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Recent data is telling a story of two trends. On one hand, Bible engagement is climbing after years of decline, driven by a surge among young adult men. On the other, belief in what the Bible says is fading amid a broader decline in religious identification in the U.S.
David Copeland, vice president of research at the Barna Group, said, “This year there’s been this encouraging, surprising increase in Bible readership—specifically among young people, and even more specifically among young men.”
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This new data from Barna, a Christian research organization, and Gloo, a faith-based technology platform, shows nearly half of Millennials and Gen Z now engage with Scripture weekly. Still, Copeland found that openness doesn’t always mean faith.
“The other thing we wrote about in this article is that although readership has spiked, the affirmation of biblical teachings has not,” he said.
This drop in biblical conviction mirrors a broader story. Gallup’s latest findings show a 17-point decline in Americans identifying as religious since 2015—the lowest faith levels ever recorded in the U.S., and there’s a major shift in who is engaging.
“Women, for a long time, have tended to go to church more often or engage with Scripture more often. What we’re seeing in some of these socio-political changes in the last 10 years, especially among young women, is a bit of a leaning away,” Copeland said.
He continued, “My interpretation is that men are starting to find relationship in these church settings at almost the same rate women are starting to back away and say, ‘I don’t see myself here anymore. I don’t see myself represented here anymore.'”
Researchers say this spiritual pattern of engagement without conviction mirrors a broader collapse in trust across other American institutions.
Copeland said, “One of the biggest shifts we are seeing is the decline of our institutions as brought on by mistrust, largely due to access to information. So the church and Christian leaders are having to change light-years in just a few years because things have shifted so fast.”
And this is where partners like Gloo come in—working to translate these national trends into local action.
Brad Hill, Chief Partner Success Officer at Gloo, said, “We believe it’s no longer optional for a church to use technology in ministry contexts, and we want to be there to help faith leaders figure it out, do it well, and do it redemptively.”
Hill works at the center of the rapidly growing church-tech industry. The company provides tools that help more than 140,000 churches see how they compare to these national trends.
“So we’ll celebrate the wins where we get them—when we can see healthy patterns and trends. But I think also for church and faith leaders, it does show there’s a great need to connect these things together,” Hill said.
The ultimate goal for faith leaders is to find a way to connect this resurgence of curiosity with lasting faith.
Copeland said, “The aspiration of this work is always to give church leaders the clearest depiction of what’s going on out there—so I can make strategic decisions about what I’m going to do at my church in my community. Because at the end of the day, the local community is where relationships happen, and transformation happens.”
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