Youth Gathering survey reflects teens’ faith, concerns

Youth and leaders participate in Bible study during the 2025 LCMS Youth Gathering in New Orleans. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

By Julianna Shults

This past July, just under 19,000 youth and adult participants attended the 2025 Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Youth Gathering in New Orleans. Focused on the theme of “ENDURE,” they participated in Bible studies, servant events, educational sessions and more.

Gathering participants also had a chance to take the LCMS Youth Poll, a survey that has been conducted at every Gathering since the first one in 1980. Questions have been added and adjusted over the years, resulting in snapshots in time, as well as a look across time, at changing issues, beliefs and concerns. The results of the poll provide feedback that enables the church to better serve its youth.

Because the poll is only taken by a sampling of Gathering participants, there are limitations to what the data can reveal. Nevertheless, the results give helpful insight to those who care about young people and are involved in forming their faith.

The Rev. Dr. Mark Kiessling, director of LCMS Youth Ministry, said, “It is a joy to see the number of young people who align with scriptural teaching on salvation, God’s Word and other core theological matters. In some areas, this alignment has increased compared to recent polls. We give thanks for the faith of young people, as well as for the prayers, love and teaching of parents and caring adults in LCMS congregations. We are also encouraged to see a rise in personal faith practices, such as reading the Bible and praying on their own.”

Key findings in 2025

The 2025 poll revealed:

Over the past several polls before this one, there has been an increase in youth responding “I don’t know” to cultural hot topics. However, in 2025, this response was consistently lower, often 3–5%, while answers aligning with the church’s teaching went up, showing that youth display a stronger commitment to biblical teaching.

20% of youth report having a leadership role (committee member, assisting with Christian education, etc.) in their church.

Over two-thirds of youth feel they are “always busy,” with 35% saying they don’t have enough time to get everything done. This feeling increases as youth get older, peaking at 17.

70% agreed that teens are a priority at their church.

85% of youth agreed or strongly agreed that there are at least five adults in their congregation who know them and regularly talk to them.

Teens report using social media primarily for messaging and for entertainment. 77% report they rarely or do not post about themselves on social media like Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook.

49% say they spend “a bit too much time” and 22% say they spend “way too much time” on social media. Yet, they struggle to decrease their usage, with 37% saying their social media time has not changed in the past year and another 48% saying their usage has increased.

While youth taking the poll have always reported low rates of risky behavior like smoking, marijuana use, binge drinking and sexual activity, reported rates of these activities have continued to drop.

34% of youth say they have struggled with their mental health in the past year, with an additional 23% saying they have struggled in the past, but not in the last year.

Youth named friends, parents and other family members as the top three places they would turn if they were struggling. However, 60% said they would “very likely” or “possibly” speak to no one.

74% agree or strongly agree that they regularly discuss faith at home, and 57% pray together with their family regularly.

When asked how supportive various people around them were of their faith, 92% said their parents, 85% said their congregation, and 74% said their peers were supportive of their faith. 33% of teens said the influencers they watched were supportive of their faith, with 55% of them reporting those influencers as neutral to faith.

Every poll has asked youth to select three issues that concern them most about their life and/or the world. In 2025, the top five issues of concern for LCMS youth were abortion, “my future,” mental health, college and “my personal faith.”

Taken as a whole, the poll shows that LCMS teens have a growing concern on a breadth of issues, including an increasingly divided world. Their areas of concern and what they want the church to talk about are more widely spread than before among theological, personal and world issues. Youth in LCMS congregations are faithful and thoughtful, yet they struggle with how to navigate today’s challenging world.

LCMS Youth Ministry staff hope this poll data provides insights to help begin conversations with the youth in LCMS families, congregations and communities. They also pray it prompts congregations to continue to care well for young people and point them to the Gospel of Jesus.

The full executive summary of the LCMS Youth Poll data is available at youthesource.com.

Julianna Shults (julianna.shults@lcms.org) serves as program manager for LCMS Youth Ministry.

Posted Jan. 28, 2026