{"id":163060,"date":"2025-09-17T11:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T11:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/163060\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T11:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T11:40:14","slug":"the-revival-generation-documentary-wants-to-redefine-the-gen-z-religious-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/163060\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Revival Generation\u2019 Documentary Wants To Redefine The Gen Z Religious Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Aug. 27, over a thousand attendees lifted their voices in worship at Washington, D.C.,\u2019s Kennedy Center as part of a red-carpet premiere of a new documentary, \u201cThe Revival Generation: Gen Z Turning to Jesus<\/a>.\u201d As the notes of the last song faded, Abigail Robertson, granddaughter of famed televangelist Pat Robertson and producer of the film, took the stage to praise God for the Christian revivals taking place around the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay this be the first of many events like this at the Kennedy Center. May you use this place mightily to continue to glorify your name, Jesus,\u201d prayed Robertson.<\/p>\n

The event was emblematic of both the center\u2019s new Trump-led pivot toward faith-friendly content and of the kind of evangelical fervor featured in the documentary itself. The film focuses on the revivals hosted by UniteUS<\/a>, a nonprofit that facilitates worship, evangelistic gatherings and baptisms at college campuses. Thanks to their efforts, the documentary claims, 13,000 college students have made \u201cdecisions to receive Christ.\u201d The documentary frames these revivals as evidence of a broader spiritual shift happening among Gen Z \u201cZoomers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that a lot of the media is typically covering Gen Z in a pretty negative way,\u201d director Laura Hand told media. \u201cI saw the opposite to be true, seeing these young people with such a passion and hunger and true joy, spreading the gospel. I think that is very emblematic of what is happening to Gen Z at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts told media it\u2019s common for each generation to experience a referendum on their religiosity when they reach their 20s, with scholars and spectators staking their hopes, fears and expectations on the next group of young adults. It\u2019s no different for Gen Z, which has been pegged as being both more<\/a> and less religious<\/a> than older generations. The truth, religion scholars say, is more complex, with several trends emerging as Zoomers\u2019 spiritual loyalties develop. By dubbing Gen Z \u201cThe Revival Generation,\u201d this documentary seeks to counteract the negative narratives<\/a> defining Gen Z, filmmakers said, depicting them not as anxious and isolated, but as leaders of a spiritual movement.<\/p>\n

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\"RevivalThe Revival Generation: Gen Z Turning to Jesus\u201d director Laura Hand. (Photo courtesy CBN)<\/p>\n

The film itself is a product of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), a right-leaning Christian media organization that\u2019s been covering the UniteUS revivals<\/a> since they began in fall 2023. The documentary begins with the story of Tonya Prewett, a mother who started a small group for women at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in early 2023. She was moved by the girls\u2019 stories about depression, suicidal ideation and addiction and grew the five-person small group into a prayer group with hundreds of students.<\/p>\n

In September 2023, Prewett, in partnership with local pastors and college administrators, hosted the inaugural UniteUS event at Auburn\u2019s Neville Arena. An estimated 5,000 students<\/a> attended the event, which featured worship, sermons and an altar call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back up and shared the gospel, and there was a girl that wanted to be baptized,\u201d said evangelical Bible teacher Jennie Allen, one of the event\u2019s main speakers, in the documentary. \u201cAnd off stage, (Prewett) and I are talking, going, \u2018what do we do about this? Could we baptize her nearby?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Afterwards, a thousand students reportedly gathered at a nearby pond over a half mile away to watch hundreds of their peers get spontaneously baptized by Allen and the Rev. Jonathan Pokluda, who also spoke at the event.<\/p>\n

At first, Prewett thought the viral event<\/a> was a one-off. But soon, students at other colleges asked to host Unite on their campuses. Unite events began popping up at colleges across the U.S., especially in the Bible Belt. So far, UniteUS has held events at over a dozen U.S. schools, the majority at state schools in the South. In early 2025, CBN began embedding a film crew to document the revivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 17 degrees outside,\u201d recalled Robertson, who attended her first Unite event at the University of Kentucky in February. \u201cStill, hundreds of students, after the event, were getting in these baptism troughs, and not just deciding to give their lives to Jesus Christ that night, but then taking it a step further \u2014 despite the freezing cold weather \u2014 and getting baptized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UniteOn Oct. 30, 2024, more than 10,000 students gathered in Reed Arena at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, for the UniteUS conference. (Courtesy Photo\/UniteUS)<\/p>\n

Bringing these free events to campuses is no small feat. UniteUS now functions as a nonprofit, and according to tax forms<\/a>, all key employees, excluding Tonya Prewett, work on a volunteer basis. College students interested in hosting Unite fundraise for associated fees; according to the documentary, the cost of these events, including arena rentals and production costs, can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

Robertson and director Laura Hand said those being baptized are a mix of students raised in the Christian faith who are rededicating their lives to Christ and students embracing Christianity for the first time. When asked why these events are resonating, Hand and Robertson said it\u2019s because the gospel\u2019s emphasis on freedom from sin speaks directly to the struggles Gen Z is facing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they were seeking a sense of meaning in their lives, a sense of purpose, a sense of \u2018who am I\u2019 \u2026 and a sense of truth,\u201d said Hand. \u201cAnd I think for a lot of them who are seeking this, they were starting to find those answers in faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RevivalDavid Kinnaman. (Photo courtesy Barna Group)<\/p>\n

David Kinnaman, the CEO of evangelical Christian polling firm Barna Group, told media Gen Z is showing \u201ca surprising amount of religious activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

While most data about religion and young people shows that Gen Z are the least likely to attend services<\/a>, Barna\u2019s model recently found<\/a> that Gen Z churchgoers attend more regularly than other generations. Barna\u2019s findings are surprising, said Kinnaman, who is also featured in the documentary, given that in previous generations it was common that young people\u2019s religious attendance would dip before it ramped up in later adulthood. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Kinnaman acknowledged this is just one of many trends. As a researcher, he said, he would be hesitant to characterize what\u2019s happening among Gen Z as a \u201crevival.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s less about revival and more about renewal and sort of, catching back up to where the erosion happened,\u201d said Kinnaman.<\/p>\n

Liz Bucar, a professor of religion at Northeastern University in Boston, agreed there are many changes happening simultaneously among Gen Z. The Revival Generation\u2019s premise, she said, seems to align with what she has observed about some young Zoomers who are interested in more conservative, traditional or Orthodox ways of religion; these young adults appear to be \u201ctaking up a lot of cultural space,\u201d she said, even as other Zoomers leave the church over concerns about institutional harm or misalignment with core values such as LGBTQ+ inclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re all, like, looking for meaning and some sort of stability in what is a pretty hard time to be living through,\u201d said Bucar. In her experience, many Zoomers are reacting against the syncretic, ad hoc, New Age approach to spirituality adopted by some older generations. Instead, Zoomers are seeking more structured community, a moral framework, and want to do something about the world\u2019s suffering. Even those not returning to institutional religion, she said, are looking for a sincere, authentic approach to spirituality that is \u201cless extractive, more grounded in a context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RevivalLiz Bucar. (Photo courtesy of Liz Linder Photography)<\/p>\n

The filmmakers agree that Gen Z is seeking meaning and purpose. That\u2019s why, they argue, UniteUS has been so successful. Their events are supported by local churches and explicitly offer students ways of plugging in to Christian community long-term. And they believe the UniteUS revivals are all part of a much larger movement of revivals impacting students at Asbury<\/a>, Ohio State<\/a>\u00a0and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese baptisms are springing up everywhere. And it\u2019s incredible to see that in this generation that has been plagued as hopeless, struggling with depression, anxiety, all of these things at levels that the prior generations have never seen before,\u201d said Robertson. \u201cThe air is so ripe for revival, it\u2019s so ripe for hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Revival Generation film is available to stream<\/a> and the next scheduled stops for UniteUS are at universities in Florida, Tennessee and Arizona.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Kathryn Post<\/a> is a reporter for Religion News Service based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Aug. 27, over a thousand attendees lifted their voices in worship at Washington, D.C.,\u2019s Kennedy Center as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-163060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}