As Gen Z opens up to Christianity, 15,000 churches may close

Church attendance is reportedly on the rise among Gen Z Americans, but the number of U.S. churches is expected to drop significantly this year.

While a few thousand churches are expected to open, nearly 15,000 churches could close in 2025, according to Axios.

The majority of closures are expected in mainline Protestant denominations such as Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, according to professor and public commentator Ryan Burge, who says these churches already lack adolescents and young adults.

According to the 2022 General Social Survey, less than 2% of 18- to-35-year-olds were mainline Protestants, Burge said.  

Meanwhile, non-denominational or evangelical megachurches are on the rise, Axios reports, with an “increasing influence on American life.” These churches are also taking political stances, with many leaders promoting faith in the public square. 

However, the shift from local, small-town community churches to multi-service megachurches could create more fluctuation in attendance. 

“The large churches have a lot of churn,” Burge said. “A lot of new people come in every year, but a lot of people leave too, because they never build strong and deep ties.”  

Besides the 15,000 possible closures, another 15,000 churches may no longer be able to support a full-time pastor, according to Thom Rainer, former CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources and founder of Church Answers. Together, these 30,000 churches represent roughly 1 in 12 churches in America, he said, while still finding encouragement in Gen Z, which is “more receptive to the gospel.” 

Over the next several years, an estimated 100,000 U.S. churches could close, according to The National Council of Churches. This estimate represents about a fourth of America’s 350,000-400,000 churches, Axios said. Closures are also affecting the Catholic church, the AP reports. 

While growth in megachurches suggests many congregants are simply migrating to larger churches, others who consider themselves “spiritual” may not be attending at all. 

The number of people who claim to be religiously unaffiliated is at an all-time high: 24%. Yet, many of the unaffiliated still consider “spirituality” an important part of life. 

But some Christian theologians doubt such spirituality will be sustainable outside of the institutional church. 

“Christianity stands in judgment over and in opposition to all enchantments but its own, and the agency by which that is made a reality is the institutional church,” writes Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College, reflecting on the reported decline in Protestant churches. 

“Leaving the church for unspecific spiritualities is not encouraging. More likely it is just another manifestation of the therapeutic society’s fallacious answer to the human desire for meaning.”