{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The Gen Z Church Communication Playbook","description":"You\u2019ve seen the headlines about Gen Z and church - but many popular stats are misleading or unverified. So we took the biggest claims and rated them by confidence - based on real studies and data.   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 4:12 - Gen Z Churchgoers Attend More Frequently (But Read the Fine Print) 11:38 - The Gender Shift in Church Attendance 15:30 - YouTube, Instagram, TikTok Are the Big Three 19:58 - Gen Z Prefers "Authentic" Lo-Fi Content 28:07 - "Nearly Half of Gen Z Would Attend If Invited\u201d 30:46 - "Record Bible sales prove Gen Z is coming back to faith.\u201d 32:22 - "Two-thirds of Gen Z are spiritually open.\u201d 33:39 - "Gen Z is leaving because it's too political.\u201d 36:10 - "Asbury revival proves Gen Z is returning." 36:37 - Big Takeaways   THE 167 NEWSLETTER \ud83d\udceb 62,646+ churches read our free newsletter to figure out the 167 hours beyond Sunday service every week. Sign up: https:\/\/167.prochurchtools.com   GET IN TOUCH \ud83c\udf0d The Company: https:\/\/prochurchtools.com \ud83d\udda5\ufe0f Nucleus, The Church Website Builder:  https:\/\/www.nucleus.church \ud83d\udcf1 SocialSermons, The Social Media Agency For Churches: https:\/\/socialsermons.com    JOIN THE COMMUNITY \ud83d\udcf8 Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bradyshearer \ud83c\udfb5 TikTok: https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bradyshearer \ud83d\udc26 Twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/bradyshearer   ALL CITATIONS "Young Adults Lead a Resurgence in Church Attendance" (September 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4rYyYcd "Is Church Attendance Turning Upward? And a Surprising Gender Gap" (October 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4sIUMtJ "New Research on Church Attendance: Decline of Women or the Rise of Men?" (October 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4tk1mXA "Barna's Top Trends of 2025, Part 2" (December 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/417j04J "Barna's Top Trends of 2025, Part 1" \/ "The Open Generation" (December 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/3PGuDNw "Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off" \u2014 Religious Landscape Study (February 2025): https:\/\/pewrsr.ch\/4sIVbwf "Religion Holds Steady in America" (December 2025): https:\/\/pewrsr.ch\/41CNDz7 "Has There Been a Christian Revival Among Young Adults in the U.K.? Recent Surveys May Be Misleading" (January 2026): https:\/\/pewrsr.ch\/419oyM2 Analysis cited in Church Leaders, "Ryan Burge: There Is No Statistical Evidence of a Gen Z Religious Revival" (January 2026): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4tjTeX1 Analysis cited in Deseret News (September 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/3NWXrAT Analysis cited in Patheos, "The Truth About The Gen Z Revival" (December 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/48h4US4 "Study: Gen Z Now Leads in Church Attendance" (September 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4uXFgvD "The Quiet Revival" (2023\u20132024 data, published 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4s5EDxq Note: This dataset is heavily disputed. See Pew critique (January 2026) and Professor David Voas\/UCL analysis linked above. Critique of Quiet Revival methodology \u2014 cited in Humanists UK, "More Bible Sales Do Not Equal More Christians" (February 2026): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4chwHnS "Religious Change in America\u201d: https:\/\/bit.ly\/4c2aTvf "The Complicated Truth Behind Gen Z's Religious Resurgence" (The Hill, July 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4m12oFt "Young Women Are Leaving Church in Unprecedented Numbers\u201d: https:\/\/bit.ly\/4bJegse "Generation Z and the Future of Faith in America" (March 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4thFj3B "Gen Z Media Consumption 2026" (February 2026, n=1,000): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4bWDQbM "The 2025 Sprout Social Index" \/ "How Gen Z Uses Social Media\u201d: https:\/\/bit.ly\/4s99FEu "New Data: Short Form Video Explodes in Popularity" (Q1 2025, n=2,900+): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4ceqVU2  "The Fractured Future: Mapping the AI Divide" (March 2026, n=14,000+): https:\/\/bit.ly\/417mdkN  Gen Z and AI survey (October 2025, n=2,500) \u2014 published via Harvard Business Review (January 2026): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4s6a9v0 Pre-print: https:\/\/bit.ly\/4cgTUXm AI vs. Human-Made Content Study (April 2024, n=2,000, US & UK): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4dlFSow  UGC statistics roundup (authenticity and engagement data): https:\/\/bit.ly\/483AqTA  UGC + branded content engagement analysis (~28% higher engagement) \u2014 cited via Nosto roundup above "Bible Sales Hit Records in US and UK" (January 2026): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4s6aa22  Note: SPCK is a Bible publisher with commercial interest in the Gen Z narrative. CEO Sam Richardson is the primary voice connecting Bible sales to Gen Z \u2014 inference from separate Quiet Revival data, not from sales demographics.  Global Youth Culture Report (global version): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4lYyz8e Global Youth Culture Report (U.S. version): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4v1kriT Note: Data from February 2020. Teen-focused. Neither report says "nearly half of Gen Z" \u2014 that's a downstream misquotation.  "100 Church Tech Trends for 2026\u201d: https:\/\/bit.ly\/4uW8pqR "Gen Z's Future with the Catholic Church" (December 2025): https:\/\/bit.ly\/4v2siN5  "Gen Z Social Media Statistics 2025\u201d: https:\/\/bit.ly\/3Ocul0r Origin of the unverifiable "85% lo-fi" and "4.2x UGC engagement" claims cited throughout church marketing content. ","author_name":"The Pro Church Tools Show with Brady Shearer","author_url":"http:\/\/prochurchpodcast.com","html":"