Gen Z appears to have a more complicated relationship with organized religion than the generations that preceded it, and experts are divided on if the changes will result in fuller church pews.

Younger Americans in surveys seem to be more open to religion in general, but the jury is still out on how they will practice.

The most recent survey out this month by the Barna Group, which has tracked church attendance for years, found that Gen Z and millennials are going to church more than Gen X and Boomers, though still far below every week.

The survey found the average Zoomer goes to church 23 times a year on average, millennials at 22 services annually, Gen X attends around 19 times per year and Boomers go under 17 times.

“It's really encouraging, really fascinating, and opens up a lot of questions about what the future of the church looks like, or might feel like, if some of our preconceived notions and some of the trends that have happened the last 10, 15, 20 years by young peoples drop off, might be changing for the first time,” said Daniel Copeland, vice president of research at the Barna Group.

The flip, Copeland contends, seems to hit right around the pandemic, with multiple theories on why it seems younger men are engaging more with the........

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