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According to a recent report on AOL.com, women are leaving the American Church in droves. Most of them belong to Gen-Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012. The older ones of that generation are now in their mid-twenties.

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What is driving them away? According to Mojica Rodriguez, quoted in the report, “Women are less inclined to be involved with churches that don’t want us speaking up, that don’t want us to be smart. We’re like the mules of the church – that’s what it feels like.”  Rodriguez was born in Nicaragua but grew up in Miami. Her dad was a pastor, and she herself earned a master’s degree in divinity.

According to Gen-Z podcaster Caroline Joyous, the issue may be more about authenticity and identity. In an interview with Fox & Friends Weekend, she shared that the exodus reflects a hunger for something true and eternal that has been missing from the curated world they grew up in and that it’s not just women but her generation as a whole that is exiting “organized religion.” She says many of her peers hunger for something supernatural that the Church today doesn’t offer.

The Pew Research Center supports that notion. Not only do they see 54% of Gen-Z women leave the church compared to 56% of men, but they have also noted that over the past few decades, Americans have been disaffiliating from organized religion as a whole. In the 1990s, 90% of Americans stated that they belonged to a church. Today, that number has dropped to 63%.

Among the Gen-Z women, the reasons vary from churches’ views on the role of women to socio-political views. According to Ryan Burge, associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, young women are moving farther left politically.” As partisanship becomes the prime lens through which many Americans see the world, Burge said, it has infiltrated the church environment, leaving many young women disillusioned and caught between their politics and church expectations,” he said. As is the case with Mojica Rodríguez, some are upset about gender hierarchies, the inability of women to serve in influential positions, or expectations of chastity placed upon girls. Others struggle with their church’s positions on reproductive and/or LGBTQ+ rights.

Marriage blogger Sheila Wray Gregoire considers the exodus of women a matter of grave concern to the Church. She noted that they are the largest demographic filling the pews, flocking to volunteer opportunities and getting their families involved in church. She adds that they are responsible for getting their families out of bed in time for church.

There’s More Than Meets the Eye

On the surface, this report sounds depressing. No one wants to hear about large percentages of people leaving the Church. But that may not be as unhealthy as it sounds. The research has shown that they are turning their backs on what they are calling “organized religion” – rigid rules, systems, and codes of conduct that have led the Church away from what the Bible says it should be: a Spirit-led, organic, loving, interdependent body of believers that makes Christ visible to the world. Their hunger for a supernatural relationship with God confirms that it may be absent from most churches. Millennials have preceded them in that notion. Their experience is that churches are judgmental, and they hunger for safe places to be authentic and experience a relationship with Christ without the rigidity of rules and expectations being forced on them.

Their observations are warning signs to the Church that it has veered too far toward “organized religion” – the very thing Jesus taught against when He preached the Kingdom of God and harshly criticized the heartless, rigid, and burdensome religiosity of Judaism.

Says Ryan Burge about these warning signs, “Right now, the ‘check engine’ light is coming on – not every time you start the car, but sometimes. And you don’t know whether it will fix itself or get worse.”

However, “check engine” lights are essential. If they don’t come on, you never know what’s wrong. The trend of Gen-Z women leaving the Church can help churches understand why and adjust – particularly by praying and seeking revival, which revitalizes the Church’s connection to the supernatural through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. It’s an opportunity for prayerful self-evaluation we can’t afford to miss, especially since the exodus signifies an unsatisfied spiritual hunger. Satisfying that hunger by restoring the spiritual vitality of the Church and creating the place of truth, grace, and love that millennials and Gen Zers long for could unleash them into passionate and vital ministry.

A Matter for Urgent Prayer

Jesus is still the head of the Church, and the Holy Spirit is still sovereign in apportioning gifts and measures of faith. God is not powerless to do anything about church decline. On the contrary, we live in an age in which He is consolidating and purifying His Church. He is reaching the emerging generations through powerful revivals on college campuses all over the U.S. At the same time, He is exposing the shortcomings of His Church so we may repent and seek His power to work in our churches once more.

The dual work of reviving and exposing gives us direction on how to pray.

First, let us pray that God opens the eyes of pastors and leaders to empty religiosity that is hindering spiritual vitality and driving people away.

Secondly, let us pray that the Holy Spirit gives church leadership wisdom in creating a spiritually dynamic and loving climate for women without compromising biblical values.

Thirdly, let us pray for revival in the Church – not just on beaches and campuses – that restores it to its original design of being a body of believers deeply engaged in vital relationships with God and each other and making Christ visible to the world with its unity and supernatural power.

Father in heaven, thank You for Your love and power. We pray that the “check engine “light of so many women leaving the Church will lead to self-examination, repentance, and hunger for the supernatural reality of fellowship with You. By Your power, any trend can be reversed. May alarm lead to despair, and despair lead to hunger for You, especially among the emerging generations. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 Share your prayers for the lost sheep leaving the church in the comments.

Remco Brommet is a pastor, spiritual-growth teacher, and prayer leader with over 40 years of experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the U.S. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and pastored his first church in Amsterdam. He moved to the U.S. in 1986. He and his wife, Jennifer, live north of Atlanta. When not writing books, he blogs at www.deeperlifeblog.com and assists his wife as a content developer and prayer coordinator for True Identity Ministries. Jennifer and Remco are passionate about bringing people into a deeper relationship with Christ. Photo Credit: Verne Ho on Unsplash.