Wine in Old Bottles

Churches are also teaching life skills to young men

One aspect of the new gender gap (briefly discussed yesterday) is the return of young men to church.

“Many young men feel like their lives are lacking in structure, purpose and connection,” said Richard Reeves, president of the nonpartisan research organization the American Institute for Boys and Men. “It turns out that churches have 2,000 years of experience at providing these things.”

These efforts appear to be paying off. Women in the U.S. have long been more religious than men, but lately the gender gap in religious affiliation has narrowed. Surveys show that women are leaving the pews, partly in response to the church’s handling of sexual-abuse scandals but also because they are increasingly suspicious of institutions that reinforce traditional gender roles. Men, meanwhile, are staying in the fold.

Among younger Americans, men are more religious than women for the first time in modern history. In a 2024 survey of Americans aged 18 to 29 by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 64% of men and 60% of women said they were religiously affiliated. A decade ago, 65% of men and 71% of women said the same.

[Pastor B.J.] Holt has noticed an uptick in young men coming to the church with more questions than answers about how to live a meaningful life—or just get through the day. “We’re trying to impart guidance on a generation that’s hungry for that,” Holt said.

Finding purpose in one's life is not about casting hither and yon for new truths but taking the time to find what's worked in the past and asking whether it can work again.