In the 2021 Census, 34.6% of Canadians reported no religious affiliation — more than one in three. That share more than doubled from 16.5% in 2001. Christians remain the largest group, but they fell from 77.1% (2001) to 53.3% (2021).

The shift is strongest among the young. That is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to stay and preach Christ.

Barna’s Canada study with Alpha, Reviving Evangelism in the Next Generation, found that 53% of non-Christian Canadian teens admit they have unanswered questions about faith. When they look for answers, they most often turn to family.

That is an open door, not a closed one.

In that same Canadian research, 23% of non-Christian teens said they are especially interested in Christianity and what it could mean for their life. Alpha Canada has also reported that about half of non-churchgoing teens express curiosity about God’s goodness.

Curiosity is not conversion. It is an invitation to honest conversation.

Barna’s global Open Generation study (nearly 25,000 teens ages 13–17 in 26 countries, including about 1,000 in Canada) found that about half of teens across faith groups describe Jesus as loving, and many associate him with hope and care.

Canadian teens are somewhat less motivated than the global average to keep learning about Jesus, but the picture is not contempt. It is distance. They often think better of Jesus than they do of Christians.

In the Alpha / Barna Canada research, about 48% of Canadian teens still identify as Christian — even as four in ten claim no organized religion.

The harder numbers come from Open Generation globally: among all teens surveyed, only about one-third said Jesus rose from the dead, and about one in five said he is active in the world today. Canadian Christian teens were less likely than their global peers to affirm the resurrection.

Affiliation without the gospel is why discipleship, not just event attendance, has to be the work.

This is not a single Barna percentage. It is a consistent Canadian trend:

• Youth reporting fair or poor mental health has risen sharply over the last 15 years.

• About 1 in 5 Canadians ages 15–24 say they feel lonely often or always.

• Young Canadians now rank far worse on international happiness measures than older Canadians.

Anxiety, loneliness, identity confusion, and uncertainty about the future are not the gospel. They are the soil in which many are asking whether anyone — or God — actually sees them.

Youth workers across the West name over-scheduled lives as a primary barrier to discipleship. The frequently quoted “86%” figure is from an older U.S. Barna youth-ministry study, not a Canadian census of youth pastors.

The point still stands: many students are not rejecting Christ so much as they are being discipled by sports, screens, school, and exhaustion. Mission here has to go to them, not wait for them to clear their calendar.

In the United States, Barna reported in 2025 that Gen Z and Millennial churchgoers now attend more frequently than older churchgoers. That is an American finding among people who already go.

Canada is quieter and worth watching:

• Cardus / Angus Reid research has found younger adults attending weekly at slightly higher rates than some older groups, and younger Christians more often “religiously committed” than older Christians.

• Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey has shown monthly attendance among 15–24-year-olds higher than among many adults 25–64.

Cardus is careful: this is not proof of national revival. It may be a leveling after decades of decline — and a reason to keep sowing.

Today’s teens care about mental health, poverty, and whether a life can mean something. Open Generation found that commitments to Jesus, Scripture, and confronting injustice often rise together.

The church does not need to invent a mission for them. We need to introduce them to the One who “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, ESV) and who forms a people who love their neighbour.

That is not a survey result. It is ordinary providence. The teens and preteens in front of us will be parents, teachers, tradespeople, first responders, pastors, and public servants. OneHope’s 2025 Gen Alpha in Canada study found about half of Canadian preteens (11–13) still identify as Christian, while only a small share show the beliefs and habits of committed faith.

Investing in one young life is not branding. It is obedience.