By Cynthia Woolever
New research about emerging adults or “millennials”—young adults ages 18 to 29—is on the rise. Conrad Hackett, a demographer at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, analyzed the U.S. Congregational Life Survey’s subsample of young adults attending Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical Protestant congregations. He summarizes his findings in five key areas.
How common are emerging adults in congregations?
- Few emerging adults attend worship. In the general population, two in ten people are emerging adults (22%). In congregations, emerging adults comprise just one in ten worshipers (10%).
- Evangelical Protestant congregations have the highest concentration of emerging adults (14%), followed by Catholic parishes (10%). Mainline Protestants have the lowest concentration (6%).
What are the traits of emerging adults in congregations?
- The majority of emerging adults who attend worship have never been married. However, most emerging adults do eventually marry by the time they are 26. Thus, by age 29, the never married comprise only one in four emerging adult worshipers. In contrast, only 1 in 13 older adults have never been married.
- Women make up six in ten emerging adult worshipers (the same gender ratio as worshipers in general).
- The majority of emerging adults attending worship services have no children.
- Most emerging adult attendees were born in the United States. Foreign-born emerging adults are most common in Catholic parishes (three in ten emerging adults). Nearly 40% of Catholic emerging adults identified as Hispanic—regardless of where they were born.
- About two-thirds of emerging adults in congregations participate in the labor force. Nearly four in ten are students.
How are emerging adults involved in congregational life?
- Emerging adults worshipping in evangelical churches are the most likely of all attendees to attend weekly.
- Emerging adults do not contribute as much of their income to the congregation as older adults do, on average. About a quarter give at least 5% of their net income (this compares to 50% for older adults).
- Most members of both age groups say they have at least some close friends in the congregation. However, emerging adults were more likely than older adults to report little contact with others in the congregation. Among emerging adults, one in ten evangelicals, two in ten mainliners, and three in ten Catholics report little contact with other worshipers outside of church.
What do emerging adults value in congregations?
- Emerging adults and older adults attending worship services appreciate similar aspects of their congregation: the sermons or homilies, sharing in communion, and traditional worship.
- However, emerging adults are more likely than older worshipers to value some other features as well: contemporary worship, evangelism, social activities of the congregation, and openness to social diversity.
What are the characteristics of congregations where at least 10% of worshipers are emerging adults?
In 95% of the congregations in the study, emerging adults are underrepresented compared with their presence in the U.S. population (22% of adults).
- The average congregation in the national sample had 8% emerging adults (compared to 10% emerging adults in the sample of individual worshipers). This difference is due to the concentration of emerging adults in large congregations.
- One in ten mainline Protestant congregations (10%), one in three Catholic parishes (31%), and six in ten evangelical congregations (59%) meet the threshold of 10% emerging-adults.
- Emerging adults are concentrated in congregations that are larger, have proportionally more men, and are more racially diverse.
- Congregations with high concentrations of emerging adults tend to be more theologically conservative than other congregations. This pattern was found across Catholic and Protestant traditions.
Read Dr. Hackett’s entire essay.
Dr. Hackett’s work is part of The Changing Spirituality of Emerging Adults Project. Read other essays from this project.
Comments