.
While just six years ago, 4% of 18–24-year-olds in the UK said they attended church at least monthly, The Quiet Revival [i], a major report released by the Bible Society UK this year, finds that number has quadrupled to 16%.
Young women have increased attendance from 3% to 12%, while young men have increased from 4% to a staggering 21%. This makes them the second most likely age group to attend church regularly in the UK.
Church attendance isn’t the only sign of change found in the report; 37% of 18-24s expressed curiosity to learn more about the bible, while 40% are praying at least monthly.
Is Christianity on the cusp of a comeback?
Faith in Australia presents a more mixed picture in An Undercurrent of Faith: Exploring Australians’ renewed relationship with Christianity [ii], a new report from McCrindle Research.
"But, here’s the twist... those who remain are more committed than ever"
On the one hand, Gen Z is leaving faith in larger numbers than any previous generation. Between 2016 and 2021, over one in three young Australians aged 15–24 moved from identifying as Christian to “no religion.” But, here’s the twist on the other: those who remain are more committed than ever.
Digging deeper, Gen Z Christians are far more likely than older Christians to attend church regularly.
Around 68% of them go to church at least monthly (online or in-person), compared to just 39% of Gen X and 26% of Baby Boomers. They aren’t just hanging on, they’re pressing in. This suggests a remnant dynamic: fewer in number but stronger in conviction.
Gen Z faith isn’t growing in Australia like in the US or UK, but I suspect similar change may come due to shared global factors.
A Remnant Church in Australia?
Christian author, pastor and cultural commentator, Mark Sayers, writes of a remnant church in his 2019 book, Reappearing Church: The Hope for Renewal in the Rise of Our Post-Christian Culture, as a precursor for renewal within the broader church. Is this what we’re observing?
The McCrindle report shows religious identity for Australians no longer being rooted in our cultural backgrounds but in our current beliefs and practices. More succinctly, cultural Christianity may well be dead in Australia.
Nominal faith has been declining, and in its wake, we’re left with a more authentic church community – the remnant. The remnant church doesn’t operate out of obligation; there’s an intentional, costly choice that has been made to follow Jesus and commit to his people in the community.
Why Now? What’s caused this turn?
There’s no single explanation for this generational turn, but one of the clearest contributors is cultural and social instability.
While my generation, X, and most of the millennials following were busily deconstructing and dismissing the need for faith, the economic growth and tech-oriented optimism towards overcoming inequalities and adversaries to human flourishing were (un)helpfully masking any loss in meaning and purpose. Growth and prosperity, with relative global peace, masked any existential crises.
"Gen Z isn’t just deconstructing religion; they’re questioning everything – identity, belonging, common values, and more"
Today’s world, however, is marked by rapid change, anxiety, and institutional distrust. The promises of progress, economic security, technological solutions, and the expanding freedoms they offer are wearing thin. The McCrindle research offers several factors that might explain young Australians’ increasing openness to faith then: disillusionment with consumerism, the failure of tech-utopian dreams, and the burnout of their overworked Gen X and Y elders.
These shifts are not just economic or social — they’re existential. Gen Z isn’t just deconstructing religion; they’re questioning everything – identity, belonging, common values, and more.
This secular world is increasingly looking like the emperor with no clothes, and Gen Z are less enamoured and more willing to criticise it. This brings opportunities for the treasure of the gospel to be clearly seen.
The Precious Gospel
Of course, many young people still leave the faith. However, it seems less likely that they think it’s untrue and more likely that it doesn’t seem worth it.
The McCrindle report offers the top 3 reasons for Australians now turning to Christianity;
- Feeling a spiritual connection or sense of divine presence
- Finding personal meaning and purpose through Christianity
- Christianity offers answers to questions they can’t find elsewhere
A recent episode of the Rebuilder’s podcast with Mark Sayers[iii] highlights these and raises the need for churches to be compelling in their response and witness. Compelling while I was growing up looked like an arms race with secular society to entertain, but what compels now is God alone and a genuine articulation of the purpose and meaning that Jesus brings. In a remnant church, as Sayers says, people are there because they want God.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Paul describes Christ’s people as holding the treasure of Christ, the gospel, in humble jars of clay — ordinary jars so that our extraordinary God may be clearly seen. To represent the treasure of Christ in this way will bring affliction but these are light and momentary troubles compared to the eternal glory coming our way. The remnant church believes and ‘owns’ this.
“Hope, connection, and community are increasingly rare. So when the church offers these things — not in theory, but in the embodied life of its people — young people notice”
This sounds compelling to me. A people who have found the treasure of the gospel and consider it worth everything they are, they have, and they might become, to be with Christ and reveal his love to others.
Hope, connection, and community are increasingly rare. So when the church displays these things — young people notice. When they see people living like they’ve found the greatest treasure, they begin to wonder if Jesus might be their treasure also.
Discipleship and a Foundation for Life
McCrindle refers to the ages of 15-24 as the ‘decision decade’, the years from high school to adult independence.
As critical years for faith, this is one of the primary reasons the Bridge program was established at SMBC. The Bridge is for 18-21 year olds. It is a year in community with Christian peers, a grounding in the scriptures, exploration and an invitation to ministry alongside God, seeing his purposes come to pass across the globe. The Bridge is a foundational year to set one’s feet firmly on the narrow path, walking confidently in pursuit of Jesus for a lifetime.
The Bible Society report found 35% of 18-34 year old churchgoers, though high in desire to learn from the Bible, are shaken in faith by conflicting narratives from media and cultural influences.
Of course, I’m biased as the Director of the Bridge, but it’s not unfounded. We’ve seen young adults graduating with a foundation in the scriptures and confidence in God’s purposes for them in the world. We’ve seen hearts come alive and the spark in the eyes as they discover the beauty of the gospel, the love of God that compels them.
"The Bridge is a foundational year to set one’s feet firmly on the narrow path, walking confidently in pursuit of Jesus for a lifetime"
One of our graduates from the Bridge in recent years shared something I repeat often. Before heading into a deferred degree and career path they said,
“I’m going to spend close to 10 years studying and training for a working career around 40 years, what’s 1 year given to learning more about God when I’m a disciple of Jesus’ for a lifetime?”
The decision decade is an urgent one for the church. While the research suggests that this age group is increasingly open to faith in Jesus, wanting to know God and learn from His Word, now is an opportunity to prioritise our efforts in evangelism and discipleship among them.
There’s no silver bullet. But four things stand out to me and give me hope:
1. Prayer/Pray. If renewal comes through a remnant church, it comes through a period of weakness and decline – a refining. A remnant church’s strength is in its recognition of its desperate need for God. A remnant church prays. Prayer is a cry for God to work – His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Pray that God will indeed renew his church and open the floodgates of young adults turning to faith in him, ushering in a season of fruitfulness throughout the whole church.
2. Eyes of Faith/A Changed Narrative. It has felt increasingly hostile for Christians in Australian society. Renewal may not change this, and it’s even possible it will get worse. But eyes of faith look at the world through a lens of mission and see the opportunity for Christ to be proclaimed. Eyes of faith prepare believers for rejection as the ordinary course of events in participating in God’s extraordinary acts of salvation. If the narrative has been ‘batten down the hatches’ and ‘ride out the storm’, it’s now time for boasting in the cross and being unashamed of the gospel for we know it is the power of God for salvation. This is compelling – this is worth living for, giving our lives for.
3. Preach/Live a Compelling Gospel. So don’t water it down. Don’t apologise for it. Young people aren’t looking for religious fluff. They want something real. We need to preach the beauty, the boldness, and the sufficiency of the gospel — not with a defensive tone, but with joy and confidence.
4. Invite. I hesitated on this, not sure if invitational evangelism has been more disempowering than empowering over the years. However, generations of Christian decline has brought society to a place where lots of people have never been to church and more are expressing curiosity. Don’t be afraid to invite people along, or even better, to invite them into your world and community, of which Sundays are one glorious part.
May the road open wider, and our God be glorified, as this generation turns to Christ.
Ben Powell
Director of The Bridge
[i]Bible Society, The Quiet Revival (Bible Society: biblesociety.org.uk, 2025). https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival
[ii] McCrindle Research, An Undercurrent of Faith: Exploring Australians’ renewed relationship with Christianity (McCrindle Research: mccrindle.com, 2025). mccrindle.com.au
[iii] Rebuilders Podcast, Red Church, 16th April, 2025. https://open.spotify.com/show/3QY49TCmgXciK6HleCtGNf?si=0b5ef929a6844730
