Article by Julie R. Neidlinger, at Bible Gateway: The American Church is re-sorting itself. Decline has slowed. Demographics have shifted. And there may be fresh interest where there hadn’t been. Or so it seems.
While whispers of revival have sparked headlines, it’s more complicated than that. It’s true that decades of data show the church is smaller than in past generations, but there are new indicators of hope. There are also conflicting reports, based on real data, that make it difficult to answer the pressing question of what is happening with the American church.
Decline of the American Church Continues — but More Slowly
The bird’s-eye view of American Christianity is that of decline.
Though the numbers vary, it’s clear that Christianity is far below the levels of even the early to mid-2000s. According to Pew’s 2025 Religious Landscape Study, 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian, down from 78% in 2007, while the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) 2025 Census of American Religion puts that marker at 66%.
About two-thirds of Americans currently identify as Christian, but that is an overall decline from a generation ago. As Christian numbers decline, people who don’t affiliate with any religion continue to grow.
While whispers of revival have sparked headlines, it’s more complicated than that. It’s true that decades of data show the church is smaller than in past generations, but there are new indicators of hope. There are also conflicting reports, based on real data, that make it difficult to answer the pressing question of what is happening with the American church.
Identity Within the American Church Is Shifting
Let’s start with where the American church has been shifting. Younger adults don’t seem to be carrying on the identity and denominational labels as previous generations did.
According to Pew, people identifying with mainline Protestant denominations have dropped nearly seven points, down to just 11.5%, from 2007 levels. Evangelicals have fared a bit better, dropping only three points to 23% of American Christians. Catholics were in between, dropping 5 points to 19%.
What’s startling is both the rise of Pentecostalism and of non-denominational churches, the latter of which accounts for more than a third (35%) of Christian Americans. Non-denominational churches are difficult to track in terms of data. They tend to be independent and don’t receive the same level of attention or coverage as traditional or larger denominations. But each successive younger generation is less likely to hitch their identity to a denomination, with Gen Z at 46% claiming no denominational affiliation. (Put a pin in that Gen Z data point, because we’re going to revisit it soon).
Of course, identifying with Christianity, or even with a denomination, isn’t directly correlated with actual church attendance. In March 2026, Gallup reported that Americans’ overall religious engagement is low, with only one-third saying they attend religious services weekly or nearly weekly, even though two-thirds identify as Christian.
That’s a significant gap; does that mean church attendance is dropping as identity is shifting?
Here’s where the data gets interesting.
Church Attendance May Have Increased Among Gen Z
According to the Barna Group, which focuses its research on the church, young adults in general are leading the way in church attendance, with Gen Z at the head of the pack. They average 1.9 weekends of attendance a month, ahead of every other generation.
However, for the first time since Barna began tracking this data, more men (45%) than women (36%) are part of this upward trend — a significant reversal. And that may explain the recent headlines and social media attention about a revival among Gen Z men.
On the surface, the Gen Z trend sounds not only like the end of the decline in American church attendance, but an actual positive reversal. Could it be that younger generations are on track to return to the church?
However, keep in mind that Barna researches within the church. A look at research from the broader population is needed to understand what’s happening among young adults in general and the Christian faith.
From this broader vantage point, Gallup found that for young American men, the importance of religious faith increased by 14 points (from 28% to 42%), while for young women, it held statistically steady at around 30%. For young men, church attendance had climbed 7 points to about 40%, a modest increase compared to the rise in the importance of faith.
Combining the Barna and Gallup results suggests an overall increase in religious faith and church attendance among Gen Z men. Understandably, this is making headlines and flooding social media; it’s welcome news from the usual reports of dwindling faith in America. But is this data the final word?
Pew Research Center found that Gen Z is overall less religious than previous generations. In general, adult women are still more religious than adult men (though that gap is closing), but among Gen Z men and women, the percentages are statistically the same (58% and 57%, respectively).
PRRI research finds that young women are becoming less religious, with a continued decline in church attendance. PRRI data also show lower overall church attendance among young Americans than Gallup’s research does, with a slight increase after 2022.
PRRI data suggest there isn’t an overall increase in church attendance, but rather a reshuffling of generations. Based on their research, the real surprise is the early indication that young women are starting to walk away from their religious identity, rather than a revival or an increase in church attendance among young men.
And that, buried in the debate over which data is accurate and whether there’s a revival among Gen Z men, may be the real story: women are disengaging from church and from faith, even though they have traditionally held higher statistical ground. The reasons for such disaffiliation are complex, but may include concerns about unequal treatment, abuse scandals, lack of support from elders, and general social and political disagreements. In many cases, they feel they can follow Jesus better outside of institutional religion.
But amid all the noise, let’s not forget something significant: two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian and say a personal faith in Christ is important to them, a slow but upward trend.
Decline or no, that trend is good news, indeed.
Article by Julie R. Neidlinger, at Bible Gateway.
