Ottawa’s Christian churches are bearing witness to a surprising population change. Some local pastors say more members of Generation Z are attending services than in the past.
The trend appears to be fuelled by a desire for community as well as the availability of family-friendly venues, the pastors say.
Although small, the rise in attendance is a change from the prevailing view that religious engagement seen in younger groups of Canadians is falling. Generation Z includes people born between 1996 and 2010.
Statistics Canada’s 2022 General Social Survey has found 22 per cent of Canadians 15 to 24 attended church in 2022 — up from 19 per cent in 2014. It was the first recorded increase in attendance by this age group in almost two decades.
Joel Virgo, one of two pastors at Grace City Church in central Ottawa, has noticed the change in its gatherings in urban venues, such as the Cineplex at Lansdowne.
“We try to meet centrally because we know a lot of the student population and younger demographic lives centrally,” Virgo told Capital Current. “In that sense, you could say we’re naturally positioned for Millennials and Gen Z.”
Virgo says there has been a slight rise in attendance. He said that in order to draw in younger generations, the church prioritizes accessible and straightforward messages.
“We’ve always felt confident that the historic message of Biblical Christianity is potent in itself,” Virgo said. “ There’s a danger of both in sort of getting stuck in kind of cross-encrusted traditions, but also at the other extreme of just trying to be cool and ending up not really Christian anymore.”
Statistics Canada’s 2022 survey found Canadians 15 to 24 participated in monthly religious gatherings more than Canadians aged 25 to 64, who attended about 15 per cent to 17 per cent each month.
Despite the numbers, Alyshea Cummins, an instructor of Religion in the College of Humanities and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, says this may not be anything special.
“This is something we’ve seen before from 1985 to 2022 — this happens where a group is more religious but they drop off as they age. Adolescents are given more autonomy and choice, and that choice increases across time,” she said.
Canadians do seem to attend services less as they age. However, younger Canadians who are 26 to 35 (just before the cutoff to Generation Z) are attending more on average than Canadians 36 to 45.
“We are finding that those who continue to engage with religious practices have a strong community aspect from it, it’s the glue to their identities,” Cummins said.
Cummins also says Generation Z may be suddenly attending more because “when you move away from home you are introduced to diversity, more liberal and progressive ideas, all those can challenge your belief system, but if you have a sense of community, or a church community, that can help sustain your religion.”
We are finding that those who continue to engage with religious practices have a strong community aspect from it, it’s the glue to their identities.
Alyshea Cummins, Religion instructor, Carleton University,
This small gain among younger Canadians going to church is important for many churches since it contradicts belief about a decline in young people’s interest in religion.
“The pandemic … just heightened people’s awareness of their needs for community and their need for certainties, or at least, a sense of meaning,” said Virgo.
Guy Rivard, the community prior and former pastor of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Catholic Church, near LeBreton Flats, said recent immigrants from Francophone Africa are frequently among the new young attendees.
“The first reason is we’re child-friendly. The second is the snowball effect … the Francophone African community is quite small, and word gets around. They feel comfortable,” said Rivard.
“Their primary motivation, of course, is spiritual. And so they want to belong to a believing community, but they also want to be comfortable” Rivard said.
“The church’s family-friendly services and the existence of a familiar community are the two main things that attract individuals,” Rivard said, adding comfort and social ties are important.
Nicholas Fortuna began attending Immaculate Conception Church in Vaughan, Ont. in his second year of university, something he says “was kind of sudden, but a great choice.” He says he’s just one of many friends who began attending as a group.
“We all started going as a group every Sunday, it really made it feel more like a community in a sense. It started off kind of slow and we were not used to it yet, but we started to know everyone and talk to them more,” he said.
Glebe-St. James United Church coordinating minister Rev. Teresa Burnett-Cole also emphasized the value of community for youth. According to Burnett-Cole, a lot of Gen Z individuals are drawn to environments that are friendly, inclusive and casual.
One of the big problems for Gen Z that come to church is that they’re feeling alone. Even with friends, there’s that sense of isolation that no one quite gets them.
Rev. Teresa Burnett-Cole, Glebe-St. James United Church
“They seem to come for worship and stay for community,” Burnett-Cole said. “One of the big problems for Gen Z that come to church is that they’re feeling alone. Even with friends, there’s that sense of isolation that no one quite gets them.”
Glebe-St. James Church has also started new initiatives that invite queer people to join their community.
“[It’s] a meeting time and space so people can talk about whatever they want to talk about, knowing it’s perfectly safe … and doing it in an intergenerational way, where, you know, there are older folk who they can talk to about the challenges of coming out,” said Burnett-Cole.
In an effort to foster long-term engagement rather than temporary attendance spikes, many churches feature youth-oriented projects as they continue to modify their services and community programs to match the expectations of Generation Z.
“Religion doesn’t exist in a buble, it lives in harmony with our society and culture,” said Cummins. If younger Canadians consistently attend, they may foster an environment which encourages their family members or children to also attend more, something Cummins refers to as a “subcultural network.”
