God and Gen Z

Religion is supposed to be off-limits for polite conversation. I broke that rule twice last week – and it was worth it.

I first spoke with an Anglican priest leading a church in an upmarket Melbourne suburb. He spoke of his surprise that a growing cohort of Gen Z men had started attending his church.

Later, I was served by a waitress in her 20s in a working-class suburb. When I asked about the cross she was wearing, she enthusiastically launched into explaining her faith. She and her partner, an Aussie soldier, had joined an Orthodox church. Moreover, his mates had started coming too and were loving it. Her exuberance was refreshing.

For most of my life, the growing tide of secularism has prompted deep anxiety in the Australian church.

The 2021 Census seemed to confirm those fears: only 43.9% ticked the box ‘Christian’. According to McCrindle Research, between 2016 and 2021 some 2.45 million Australians switched from identifying as Christian to ticking ‘no religion’ in the census.

But it is equally puzzling that in that same census period, some 784,000 turned from ‘no religion’ to ‘Christian’. We know from many UK and US churches that young men seem to be more interested in religion. And the Catholic Church in France reported record numbers of young people being baptized over Easter.

In terms of Australia, could it be that Gen Z, burdened with HECS debt and little chance of ever owning a home, are seeking a transcendent hope? Or does the barrage of violent images from global and local conflicts mean our young people are searching for something deeper to in which to ground their hope?

Like all things only time will tell. But there is something afoot. For some, God is no longer perceived as dead – or irrelevant.

This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook. 

Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash.