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  "path": "/2026/04/20/tradition-quiet-evangelical-revival/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-20T05:04:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://juicyecumenism.com",
  "tags": [
    "Evangelical",
    "New York City’s Hottest Club is the Catholic Church",
    "Gen Z Catholic Influencers Make Church Look Cooler Than Ever.",
    "Newman Center",
    "dispensationalist",
    "Arminian",
    "Christian Revival Among the Young?",
    "Drawing Gen Z Women Back to the Church",
    "‘Appetite for Tradition’ amidst Quiet Evangelical Revival",
    "Juicy Ecumenism"
  ],
  "textContent": "Readers of the mainstream press will be familiar with a recurring staple of human-interest feature desks since the pandemic, heralding revival of Catholicism among Generation Z. As _The New York Times_ announced in 2022, “New York City’s Hottest Club is the Catholic Church.” This week, _The New York Post_ asserted that “Gen Z Catholic Influencers Make Church Look Cooler Than Ever.“ Certainly, among the chic crowds in the City and the Beltway, these journalists observe a real trend. Yet, away from major cities and largely out of media sight, another, quieter revival of evangelical Protestantism is underway among a young audience.\n\nI study at a large land-grant state university on the East Coast. The movements and aesthetics of the Catholic revival in the metropoles are felt, but only softly. Our Newman Center has welcomed, for them, a record number of catechumens into the Church this Easter. Yet the figures from the Catholic Church are easily trounced by those students who have converted to evangelicalism while in university.\n\nInterVarsity and other heritage parachurch ministries are bursting at the seams, hosting prayer meetings on our secular campus with hundreds of regular attendees. The death of evangelicalism, clearly, has been overstated. Yet these new Protestants differ from their older counterparts in a few key ways that will fundamentally reshape the face of the evangelical movement in this country.\n\nPerhaps the most identifiable change are the diverse backgrounds of these new evangelicals. On our campus, this movement is racially and ideologically diverse, with notable amounts of black, Hispanic, and LGBT-identified people joining Christian ministries.\n\nThis new demographic makeup has strong implications for the political orientation of young evangelicals. Among those I regularly speak to, politics range from liberal to conservative, with many students simply preferring to ignore the political noise to focus on the Gospel. Israel, once a _cause célèbre_ for dispensationalist evangelicals, draws mild consternation or complete apathy from these students, who see no connection between their faith and the contemporary State of Israel. Christian conservatism and Zionism alike appeal little to these youths.\n\nFurther, these students have little or no connection to denominational Protestantism. Many do attend Presbyterian or Assemblies of God churches at school and visit nondenominational or Baptist congregations during breaks. The idea of a denomination is unconvincing to the non- and inter-denominational crowds generated on our campus. That said, there is a palpable appetite for tradition. Students often know their theology to be, for example, Arminian, but have few opportunities to engage more deeply with the theological perspective they have adopted. This hunger for unity with the Christians of the past presents a unique opportunity for churches to catechize these young people in the historic Protestant tradition.\n\nDespite their differences from their elders, the Gen Z Christians I interact with every day have a palpable zeal for the Gospel. They organize Bible studies outside their ministries and eagerly invite their friends to join them in studying the Word. They hold revival meetings in their campus apartments to pray for our school and our country. A good friend of mine has founded a homeless ministry in a nearby city, in cooperation with local churches, drawing dozens of volunteers to serve the community and share their testimonies.\n\nFor older evangelical Protestants, the flippancy of young people towards conservative politics, Zionism, and the denominations can feel like a threat. In some ways, it is. Generational change, as it always has, will profoundly change the way the Church expresses its faith to the world. Yet, more so, this quiet revival is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to invite young people deeper into the faith, into the historic deposit left in the Creeds and the Confessions, and into a Christian worldview that they will have a share in bringing about in the decades to come.\n\n**More from IRD** :\n\nChristian Revival Among the Young?\n\nDrawing Gen Z Women Back to the Church\n\nThe post ‘Appetite for Tradition’ amidst Quiet Evangelical Revival appeared first on Juicy Ecumenism.",
  "title": "‘Appetite for Tradition’ amidst Quiet Evangelical Revival"
}