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PITTSBURGH, Pa. — If you expected to find young individuals mourning the brutal assassination of ChCharlie Kirkast Thursday, you would have been mistaken.
Instead, they flocked to The Sanctuary church in large numbers. Pastor Jason Howard was surprised by the turnout of young attendees for Sunday service.
“I’ll be honest with you, I am in my forties, so I was caught off guard by the response from people who are in my church in their twenties. They were much more in tune with Charlie’s influence than I was,” he said.
However, his assistant pastor, Cole Yocca, was very much aware of Kirk’s impact.
“He is 22 years old, and his immediate reaction was to spontaneously put out on social media that we were going to gather to pray. And the day after Charlie was assassinated, he had a whole bunch of people just gather in his backyard to pray,” Yocca shared.
“The response was, we are going to be bold and unashamed about the message of Jesus more than ever before,” he noted regarding both the Thursday night vigil and the crowded Sunday services.
The Sanctuary Church, a non-denominational Christian congregation, has witnessed significant growth in youth attendance over recent years. Howard recalled first noticing them three years ago when they held spontaneous baptisms in the Allegheny River.
He remarked, “People are using this word: revival.”
“I love that word. When we talk about revival, we mean dead things coming back to life. There is a generation that is desperate and in need of God,” he explained.
Howard has observed a notable awakening among young people in recent years.
“We want to see our generation come to faith in Jesus. The young people are more passionate than I’ve ever seen and unashamed,” he stated.
This passion, according to Howard, is what connected young people to Kirk.
“He embraced his faith unashamedly. When our church started 13 years ago, Christianity was inherently countercultural and often rejected in public discourse,” he elaborated.
Howard recalled that early on, they focused on making their message relevant to young people. “That is not the dynamic at all anymore. Today, it’s bold and unashamed: there is salvation in Jesus, and the world needs to know. We are not trying to ease you into it; it’s a passionate battle cry. There’s hope in Jesus. This boldness and fearlessness have emerged with Gen Z,” he said.
On Sunday evening, The Sanctuary was filled with college students from local universities, including the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, who attended the first service after Kirk’s assassination. The church, located in a predominantly left-leaning area, attracts young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
“These young people are rejecting ideologies that oppose the concept of God. While this intersects with political discussions, the focus in my church is not on politics but on the need for Jesus and a return to traditional values regarding identity and relationships,” Howard explained.
Young people are drawn to Kirk not for political reasons, but for his commitment to traditions like marriage and gratitude towards God. “They are not afraid to get married and have children. It’s a return to what really matters in life,” he noted.
Last August, Howard witnessed a surge of interest at the University of Pittsburgh when a Christian organization gained hundreds of student participants.
“You also have Pitt football players boldly expressing their faith, planning a significant event this Thursday. There’s a resurgence among young people seeking Christianity, and I am in honest amazement,” he said.
“The wave has been rising. I believe Charlie Kirk’s assassination will reinforce these core values and serve as a catalyst moving forward,” he stated.
Other churches also experienced similar attendance spikes; Howard noted that even his small country Catholic church was packed. Many families shared photos on social media of their return to church, whether for the first time in years or ever, seeking purpose and resolve.
Howard emphasized that the revival of faith may extend beyond Kirk, as not all attendees agree with his political views. “But everyone agrees on his boldness about his faith in Jesus,” he said.
In previous years, openly discussing faith often resulted in backlash, as Howard explained, “Talking about faith came with a risk of being labeled a bigot or hateful, sidelined, and persecuted. That has been the reality for the last 20 years.”
“Now, people are saying, I don’t care. I’m going to be bold and unashamed,” Howard declared.
“These kids have a light that pierces through the darkness and can change what’s wrong in our world,” he concluded. “And this is our moment.”
