Will Gen Z lead the way back to more traditional funerals?

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I think it is a real longshot and we are a long way from proclaiming that the funeral is back in American culture.  However, a couple of indicators show that Generation Z, those who are in today’s age bracket of between 13 and 28 years of age, may be yearning for a life that is in tune with an almost bygone generation, at least when it comes to church and funerals.

First of all, at last year’s National Funeral Directors Convention in New Orleans NFDA Executive Director Christine Pepper gave attendees a primer on the NFDA’s research project titled “Changing Consumer Preferences: A Generational Perspective on Attitudes Toward Funeral Service”.  One of the surprising results she shared with us was that of Generation Z which apparently had better opinions of funerals and traditional burial than the generations that were born before them.

Then just last week I read this article from the USA Today titled “Not just at Easter.  Gen Z is returning to Christianity“.  That article goes on to tell us that the men of the Gen Z generation are returning to church which appears to be stopping a trend of 30 years of decline in the question of Americans who identify as Christian.

The decline of church membership in America

For those three decades of data the overwhelming statistic has been the rise of the term “Nones” to identify those that have no religious affilitation.  According to the article, the “Nones” have led this decline in religious affilition for the past thirty years. . . .but now that decline is stopping, at least temporarily.

As the author of the article states, “Overall, younger generations are more spiritually curious. Barna research group reports that most Gen Z teens are interested in learning more about Jesus, with younger cohorts leading the way in the growth of new commitments. . . .At the same time, the dramatic rise of the nones appears to be leveling off. Sociologist Ryan Burge recently observed that the share of non-religious Americans has stopped rising in any meaningful way − a surprising pause after 30 years of growth”. 

The author also makes the following comments, “It’s too soon to announce a change to the direction of secularism, but as someone who has been an observer of Christian trends for decades, including a stint leading a Christian research organization, I’ve never seen anything like this. . . .  I did not expect it to change this quickly”.

Again, the author partially concludes with this thought, “So, it’s not time to call this a revival. But something is stirring in the data − in the culture”. 

So, from my perspective that does somewhat jive with the data that NFDA found in their consumer survey.  I would conclude that any movement back to traditional casketed funerals is far from certain, even saying that the possibility is remote. . . . .However, as the author of the USA Today article stated, “. . . .something is stirring in the data – in the culture”.

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