Faith groups are in flux around the world, according to research published by Pew Research Center in 2022.
The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project found that religion is generally growing in the Eastern Hemisphere, including in areas like the Middle East, Africa and Indonesia. Survey respondents from highly religious countries like these said that religion is becoming more influential in their society.
But religion is declining in many economically advanced nations in the West. Western Europeans and Americans attend church less, pray less and are less likely to identify as belonging to a certain faith. The United States is experiencing what some experts are calling the “great dechurching,” as the Deseret News previously reported. Places of worship are closing as membership decreases.
One factor explaining these two different trends is the age of religious populations, according to Pew. The 2022 survey found that people from highly religious countries are having more children who remain engaged in church, so that average age of a worshipper is younger there than it is in countries where religion is declining, per Pew Research Center.
Still, across the globe, young adults are less likely to identify as religious than older adults. As a result, many faith groups are seeking ways to both attract and retain young members. And one way they’re doing it is by creating special events around popular music.
Here is a roundup of some of the most creative ways faith-based groups have used music to spark faith in young people in the last year.
A Taylor Swift-themed worship session
A church in Heidelberg, Germany, recently centered a worship service on Taylor Swift’s life and music, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“(Churches are) … a place of encounter and exchange. That’s why a pop-music religious service fits so perfectly,” said the Rev. Christof Ellsiepen, a minister at the church. “With it, we are giving space to the questions and issues that occupy the younger generation.”
“Anti-Hero — Taylor Swift Church Service” attracted 1,200 people. It was the latest in the “City Church Rock ‘n’ Pop” program that started in 2015, when the church began incorporating popular music into its worship sessions.
The program featured singalongs, performances and preaching to some of Swift’s biggest hits, including “Shake It Off” and “Love Story.”
DJ NewJeansNim puts a new twist on Buddhism
Internet sensation and DJ Yoon Seong-ho (stage name: NewJeansNim) is taking South Korean concert stages by storm in a bid to unite dance music with Buddhist teachings, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Yoon has said that young people feel Buddhism is “inaccessible and stuffy.” He’s trying to help them find the relevancy and beauty in his faith through his music sets.
Yoon has faced some criticism from some Buddhist leaders, but he feels that enduring opposition is worth helping his concertgoers see the light in Buddha.
Scream your heart out to heavy metal worship jams
Despair Sanctuary is a weird name for a place where people worship, but it’s fitting for what happens at a headbanging worship service, as the Deseret News previously reported. At this Brooklyn, New York-based event, listeners let go of their burdens by screaming, headbanging and otherwise rocking out.
The sanctuary invites people to come as they are and reminds them that they are enough, however they are, and that they are allowed to grieve and feel however they feel in the midst of their circumstances, whatever those circumstances might be. It’s a message that appeals strongly to young people with lives in a constant state of change.
“Let’s suspend that hope (of things getting better). Let’s not put that on anybody,” said Cheri Kroon, a leader of the program, according to Harper’s Bazaar. “Yeah, this moment in our world needs that.”
Ben Rector headlines Latter-day Saint ‘YSA’ conferences
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started holding giant conferences for young single adults (”YSA”) in the past several years, according to the Church News.
The concerts take place all over the world, attract thousands of attendees and feature religious seminars, preaching and inspiring music — with highly popular artists taking the stage.
In 2023, OneRepublic headlined the Utah YSA conference. They were accompanied by dancers and a drone light show.
In August, Ben Rector and Rachel Platten will take the stage, per The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Newsroom. Rector’s inspirational “Brand New” made it to No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot 200 list in 2016, according to Billboard, while Platten’s “Fight Song” made it to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 2015, according to TMZ.
Irish churches bring together young people with spontaneous worship jams
Many young adults and teens like to let go and relax to music — and to use it to express themselves. Churches in Ireland are capitalizing on the spontaneity of such expression through music, according to Religion Unplugged.
Shalom Dublin is a faith-based music community inspired by the Shalom Catholic Community in Brazil. Shalom is big on spontaneous expressions of faith through music, and related faith and education programs get students involved in creating liturgical music.
Older leaders hope that the interest of students and other young worshipers will be sparked by the act of creation.
“It may bring them to a deeper connection that they want to seek a little bit more and ask a few questions of their faith,” said Ciaran Coll, per Religion Unplugged. Coll is a music teacher who participated in Emmanuel 2024, a giant religious concert that incorporates thousands of students in Ireland.
“It’s about listening to them and being open to see what really touches their hearts,” he said.