Born-Again Experience or Emotional Euphoria? Revivalism among Contemporary Youth in Southeast Nigeria

Amid widespread revivalism among contemporary youth in Southeast Nigeria, many who profess a born-again experience continue in behaviours that conflict with core Christian values. This study employs Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s concept of Cheap Grace (1937) as a theological lens. Cheap Grace highlights a profession of faith without repentance and emphasises the need for transformation of conduct. It provides a framework for examining the gap between public confession and private morality. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, drawing data from personal communication, extant literature, digital news records, and semi-structured interviews with 1,000 respondents: youths aged 14–45 (400), youth Christian pastors aged 24–45 (200), youth leaders aged 18–45 (200), and adults aged 46–65 (200). NVivo software was used to code and analyse the interviews. Findings indicate that many youth mistake psychological highs for genuine conversion, resulting in fragile religious identity, moral inconsistency, hypocrisy, and a syncretic pattern in which some secretly engage in corrupt expressions of Igbo culture that distort authentic heritage and contradict Christian ethics. The study recommends doctrinal depth, intentional discipleship, and pastoral accountability to foster authentic spiritual formation among contemporary Christian youth.