Gen Z lost touch with faith communities during pandemic but kept the faith, says study

Researchers are warning religious leaders, teachers and parents there isn’t going to be a simple “back to normal” approach for young people after the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, we should all be looking for ways to help them experience “the new normal.”

That’s the argument from Springtide Research Institute, which surveyed 2,500 members of Generation Z (ages 13 to 25) in February 2021 about their experiences of, and attitudes about, the pandemic.

It’s not going to be easy for young people to merely pick up where they left off, said Josh Packard, Springtide’s executive director.

Christian faith can help young people grieve milestones and relationships lost during the pandemic.

But here’s a problem: Nine out of 10 young people say they didn’t hear from a religious leader during the pandemic.

Out of touch

Only 10% of the young people surveyed said a clergy member had checked in to see how they were doing. And only 14% reported turning to a faith community when they felt overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do.

On the other hand, faith communities scored higher than other institutions in how young people thought they handled the pandemic. The study found 50% agreed their faith community had done “a great job navigating the pandemic,” while two-thirds (65%) said the government did not do its best to protect people during the pandemic. More than half (57%) said they’re going to have a harder time trusting others, even their own family and friends, after seeing how they handled the pandemic. Yet, nearly 7 in 10 young people surveyed said they have a new appreciation for relationships, and they “won’t take for granted relationships and opportunities the way they did before.”

The study also found that young people’s personal faith more or less held steady despite all the upheaval. Roughly half (47%) said their faith stayed about the same in the crisis, just over a quarter (26%) that it had grown stronger, and just over a quarter (27%) that they were doubting or had lost their faith.

“I think coming out of the pandemic, religious leaders and trusted adults would do well to remember that it’s going to be stressful coming out just as it was going in,” Packard said. “Lots of people told us they were uneasy about coming out of the pandemic, that they felt like they might be asked to be in groups quicker than they were ready to be in.”