A surprising new trend is emerging in Christian churches as data reveals men now outnumber women in attendance, particularly among youth and young adults, overturning a long-standing demographic pattern.



An interesting shift is taking place in the Christian church. In the past, women have always outnumbered men in church attendance. However, data about today’s teens and young adults is showing that men now outnumber women.

Poll Reveals Youth Groups have more Male Attendees than Females
A Barna poll conducted earlier this month found that overall, 63 percent of those attending youth groups are male, and 52 percent are female. In terms of age, 60 percent of attendees are 13 to 15, while 55 percent are 16 to 18.

That being said, just because they’re attending doesn’t mean they’re walking out their faith, or as Barna puts it, that their faith is “activated.” And of those who are activated, they feel conflicted between expectations at church versus expectations in the culture, which in some cases also includes friends, and family.

“The data suggests that youth programs are only having moderate success at activating a teen’s faith, especially in areas of service, evangelism and belonging,” says Daniel Copeland, vice president of research at Barna. “In a time where so many voices and algorithms are fighting for teens’ and families’ attention, churches often measure the success of youth programming by how many kids show up. These findings remind us that it’s more important to ask, ‘Are they better off because they attended?’”

Why the Shift May Be Taking Place
This shift isn’t exclusive to church youth groups. Barna has also found that young adult men are attending church more regularly than young adult women. In general, 43 percent of men attend church, compared with 36 percent of women. This raises the question of why men are suddenly choosing to attend while women are choosing to leave.

Impact 360 Institute suggests that there is a broader cultural shift taking place, which includes an intensifying search for purpose, stability and identity in a rapidly changing world. Men have been sorely lacking in solid, godly male role models for quite a while. At the same time, women, who have traditionally been more willing to fill volunteer roles, are feeling held back and devalued simply for being female. They’re also feeling that connection, community, and support are missing in the church.

Universal Church Monastery cites a poll that found that nearly two-thirds of women between the ages of 18 – 29 feel that “most churches and religious congregations” don’t treat women and men equally.

It also noted a few comments from a NYT article exploring this topic:

Nicole in Seattle said: “Churches historically ran on unpaid women’s labor while denying them positions of administrative or spiritual authority. Will be interesting to see these young men take over the helper roles to keep their churches running while looking for their traditional wives. Churches have never treated women well. The young women have it right.”

An anonymous commenter noted, “People go where they feel valued and connected. For many women this is obviously not in the pews of these churches, while for men it is. The question is, what work is being done to make young men feel valued in a way that doesn't put down or harm women? How can the loneliness and alienation many men feel be directed in the healthiest and best way? It's easy to say, as many in the comments have said, that these young men are inherently misogynistic and want to put women in their place (i.e., the home) but I'm not sure that's entirely the case, and it also isn't really a solution to the problem. Giving men meaning and hope without diminishing women will improve our politics and our society and hopefully weaken the toxic right-wing worldviews many young men are being exposed to while also empowering women.”

Christianity Today’s editor-in-chief, Russell Moore, said, “I’m not sure what church life looks like with a decreasing presence of women. We need both spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers.”

Presbyterian Pastor Tod Bolsinger pointed out that the church needs to take action to correct this issue before it’s too late. “You have to have something to offer people. If we are losing the people who have historically been the most loyal, that’s a four-alarm fire.”

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