Evangelical Millennials more engaged in their faith communities than other generations

Take a look around in your church and you might find that Millennials make up the most active and engaged segment in your congregation. 

A new study of Evangelicals commissioned by Dunham+Company, and conducted by WPA Intelligence in the USA, shows that Millennials are highly engaged in faith.

“Millennials are often believed to be disengaged in their faith, but this study shows that those Millennials who identify as Evangelicals are more engaged in their faith than other generations,” says Rick Dunham, Founder and CEO of Dunham+Company, which helps charitable organizations worldwide with their fundraising, marketing and media strategies. “This mirrors our study from 2017 which showed that Millennials generally are as likely to engage in religious attendance compared to other generations, with this current study showing a much higher engagement among those who identify as Evangelicals.”

Fifty-three percent of the study respondents who self-identify as Evangelicals say they attend church once a week or more. However, of the three adult generations, 61% of Millennial Evangelicals indicated at least weekly church attendance compared to 54% of Boomers and Matures and 44% of Gen Xers.

Generous givers

Not only are Millennials active in attendance, but they're also active in financial giving. 

While Boomers and Matures were found to make up the largest segment of givers in the Evangelical church, Millennials are surpassing Gen Xers in their giving. Sixty-eight per cent of Millennials said they give annually compared to 63 per cent of Gen Xers.

Almost 20 per cent of respondents also said they will be giving more to charities in the coming year. However, "the younger the generation, the more likely they are to increase their giving.

"Thirty-four percent of Millennials said they would be giving more compared to 21% of Gen Xers and only 12% of Boomers/Matures.

"In addition, 24% of those who attend services once a week or more said they would increase their giving and 26% of those who give online say the same while only 15% of those who give through the mail."

“From church attendance to giving, and an intent to give more in the coming year, Evangelical Millennials demonstrate they are highly engaged in their faith,” said Dunham.  “It’s also important to note that while a plurality of Evangelicals now prefers to give online, nearly two out of three Millennials prefer that way of giving, which has significant implications for how churches facilitate giving.”

The study was part of a WPA Intelligence study of 1,000 self-identified Evangelical Christians in the United States. All respondents were contacted via an online panel.  Interviews were conducted online April 3-9, 2019. The survey was stratified based on age, gender, ethnicity, and region. A sample of 1,000 has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1% at the 95% confidence level.