The Personal Reasons Why Young Adults Go to Church

Young adults have reported on the spiritual reasons why they go to church and the social reasons. The last article in this three-part State of the Church article series, produced by Barna in partnership with Gloo, looks at the personal reasons motivating young adults to attend church—the quest for identity, well-being and individual growth. The top personal motivation, though, is spiritually focused.

Reconnecting with Faith Tops the List

For more than two in five young adults (43%), reconnecting with their faith is the top personal reason for going to church—13 points higher than the next two reasons, which tied for second place: to learn more about myself (30%) and to experience better mental health (30%).

The remaining items mostly cluster closely, except when it comes to politics. Getting support for challenges (26%), knowing one’s spiritual gifts (25%), being part of a bigger story than one’s own (25%) and exercising one’s spiritual gifts (23%) all draw meaningful but secondary interest. 

At 12 percent, political engagement is, by a clear margin, the least common personal reason young adults give for attending church. Still, one in eight young adults point to this motivation for congregational involvement, and it’s a reminder that church leaders have to address a wide range of complex priorities for attenders.

Looking at this article, as well as reflecting on Part 1 and Part 2, young adults appear to be searching  for something closer to connection and inner peace. “Young adults’ personal motivations for attending church are primarily for inward reasons—reconnecting and self-discovery,” says Daniel Copeland, vice president of research at Barna. “Leaders should take that seriously as well as think carefully about how to help young adults turn outward toward community and contribution.”

Young Men Cite Politics as a Reason for Churchgoing

Young men are less likely to resonate with many reasons for going to church when compared with young women, however, “to engage with politics” received higher ratings as a motivating factor among men. Roughly one in eight men ages 18 to 24 (13%) and one in seven men ages 25 to 35 (15%) say they attend church for politics, a higher rate than young women of either age group. These patterns suggest that many young men are seeking political information and engagement through their congregational involvement.  

Meanwhile, among women, social reasons are particularly motivating to young women ages 18-24. These Gen Z women told Barna they come to church to reconnect with their faith, experience better mental health and get support for personal challenges more than any other gender or age segment. Yet these personal reasons wane among women ages 25 to 35. In general, the story is that young women are hungry and eager for the integrative aspects of churchgoing, but that declines as women reach their late twenties and early thirties. In fact, among women ages 25 to 35, three in 10 (30%) say none of the personal reasons surveyed motivate them to come to church, the highest rate of any age or gender group—another signal of the ongoing trend of women’s declining engagement at church. 

Black Young Adults Motivated by Personal Growth

Black young adults rank highest of any racial group on nearly every personal reason for attending church—learning more about themselves (36%), knowing their spiritual gifts (32%), exercising those gifts (30%), getting support for challenges (29%) and being part of a bigger story than their own (28%). The one exception is the top reason on the entire list: reconnecting with their faith, where Black young adults (44%) trail White and Hispanic young adults (45%) by a single point.

For political engagement, Black young adults (18%) outpace Asian (13%), White (11%), Hispanic (9%) and other race (8%) young adults by a wide margin.

The Need for Support Peaks at the Start of Faith

Tenure in the faith shapes one item more than any other on this list. New followers of Jesus are more than three times as likely as non-followers to say they attend church for support with life’s challenges—38 percent compared to just 11 percent. Long-time followers (33%) and recent followers (27%) fall in between, meaning their need for support isn’t a steady climb over time in the faith. It’s most acute right at the start.

A Generation Looking to Reconnect

The personal reasons young adults give for attending church point primarily to a generation looking to reconnect with their faith—a distinction that, according to the data, rings true across nearly every subgroup of churchgoing young adults. The fact that young adults want to explore their faith and integrate it more holistically into their lives points to a generation that prioritizes well-being and mental health. Combined with their spiritual and social reasons for coming to church, the picture across all three parts of this series is consistent: young adults are already showing up, and they are looking for more once they’re there.

For Christian leaders looking to go deeper on what this data means for their own churches, Barna CEO David Kinnaman is hosting a Leadership Intensive on why young adults are showing up and what they’re hoping to find once they get there. Learn more and register for the What Young Adults Want from Church Leadership Intensive.

This article is part three of a series on What Young Adults Want from Church, produced by Barna in partnership with Gloo as part of the State of the Church initiative. Read part one, “What Young Adults Are Looking for Spiritually at Church” and part two, “The Social Reasons Why Young Adults Go to Church.”