New data from the Barna Group – a leading marketing research firm focused on the intersection between faith and culture – indicate Gen Z now leads a surge in church attendance across Christian churches, outpacing older generations in regular weekend worship.
Gen Z attends church, on average, about 1.9 times per month or close to 23 services per year. Millennials (born 1981-1996) are right behind them, attending on average close to 22 services annually (1.8 times per month).
Barna noted that these younger generations “have moved from an average of just over one weekend per month in 2020 to nearly two in 2025.”
In part, this is due to the fact that Gen Z, when they were minor children, would have mirrored their own adult parents’ religious activities and now they are adults.
Gen X (born 1965-1980) is slightly less active, attending church 1.6 times per month, averaging 19 church services a year – effectively the same position they were in 2000.
But Boomers (1946-1964) and even older adults were attending church “well below the frequency of attendance they practiced in the past,” attending church on average less than 17 times out of the year.
Amie Duke, a 27-year-old social media manager at Ascension Press, home to Father Mike Schmitz’s wildly popular “Bible In a Year” podcast, said she thinks the narrative around Gen Z may be changing, showing her generation is “looking for truth, and purpose, and community – and finding that in the church.”
