By Isolde Doubell
Our world is increasingly marked by anxiety, loneliness, uncertainty and disconnection. Mental health has become such a serious concern that several countries have appointed cabinet ministers for mental health in recent years. In Japan, a staggering 50% of people under 40 reportedly battle with loneliness. This is the world Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2009) has inherited. They are the first generation to grow up fully immersed in a digital world and face a very different reality from previous generations. They may be one of the least religious generations in recent Western history and yet there are growing signs that they may be one of the most spiritually curious. Many young people are asking deeper questions about meaning, identity, belonging and faith and seem to be more open to talking about Jesus, although not necessarily the church.
So, is Gen Z turning back to Jesus?
An Opening to the Gospel
Dr Pieter Vermeulen, missiologist and director of Revive Switzerland, believes the answer is more nuanced than a simple revival narrative. He describes Gen Z as a generation searching for belonging, identity, authenticity and meaning like few before them.
“This does not mean that Gen Z is automatically turning to Christianity. Far from it. Many remain suspicious of organised religion and significant numbers are religiously unaffiliated. But there are increasing indications, particularly in Western contexts, that younger people are spiritually curious and more open to Jesus than many church leaders expected. They want to belong. They want to be known rather than merely followed. They want community rather than an audience. They are looking for places where they can remove the carefully constructed digital identity and discover whether somebody will still love the person underneath. And there the Gospel speaks with remarkable power. Jesus does not merely offer Gen Z a belief system. He calls them by name and invites them into a relationship with the Father and into a family.”
Pieter cautions against assuming that Gen Z’s distrust of religious institutions means they have rejected Jesus. They have grown up surrounded by marketing, competing messages and leaders who have disappointed them. The Barna report found that Bible reading rose substantially in America in its 2025 data, although other findings show significant disengagement among young women. “There is no single Gen Z spiritual story,” he says, “but something important is happening. There appears to be an opening.”
That opening is increasingly visible in stories emerging from all over the world, including New York, Australia, the Netherlands and Japan—stories of young people encountering Jesus and finding in Him something they could not find elsewhere. A young Japanese convert, interviewed by Radical.net explained: “When I encountered Jesus, I learnt that my value does not come from people’s approval, academics or career. Jesus loves you, and that is why you are worthy. And even if people don’t accept me, Jesus accepts me perfectly.”
A More Committed Remnant
Australia presents a similar paradox. Dr Ben Powell, Director of The Bridge Programme for 18–21-year-olds at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, wrote in June 2025 that Gen Z is leaving the faith in larger numbers than any previous generation. Between 2016 and 2021, more than one in three young Australians aged 15–24 moved from identifying as Christian to “no religion.”
“But,” he says, “the twist is: those who remain are more committed than ever. 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). They aren’t just hanging on, they’re pressing in. Nominal faith has been declining, and in its wake, we’re left with a more authentic church community.”
According to Powell, “This secular world is increasingly looking like the emperor with no clothes, and Gen Z are less enamoured. Hope, connection, and community are increasingly rare. So when the church displays these things—not in theory, but in the embodied life of its people—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.”
The Search for Something Real
That search is visible even in unexpected places. Time Magazine’s 14 August 2026 report described Anthony Gross, a TikToker new to New York, who began ranking Catholic churches and attracted tens of thousands of likes. One night at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, he was “blown away” to find the church packed, with nearly everyone under 30.
Pastors and priests across America have similarly reported increased youth attendance. Bishop John Dolan of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, for example, reported hundreds of baptisms over Easter weekend, most of them Gen Z. Young Christian influencers have also gone viral, while media outlets have described church as the new Gen Z “hot spot.”
Gross believes the trend is connected to the pressures facing his generation. “In times like these,” he says, people may feel like, ‘I can’t play this game of life alone, and I need somebody else that I can put my trust in, and someone else that I know at the end of the day loves me and is going to lead me down a path for a greater good.’”
The Netherlands offers another intriguing example. After decades of declining religiosity, government statistics showed a modest but significant reversal in 2024, with a 2% increase in people identifying as religious, particularly among Protestant denominations. While church attendance remains low, research suggests Gen Z may be contributing to the change.
At the 2024 Opwekking Pentecost Conference in Holland, 60,000 people attended in person and another 300,000 online. In 2025, nearly half of those attending were under 30. Some young Christians also attribute their spiritual growth to social media. Platforms that can contribute to loneliness and comparison are simultaneously becoming places where young people encounter Christian teaching and testimony. Among the Netherlands’ most prominent Christian influencers is 22-year-old Zara Goedemans, a Pentecostal Christian TikTok personality with more than a million followers. Part beauty influencer and part “God-fluencer,” she says: “We are all searching for identity…and I think that the best identity and actually the only real identity that we can get as a human is the identity in Christ.”
How Do We React as the Church?
Perhaps this is the opportunity before the Church. Gen Z may not be returning to religion in the traditional sense. They are questioning institutions, rejecting empty answers and searching for something authentic. But beneath the questions is a deep hunger for belonging, truth, purpose, community and love. As Dr Pieter Vermeulen says: If this generation is searching for something real, the Church must resist the temptation to simply become more entertaining. We do not need to dilute the Gospel to make Jesus attractive. We need to teach a generation to pray, help them discover Scripture, lead them into the presence of Jesus and give them authentic community. And if they are looking for something worth dying to themselves for, then we must not hide the cross from them. The Gospel does not call a generation merely to attend our churches. Jesus still says, “Follow Me.”
Please pray for Gen Z:
- That they will know that Jesus is the One who sees them, knows them and draws them close, and that He is real and wants a relationship with them.
- That Christians will know how to reach out to Gen Z’s in love and authenticity, with the good fruit of the Gospel. That we will disciple them well with the unfiltered Gospel.
- For the Church to be a dynamic place of truth, love and community so that young people can find true belonging.
Sources
https://www.smbc.edu.au/article/the-decision-decade-gen-z-and-the-church/
https://time.com/article/2026/08/14/religion-gen-z-revival-christianity
