A “SPIRITUAL awakening” is happening in Generation Z-A (11-18s), which “defies every prediction about declining religious engagement”, Youth for Christ (YFC) says.
The charity was launching a report last week, Z-A Growing Spirituality, drawing on 1009 completed anonymous online surveys from across Britain which a research company undertook for it in May. Of the respondents, 52 per cent identified as Christian. One third (35 per cent) considered themselves to be “a follower of Jesus” — up from 23 per cent in a YFC survey carried out in 2020 — and eight per cent said that they attended church as part of their week — up from four per cent.
The charity had previously surveyed the same age brackets in 2016 and 2020. In 2016, participants were asked: “Which of the following, if any, do you believe in?” with the options “God” (selected by 32 per cent), “ghosts and spirits” (22 per cent), and “Don’t believe in either” (47 per cent). In 2025, asked whether they believed in God, 48 per cent answered “yes”, with “no” at 28 per cent and “unsure” at 24 per cent. In total, 19 per cent said that they had had a spiritual experience — up from 11 per cent in 2020.
A total of 43 per cent said that they prayed, up from 31 per cent in 2020 (and from 41 per cent in 2016). Of the 43 per cent, 61 per cent said that this was daily. When they were asked, “Who or what do you pray to?”, the top answer remained God (79 per cent), but the second most common response was “myself” (14 per cent).
Asked “Have you ever had any contact with a church?”, 71 per cent answered in the affirmative, up from 62 per cent in 2020. The most popular reasons were: a Christmas service, a life event (wedding, baptism, funeral), and a school visit.
When asked to rank how much they trusted various individuals and organisations, 17 per cent put the Church last. But when asked: “Do you view the churches in your community positively or negatively?”, just six chose negatively, and 65 per cent said positively. Only one third (32 per cent) said that they would not consider going to church to find out more about God and spirituality. A total of 70 per cent expected to feel welcome.
In the UK, most polls testing religious adherence involve over-18s. The World Values Survey carried out in 2022 found that Generation Z (born since 1997 and aged between 18-25) had the lowest levels of belief in God of any generation (37 per cent), 31 per cent identifying as atheist. British Social Attitudes research from 2019 found that those the 18-24s were much more likely to describe themselves as of “no religion” than their elders (71 per cent compared with an average of 53 per cent).
Other polls have indicated a growing level of religious affiliation. YouGov reports that the percentage of 18-24s affirming a belief in God had risen from 16 per cent in 2021 to 45 per cent this January. That month, a OnePoll poll of 10,000 people commissioned by the writer Christopher Gasson found that only 13 per cent of the under-25s identified as atheist — the lowest of any generation — while 40 per cent identified as “Christian”. A Youthscape/Scripture Union (SU) poll of 1000 12- to 17-year-olds in 2022 identified about 20 per cent as practising Christians and 22 per cent as nominals.
Some polling has attracted scepticism. In 2017, Church House, in partnership with others, commissioned a ComRes poll of 2000 11-18s. A total of 41 per cent described themselves as Christians, of whom half agreed that they were “an active Christian who follows Jesus”. Of the 41 per cent, 51 per cent reported going to church (News, 23 June 2017).
There are currently around 6.5 million 11-18s in the UK. If, as suggested in the YFC report, eight per cent were going to church on a weekly basis, that would mean 520,000 in the pews, across all denominations. The C of E’s latest Statistics for Mission, for 2023, report that 11- to 17-year-olds make up a worshipping community of 55,000.
Children and young people are the fastest declining group in the C of E. Research published by Church House in 2022 suggests that they are concentrated in a relatively few churches, which are more likely to be large, urban, and Evangelical, with large ministry budgets. The Youthscape/SU research highlighted the challenges facing the Church when it came to teenagers’ reactions to the Christian story, concluding: “Many young people are ok with the idea of a loving God who created us and doesn’t give up on us when we make mistakes. But for most, it doesn’t follow that we need saving, that God would become human, or that death and resurrection are necessary for this.”
The YFC report is optimistic. The data “reveals something profound happening beneath the surface of our cultural conversations”, it suggests. Having grown up in “unprecedented uncertainty”, Generation Z-A has “experienced the hollow promises of consumer culture first hand. . . Social media has shown them both connection and isolation in equal measure. This combination created something unexpected: a hunger for authenticity, transcendence, and hope. . . They’re searching for something bigger than themselves, something that can provide stability in an unstable world.”
The report concludes: “Churches that adapt their approach to meet Gen Z-A where they are will find a generation hungry for the good news they have to share. Those who wait for young people to conform to traditional paradigms will miss this remarkable moment of spiritual openness.”
The national ministries director at YFC, Laura Hancock, said that the data resonated with stories emerging from local YFC outreach centres. One youth worker had described how, the Sunday after she had carried out an RE lesson at a school, six of the children had appeared at her church.
“We assume that people are anti-church, when actually young people are much more positive about the Church, and going into church doesn’t have the same stigma that it did.” While young people were encountering youth workers in school, some were “just turning up”, having had dreams or read the Bible. “Jesus is doing something a little bit beyond us.”
The challenge was to be ready to meet them, she said. The Church had a “huge lack of resource” when it came to youthwork volunteers, and people fearing that youth culture was “so far removed”. She hoped that the research would “stir hope”. The most popular volunteers, in her experience, were older, she said. “If you can be in a room and listen and care, and have a DBS, that is what is needed.”
