Are Men Coming Back to Church? Short answer: yes—especially younger men. Multiple up-to-date studies show a post-pandemic uptick in male churchgoing, reversing a decades-long pattern where women attended more often. At the same time, broader national polling still finds women slightly more likely to participate monthly when you combine in-person and online services. The picture is improving for men, but it’s nuanced by age, race/ethnicity, and how “attendance” is measured.
The Big Shift: Men Outpacing Women (by weekly attendance)
Barna’s most recent State of the Church releases report a striking reversal: since 2022, men have edged ahead of women in weekly, in-person attendance. Barna’s 2024/early-2025 readouts repeatedly cite ~30% of men vs. ~27% of women attending weekly—an inversion of the long-standing gender gap that favored women since 2000. Independent write-ups of Barna’s findings reach the same conclusion.
2000 benchmark (for context): women 47% vs. men 38% weekly.
- 2022: men 35% vs. women 30% weekly.
- 2024: men ~30% vs. women ~27% weekly.
Bottom line: In weekly attendance specifically, Barna’s trendlines signal that men are coming back—and in some settings, leading the bounce-back.
A Note of Caution: Different Measures Tell Different Stories
The Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study takes a broader approach (monthly in-person, plus virtual). Pew finds about one-third of U.S. adults attend in person at least monthly, and 40% participate monthly when you include online/TV. On this combined metric, women still participate a bit more than men, and older adults participate more than younger adults. These are not contradictions—they reflect different definitions (weekly vs. monthly; in-person vs. any participation) and different survey frames.
Age Trends: Young Adults Are Driving the Resurgence
Barna highlights that Gen Z and Millennials are leading the new attendance momentum among Christians:
- Gen Z churchgoers now attend ~1.9 weekends per month (highest since Barna began tracking).
- Millennial churchgoers average ~1.8 weekends per month.
- By contrast, many Boomers appear to be “retiring” from weekly rhythms, attending less frequently than before.
Media summaries of Barna’s data also note that young men, in particular, are returning in “surprising” numbers, outpacing same-age women in many contexts.
Methods & Definitions (Why Numbers Don’t Always Match)
- Barna typically reports weekly, in-person attendance among U.S. adults with a focus on Christians/churchgoers; their 2022–2025 trendlines are the source of the men > women weekly finding. Religion Unplugged+1
- Pew reports monthly participation (and combined in-person + online) across all U.S. adults and religious traditions, which tends to favor women and older adults in the aggregate. Pew Research Center
- Hartford/EPIC and Lifeway gather data from congregations and pastors, capturing on-the-ground rebound and growth dynamics that help explain who’s coming back and how often. Lifeway Research+1
Key Sources (recent)
- Barna Group, State of the Church (gender flip; young-adult resurgence). Religion Unplugged+1
- Pew Research Center, 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study (monthly in-person/online participation, by age, race, tradition). Pew Research Center
- Lifeway Research, 2024–2025 pastor & adult surveys (growth and attendance norms). Lifeway Research+1
- Hartford Institute (EPIC Project), post-pandemic congregational dynamics. Pandemic Impact on Congregations+1