Men at Church
Why the return of young men to church gives me pause
In 2020 and 2021, we were finding out in real time—largely over TikTok—that Gen-Z might be our nations’s first post-Christian generation, though the writing had already been on the wall. In 2018, Barna released a massive study titled, Gen Z: The Culture, Beliefs and Motivations Shaping the Next Generation. This has gone on to be the first of a three-volume study tracking the cultural movement of Gen Z. The 2018 report showed that 34% of that generation had no religious affiliation, and that number would grow through the tensions and trials of COVID and the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. But in the Spring of 2025, we found a surprising twist.
In their most recent State of the Church 2025, Barna found that 66% of adults in the U.S. “have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today.” There are 30 million more adults this year who claim to follow Jesus than there were just four years ago. This isn’t unique to the United States. The UK too is experiencing, what the Bible Society is calling, “The Quiet Revival,” as more and more Zoomers are coming to, or coming back to faith. Within this cultural shift lies another surprise: most of these new Christians are young men.
Turning my attention back to the States, yet another surprise awaits us. These young men who are starting to fill our pews are increasingly conservative. It’s not uncommon generally for men to be a bit more conservative than women, but these young men are significantly more conservative than women in their same age group, with the youngest voters, those under 25, being more conservative than those between 25-30. To think that only a few years ago, people were clutching their pearls at the thought of a country crawling leftward year by year. Yet here we are in the Spring of 2025 with Donald Trump in office and a burgeoning contingent of young conservative men going to church.
Every rose…
I’ve seen this phenomenon in my own church that, only a year ago, was about half full with mostly young families and a few people of color, including myself. Within a year, our church has filled to the brim with more young families and many young white men. There are a handful of newcomers who are not white, and by handful I mean about six. This isn’t necessarily surprising. I am at a conservative Anglican church in a conservative diocese in a conservative denomination whose leadership team is all white. White culture permeates everything we do, and we’re not organically appealing to people of color. This all means, on the other hand, that we’re the perfect landing spot for these conservative young white men.
There’s nothing wrong with being of European descent or having pale skin. Being conservative isn’t, for me, anathema. I know, respect, and love many people who consider themselves conservative. Depending on the reference point, I’m not not conservative—though “orthodox” might be a better signifier—and my skin is quite pale for being Mexican. So when I say that the return of young men to the church gives me pause, it’s not because of their skin color or even because they identify as conservative.
Shouldn’t I be rejoicing at this apparent revival amongst young men? Perhaps. Why, then, do I feel hesitant to do so?
It seems to me there is a convergence happening between the “male loneliness epidemic,” the proliferation of “podcast bros,” the rise of the “manosphere,” the decades long struggle against unjust patriarchal norms, and the decades long struggle against white supremacy and racism in its explicit and not-so-explicit forms. Popular conservative voices like psychologist-turned-YouTuber Jordan Peterson, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron, and Anglican priest Calvin Robinson are offering these young men safe spaces to express their longing for community and providing a sense of purpose in a culture that doesn’t feel as stable for the white man as it has in decades past. The failure of the Democratic party to provide a meaningful alternative in US politics and where young men were met mostly with disdain and few true opportunities for community and belonging meant turning to this new conservatism would be an easy move.
Peterson, Barron, Robinson, and many other bishops, pastors, and priests continue to claim there is a war on masculinity, a war on men, and a war on Western culture. Largely, there is a refusal to acknowledge the distinction between toxic-masculinity and masculinity in general in what is, I believe, an act of intellectual dishonesty. If the story goes that “the Left,” or that “liberals” are in a war against Western (read “white”) men, then where are these disenfranchised young men to turn? If the church is the bastion where Western culture is being defended and where men are allowed to be men, then to the church these men will go.
So I ask the question again - Why am I hesitant to rejoice at the apparent revival amongst young men?
To attempt a succinct and clear answer, I would say I’m hesitant to rejoice at this apparent revival because I am concerned that young men are looking to find a place where the unjust ideologies of whiteness, capitalism, and the patriarchy are witnessed to, rejoiced in, and instantiated. I’m also afraid that many of our churches are exactly that, and instead of being discipled into a masculinity that looks like Jesus, the old colonial masculinity of the Founding Fathers will remain ritualized and praised in these young men. This masculinity believes in an ontological superiority (whether admitted to or even conscious of or not) of men over women; of white men over non-white men and women; a slave-holder’s dominion over land, water, and resources; and themselves as arbiters of what is good or bad culturally. It insists on easily defined ethical categories without consideration of other cultures and it demands, often with a smile and a hug, obedience and assimilation.
As an aside, I need to clarify and reiterate that “whiteness,” as I’m using it here, is not equal to being a person with white skin or of European descent. “Whiteness” is a way of being and operating in the world that is built on the European colonial project and assumes the superiority of white culture, white men, and their divine right to the use and abuse of other lands, peoples, and resources. For more on this, listen to a great lecture by Willie James Jennings HERE.
Whether in pretense or in truth
I think the return of Donald Trump and his incessant executive order blitz against things like DEI initiatives, art and culture, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture are a glaring example of whiteness’ determination to remain in authority, to demonstrate it’s power, and show openly to the masses what happens when it’s challenged. He’s also a testament to the alliance between conservative Christianity (of a particular kind) and political power. It doesn’t matter that he has yet to demonstrate any fruit of the Spirit in the public eye, his claim to be a Christian and his deigning to throw Christians a bone is enough for them to champion him and his cause. He has shown explicitly what kind of Christianity he’s okay with, allowing Sean Feucht, who is as right-wing a Christian as they come, to lead worship inside the Capitol while arresting Shane Claiborne, along with other Christian leaders, for praying in the Capitol Rotunda in protest against a GOP bill that will cut funding to people in the most need of it.
The irony is that only a month before, Trump ordered his “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” policy into effect. Trump has shown us the kind of Christianity he deems acceptable for the United States—a Christianity discipled by the ideologies of capitalism, violence, and whiteness rather than by the teachings of Jesus.
I fear that it’s this kind of Christianity that is (re)emerging in our churches.
St. Paul says in words that easily fit our scenario today, “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love… The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely… What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice” (Phil. 1:15-18).
There are times when I struggle with the Apostle’s words, and this is one of them. When I hear that very conservative young men are coming to church in high numbers, I wonder if that’s actually good for the church because I fear that instead of being changed by the teachings of Jesus, they will change the church back into something we’ve been trying to set it free from for generations. To say it differently, I fear they will attempt to make the church great again.
When St. Paul said he was content that people heard the message of Christ from less than reliable sources, I believe his security lay in the fact that he expected these hearers to be discipled in a good way. In the next chapter of Philippians, he describes that discipleship by hymning the glory of Jesus Christ in the way Jesus refused to exploit his authority, power, and wealth as God, but instead poured his divinity out into the death of crucifixion for the sake of the world. If I knew that churches all over the nation were committed to discipling these young men into that image of Jesus, committed to discipling young white men to pour out their power and privilege for the sake of their black and brown sisters and brothers, for the sake of the marginalized and poor, or that leads them to lay down their rights instead of exploiting them, then perhaps I could say with the Apostle, “whether in truth or in pretense, I’m content that Christ is proclaimed.”
But, I am not confident of that Christ-formed discipleship. I’ve heard too many pastors and priests, bishops and leaders bemoaning the advent of “woke-ism”—a term I’m all but positive they don’t actually have a grasp on—to have that confidence.
So, here is my ask to all pastor and leaders in the church, especially to churches that have seen an influx of young men, especially to churches that have seen an influx of young white men - Preach the Gospel! Don’t abandon the way of Jesus as revealed to us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) or the High Priestly Prayer (John 17) or the crucifixion for the gospel of the United States or the gospel of capitalism, even if you consider yourself a capitalist. Teach all under your care, whether white or black or brown, whether man or woman, gay or straight or queer, whoever sits under the sound of your voice to pledge their allegiance fully and only to Jesus, as Jesus himself demands. Don’t allow your church to be formed by the conservative dream of a Western (i.e. white) nation, but instead shepherd it into the multicultural dream of Jesus where all languages, nations, and peoples bring the glory and beauty of their cultures in offering to our One God and Father, through the One Lord Jesus Christ, in the grace and power of the One Holy Spirit who unites us all.
I’m concerned that the return of young men to church appears to coincide with the departure of young women. Disappointment and alienation are on the horizon if churches can’t find a way to meet the needs of men and women.
Thank you for this Joshua. I never considered how the Left has alienated men and how that’s connected to these trends.