Is Gen Z really coming back to church?

Headlines about Gen Z Canadians flocking back to church spread quickly through the mainstream media last fall. But sociologists who follow religious trends say the evidence behind those claims is thinner and more nuanced than reports suggested.

The coverage was sparked by a cross-border study released last November by the Angus Reid Institute and Cardus comparing American and Canadian attitudes toward faith and religion.

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The result that drew so much attention: 24 percent of Canadians aged 18 to 24, also known as Generation Z, defined themselves as “religiously committed” — the highest rate among all age groups surveyed.

The study defines religious commitment as “professing deep devotion” and researchers noted the figure appeared to mark a possible shift after a long decline in religious affiliation.

It didn’t take long for media outlets on both sides of the border to pick up the story. But in doing so, several blurred an important distinction: religious commitment is not the same as religious attendance. And in many cases, coverage appeared to rely more on anecdote than on clear evidence of a broader social change.

In early November, CTV aired a segment suggesting a rise in church attendance among Canadian youth, calling it a “quiet revival.” A few weeks later, CBC Radio’s The Current reported that “Gen Z is turning to Christianity,” centering its story on the experience of a single young person: 24-year-old CBC producer Juliana Konrad, who described returning to Avant Life Church in Vancouver.

Taken together, these stories raised a broader question: Is there actually evidence of a religious revival among Gen Z in Canada?

Canadian sociologists who study religion say the answer is far from clear.

Joel Thiessen is a sociologist of religion and professor at Ambrose University in Calgary whose specialties include “religious nones” — people who don’t identify with a religion – says it is too early to interpret the Angus Reid findings as evidence of a revival.

“I might say that it’s a deceleration of the declining trends that we’ve seen, depending on which specific trends we’re looking at,” he says. “I might say that maybe we have cause for pause, like maybe things are levelling out a little bit.”

Thiessen argues that media coverage suggesting a return to religious life may be an example of extrapolation, or overinterpretation. “We hear some of these narratives, we see it in our personal experiences, and then we say, ‘Well, this must be happening everywhere,’ and that’s kind of a common misconception,” he says.

While he stresses that the trend should not be dismissed outright, he cautions against reading too much into early signals. “I don’t want to say that it’s bad or ill-intentioned, but I think there is an element of wishful thinking. We hear some of these stories and we really run wild with it. We need to be cautious in how we interpret those findings.”

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Sam Reimer, a professor of sociology at Crandall University in Moncton, N.B., says claims of a Gen Z “revival” are premature.

“Is there nothing going on? I would say that’s not true. Could we call it a revival? I would say no.”

Reimer argues that what is being observed is more likely short-term movement within existing religious populations rather than broad resurgence. “[A revival] would involve a lot of people, a lot of salvations…people who are not in the church. So it has this lasting, broader social application. And if something is happening — and I’m not saying it’s not — if something is happening then it’s way too soon to call it a revival.”

He also points to broader social conditions as a possible connection to rising interest in faith among youth. Statistics Canada data shows that in 2021, 35 percent of young adults aged 20 to 34 living in private households in Canada lived with at least one of their parents.

He suggests this “emerging adulthood phenomena” where young people are slower to leave home, influences religious participation. “If Mom and Dad are going [to church], and mom and dad expect me to go, I’m going — which might be different if I was living by myself,” he says.

David Csnois, an associate professor of practical theology and director of the Diploma in Intergenerational Faith Formation at the Atlantic School of Theology, offers a similar interpretation.

“Gen Z is probably the least religious generation in Canada,” he says. “I would argue largely it’s not their choice. They were just often not raised religious.”

He adds that children who are raised without religion so that they can “choose for themselves” often end up choosing nothing. Research from Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo shows that “children who are raised in a more religious family and community environment are much more likely to remain religiously active as adults.”

In his travels to churches across different denominations, Csnois says he hears much concern from church leaders that the life of their local church — or even their denomination — has an expiration date. “Without younger generations who are willing to take up the cause of the institution, all institutions will die,” he says.

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Sarah Grishpul is an intern at Broadview.