Religious leaders in Halifax say there is an increase in young adults exploring their faith

Religious leaders notice a rise in attendance at places of worship – especially by younger generations.

Rising attendance is filling more than pews at Halifax Christian Church; it’s driving an expansion.

Greg Nicholson, Halifax Christian Church lead pastor, says the expansion progress started back in 2019 when demand was exceeding their two services.

“But then, COVID happened. I actually had my last meeting on March 15, 2020, and that was the last meeting with that Architect,” says the pastor.

He says they hard a hard time justifying raising money for a building people couldn’t even enter due to lockdown restrictions, but they started planning.

“During that time people were connecting with us through online ways and our church was actually growing, even though we couldn’t meet together,” says Pastor Nicholson.

He had an organization come into their church to give them capital campaign coaching.

They informed them Halifax Christian Church was in the one per cent of churches that had constant growth numbers and giving wise, from 2019 until the present.

“This new space is double our existing worship area, and then we still have a basement which is doubling our children’s ministry as well,” adds Nicholson.

Construction on the building started March 2025 and it will be completed this April 19.

They have noticed growth across all age groups, but young adults in particular is one where numbers at this church have exploded. They’ve added many programs to meet them where they are.

“We have an excellent leader in this ministry, so right now every second week they have some type of social event just to gather and to build community which is one of the reasons they are coming back to church, and also every week there is a discipleship group. There are actually four of them right now in that age group,” says Nicholson.

Pastor Nicholson says there were 89 young adults that participated in their programs over the past year. He explains there are countless reasons why this group is exploring faith now.

“They are frustrated with what they see in the world, they want to have meaning and purpose in the world. So, they are finding it by coming together through worship with other young adults,” he says.

Over at the Ummah Masjid and Community Centre in Halifax, their Friday prayers led by the Imam are always full. They’ve expanded to two back-to-back prayers because of the growth. Their youth population, too, has spiked in the last couple of years.

“This last Ramadan that just ended a few weeks ago, we have seen a number of youths that we have never seen before,” says Abdallah Yousri, Halifax Ummah Society Chief Executive Director.

“In terms of attendance and actually being engaged with the activities, and the mosque and the prayers, and the volunteering and joining the events in general not just in prayer but genuine engagement that we have not seen before,”

Yousri says one reason followers come to Ummah Masjid is to find peace.

“People and young adults particularly see what is happening around, and the disasters taking place and question so many things about their culture and connections and how they can revive this and keep going during these tests and tribulations,” says Yousri.

He adds that world events, like wars and conflict, are also a driver when it comes to youth exploring religion.

“We see so many difficulties, so many issues, conflicts and people are questioning so many things around us, you know, morals and motivations and so many people disconnected from religion, and they are trying to find themselves in religion,” says Yousri.

The Saint Benedict Parish is seeing quite the influx in young adults as well. Father Isaac Longworth says when he first started preaching at this church three years ago, young adults were one of the missing demographics.

“There were a lot of adults, and a lot of children and teenagers but there wasn’t sort of that swath in between,” he says.

“And now three years later, I am seeing huge numbers a lot of baptisms that we are seeing are young adults, a lot of people that are stepping up into leadership are young adults,” says Father Longworth.

He has noticed young people are the ones inviting others to check it out, and he also feels there are a number of reasons they want to.

“They are looking for three things; truth, beauty, and goodness, and they are finding that in the church,” he says.

The Atlantic Jewish Council was not available for an interview, but a member of their team mentioned over the phone that they have seen an increase in the number of young adults attending their events. But the reasons are not only for faith, they feel it’s the desire for the community and also political reasons.

For anyone looking to learn more about these religions, these leaders encourage all ages to reach out to learn more.

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