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.
The good news? According to Pew Research Center, that decline has slowed its freefall. The number of Americans who identify as Christian seems to have stabilized.
Consider that in 2007, 78% of American adults identified as Christian. By 2014, that number was down to 71%. However, between 2019 and 2024, adults identifying as Christian have regularly hovered between 60-64% and held steady. Data from 2023-2024 revealed that adults who attend religious services at least once a month have also held steady at about 33%.
It is worth noting that the number of American adults identifying with religions other than Christianity has been increasing. As a nation, we are less Christian than we used to be, but the numbers are no longer racing to the bottom.
PRRI data suggest something similar, revealing that people who do not associate with any faith (“Nones”) have plateaued, with 28% of Americans reporting no religious affiliation, a level similar to previous years. However, Gallup data puts the unaffiliated at 24% and climbing, noting that the share of American adults who say their religious faith is very important has dropped to just 47% (but note that this research was not limited to the Christian faith).
As Pew stated, the decline of Christianity in America is still happening, but it has slowed down. And right now, that may feel like a win.
What’s behind this apparent slowdown? That’s where the data doesn’t perfectly agree.
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.
So what exactly does this mean? How do we interpret headlines that claim there is a revival in America when the data doesn’t match?
Resolving the Data Differences
Direct comparisons of the research output of Gallup, Pew, Barna, PRRI, and others do show differences in specifics, but the trends are generally comparable in three key areas:
- First, the share of Americans who identify as Christian and attend church has been in notable decline for over 20 years, though it has stabilized since around 2020.
- Second, younger Americans are generally less likely to identify as Christian or attend a church. However, among young people who identify as Christian, attendance is higher than it was for older generations at that same age.
- And third, a gender gap is emerging in the younger generations that is unlike what past trends would have predicted. While young women are still generally more religious, the early trend is a decline, whereas young men are either holding steady or possibly trending upward.
It’s important to note that the nature of the survey and what it measures affect the results.
For example, Gallup defines regular church attendance on a monthly basis, while PRRI bases it on weekly attendance. Survey questions differ in response option categories and in how the survey is conducted. People answer differently to an online survey than when talking to someone on the phone.
And we can’t forget the group being studied.
Pew, Gallup, and PRRI study the general population, while Barna focuses on churchgoers or practicing Christians. It is understandable that the general population might indicate no significant overall changes relative to past trends, while within the church, Barna found that religious young adults, particularly young men, are showing up more often. It may be that young men who value their faith have been spurred on in the last year to attend church more and take their faith more seriously.
As with any survey, the methods used to collect the information and how it is measured affect the results, as does focusing on a short bounce rather than a long-term trend. That can create conflicting headlines.
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.
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