Youth worldwide are reluctant to discuss who they are with pastors and religious leaders, and many don’t feel like they belong in their faith communities, a new study suggests.
The Christian youth ministry organization Young Life released a report Thursday titled “The Relate Project 2026: Connecting with the Next Generation,” which documents the opinions of young people across the globe on their faith, sense of belonging and who they trust.
The report is based on responses collected from 7,105 respondents between the ages of 13 and 24 living in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Argentina, India and Liberia between November 2025 and January 2026.
“A few years ago, our staff were meeting and we realized that with some of the technology changes and social media, that there were influences on today’s teens and young adults that maybe we didn’t feel so equipped to meet,” Young Life Director of Research and Evaluation Kim Nollan told The Christian Post in an interview.
“And so we were curious about young people and wanted to learn more about them, make sure that we understand culture, what’s important to them, what their relationships look like with one another, with themselves, what they think about faith, and all kind of wanting to make sure that we were … knowing enough to be able to come up alongside people to help them flourish in life.”
Respondents were asked where they felt like they “most fit in or belong.” They were given the option to pick up to two answers. Among the entire sample, family (69%) and friends (61%) were the most commonly selected answers, followed by both school (13%) and online (13%). Less common responses were faith communities (7%), nowhere (7%), work (6%) and their neighborhood (2%).
Religious respondents were more likely to identify family and their faith community as one of the places where they “most fit in or belong” than their non-religious counterparts. Among Orthodox or Coptic Christians, 79% mentioned their family as one of the places where they “most fit in or belong,” while 60% cited their friends as one such place, 14% named school and 12% pointed to their faith community.
Similarly, 73% of Protestants considered their family as a place where they “most fit in or belong,” followed by 59% who said the same about their friends, 12% who felt most comfortable in their faith community and 11% who thought they fit in best online.
Seventy-two percent of those classified as “other” Christians told pollsters they “most fit in or belong” with their families, while 55% felt most comfortable with their friends, 14% thought they fit in best online, with a smaller share saying the same about their faith community (11%) and school (9%). Family was also the most commonly cited place where Catholics thought they “most fit in or belong” (73%), followed by friends (61%), school (15%) and online (11%).
By contrast, 61% of atheists named their families as the place where they “most fit in or belong,” while 66% pointed to their friends and smaller percentages said the same about online (22%) and school (14%). Less than half of agnostics (48%) felt most comfortable with their families, while a larger share (69%) thought they “most fit in or belong” with their friends.
Other places where a notable share of agnostics felt most comfortable include online (21%), nowhere (14%) and school (11%). Roughly equal shares of those with no particular faith named their family (61%) and friends (63%) as the places they felt most comfortable, while smaller percentages named online (14%), school (13%) and nowhere (10%) as such places.
When respondents were asked who they trusted the most when talking about “who you are,” religious leaders and pastors were one of the least common responses. A majority of respondents named both family (62%) and friends (62%) as trusted members of their inner circle, followed by siblings (33%), a romantic interest (21%), grandparents (14%), teachers and coaches (8%), AI companions (8%) and religious leaders and pastors (6%).
Only online communities (5%) and no one (5%) were less frequently selected than religious leaders and pastors.
To gain the trust of young people, Nollan urges religious leaders to embrace “listening,” “showing empathy,” “having non-judgmental responses” and “also paying full attention.”
Trust and listening, she said, are “two building blocks that would do us well to really integrate into our faith community spaces so that people do feel like they belong.”
The overwhelming majority of Christians (90%) indicated that they “almost always” or “often” work to “treat others the way I want to be treated.” A similarly large share of Christians said that they “almost always” or “often” feel grateful (88%), while fewer Christians told pollsters that they “almost always” or “often” forgive people when they make mistakes (78%), share what they have with those in need (77%), practice forgiveness when they are wronged (76%) and “stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves” (71%).
A much smaller majority of Christians (58%) acknowledged that they “almost always” or “often” donate their time to helping others in their community.
Nollan told CP that Young Life plans to conduct another version of this survey in 2028 and hopes to include more countries.
“We don’t necessarily feel like we need a new program approach or a better app to reach this generation but we really need to continue to focus on what we’ve always done, go to where kids are, earn the right to be heard, earn the right to listen and build authentic friendships,” she concluded. “It’s really important to consistently show up and offer a non-judgmental and loving presence in the lives of kids.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
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