A revival pattern in America

I teach full-time at a Christian university in the Southeast. I speak frequently at other schools, as well as events geared toward collegians and other young adults. My wife and I serve in the college ministry in our local church. I’m the father of four children, three of whom are between the ages of 14 and 18. In other words, I spend a lot of time around Generation Z, and I think I know their generation fairly well.

Around the time the COVID-19 pandemic was ending, my colleagues and I started noticing a spiritual hunger among young people. While many churches were struggling to return to their pre-pandemic levels of attendance, youth groups and college ministries seemed to be growing. There appeared to be an uptick in the number of teenagers and twentysomethings who were eager to participate in mission trips or who were wrestling with a call to the ministry. Many campus ministries were thriving. Stories of campus revivals were common, most notably the Asbury Revival in the spring of 2023.

Such stories were common, but anecdotal. Not anymore. Recently, the Barna Group released a new study as part of their ongoing State of the Church initiative with Gloo, a faith-based technology company. The headline is encouraging: “Young Adults Lead a Resurgence in Church Attendance.” According to the data, while U.S. church attendance remains flat overall, Christians who are part of Generation Z and younger millennials are attending church more frequently than before. Young believers are also attending church much more often than Christians in older generations.

This news has already provoked considerable conversation among Christian news outlets and online opinion sites, nearly all of which is understandably positive. While some raise concerns about the declining church attendance among Generation X and Baby Boomers, Christian journalists and opinion columnists are rightly heartened at the growing interest that the younger generations have in the faith. Secular outlets haven’t said much about the Barna study, though in recent months several have reported on the surge of younger men in particular who are attending theologically conservative evangelical churches.

What is remarkable about the Barna study is that it is in stark contrast to earlier reports that Generation Z in particular was disproportionately irreligious compared to older generations. Not only did non-Christian studies indicate that young people were the tip of the spear of secularization, but the Barna Group itself partnered with the Impact 360 Institute on a multi-year study of Generation Z that raised concerns about declining interest in Christianity. While teenagers and young adults were interested in spirituality in general, that interest was not translating into organized religion, and especially Christianity.

As a church historian, when I read about the resurgence of evangelical religion among the young, I’m reminded of the history of revival. The Methodist Revival in Great Britain traced its roots to the Holy Club at Oxford University, which was founded in 1729 and included the Wesley brothers and George Whitefield. In the American colonies, Jonathan Edwards reported that one of the signs of spiritual awakening was that young people were being drawn to the faith. Yale University experienced the first tremors of the Second Great Awakening under the leadership of Edwards’s grandson, Timothy Dwight.

During the American Civil War, the age of the average soldier was around 25, with some enlisted men (especially in the Confederacy) as young as 14 or 15. Armies on both sides of the war experienced notable revivals. The Student Volunteer Movement at the turn of the twentieth century was a missionary awakening that began among college students. Postwar evangelical ministries such as Youth for Christ and Young Life reached thousands of teenagers during the years when the percentage of Americans attending church reached an all-time high. Other ministries such as Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU), the Navigators, InterVarsity, and the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship in the UK enjoyed a harvest among collegians.

When I was a teenager, my region of Southeast Georgia experienced a minor awakening that began with the young people. At one public high school, over a quarter of the student body was meeting every morning at 7:00 a.m. for prayer and Bible study. One church began a weekly outreach meeting for high school and community college students, resulting in considerable growth in several area churches. One large liberal church had a thriving youth ministry, led by a committed evangelical, and in college many of the young people he mentored became influential Christian leaders on their secular campuses.

God is at work among Generation Z and Millennials. Praise the Lord! Join me in praying that these stirrings lead to a multi-generational revival as God draws the hearts of sinners to himself.