DENVER, N.C.–Under a golden Carolina sunset, three teenage brothers prop a smartphone against a lakeside rock and hit record. In unison, they share a Bible verse, Romans 12:2, urging fellow teens not to conform but be transformed in faith.
They post the one-minute video before bed. By morning, it’s gone viral with over 100,000 views, and the Helms triplets realize they’ve tapped into something powerful.
“We always talked to people about Jesus in person… so we were like, we can use [social media] for a good purpose,” remembers Gage Helms, 18.
One year and 355,000 followers later, the identical Helms brothers – Gage, Kaden, and Till – have gained widespread online recognition as “3n1 Trilogy,” posting daily upbeat devotions and prayers for Gen Z viewers. Their mission is simply to “let Jesus shine” on every screen. And they’re far from alone.
Across social media titans Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, a growing wave of Gen Z and Gen Alpha Christians are turning their smartphones into pulpits. These young evangelists are using trending dances, 60-second sermons, and day-in-the-life vlogs to lead others to Christ in authentic, relatable ways.
This is a trend few saw coming. Few haven’t stumbled upon surveys that have noted declining religious affiliation among young Americans. However, the wave of young Christian influencers, and their heaping interactions indicates a fresh revival of Christianity playing out online.
In 2020, content tagged #Christian, #Jesus, and related themes drove over 169 million engagements on TikTok. By one estimate, nearly 1,800 active Christian influencers were creating content on that app alone, many of them just teenagers posting from their bedrooms.
“You can make a video, have basically no followers, but then it can gain traction and all of a sudden it’s on everybody’s For You Page,” remarks Liana Gordan, 17, of Ontario. However, for young believers passionate about sharing their faith, viral fame isn’t the goal–winning souls is.
Social media has changed the game of evangelism, its reach allowing a “literal overnight” impact that previous generations of youth ministers could only dream of.
And social media’s reach allows a “literal overnight” impact that previous generations of youth ministers could only dream of.
Take Liana Gordan’s story. She didn’t grow up active in church, but during the pandemic she kept encountering impassioned Christian teens on TikTok.
“This app was used to save me,” she shared in one video, describing how seeing others her age talk about Jesus prompted her to pick up a Bible. Soon, Liana began to openly embrace Christianity, and she started to create her own faith-centered TikToks.
Her clear, conversational explainer videos on topics like the end times and prayer have attracted more than 70,000 followers, launching her into the same community of young influencers that helped spark her faith.
“I want to be a spokesperson for Christianity in my generation,” Liana says, “because Christianity has something to say about the world today.”
A similar, broader hope is stirring among Gen Z and Gen Alpha Christians online: that the Good News of Jesus is still good news, and it is still worth sharing with the world. The place to do that, increasingly, is the social media feed.
In Florida, 18-year-old Elijah Lamb began posting short, witty TikTok clips in high school and unexpectedly found himself shepherding a virtual congregation. Amassing over 650,000 followers with his engaging mini Bible lessons and Q&As, the Lamb has become, in one teen’s words, “the pastor” of Christian TikTok.
He now organizes live “testimony nights” and prayer sessions over Zoom and Instagram Live, where hundreds of young people gather to share stories of what God is doing in their lives.
Lamb takes that influence seriously, acknowledging the pressure “to be 18 and have it all together” in the spotlight. At one point, he even stepped back for a few weeks to refocus spiritually to make sure he wasn’t finding his identity in platform over purpose. But ultimately, he sees his popularity as a responsibility to steward well.
“I don’t think the potential danger is a reason to not be in online ministry,” Lamb says, noting that if anything, it pushes him to stay humble and grounded in prayer. Such maturity in someone barely college-aged surprises some, but it’s also why his peers look up to him.
In fact, a community of teen creators has formed a tight-knit support network. They group-chat daily and lift each other up like a virtual youth group, offering “encouragement, community, and resources to learn more about faith” when traditional churches might not be accessible.
The content itself is as diverse as the creators. The Helms triplets, for example, infuse plenty of brotherly humor into their one-minute devotions. One day they’re filming by a lake or in a school hallway, talking about handling peer pressure or overcoming doubt – often topics they personally struggle with.
“A lot of people don’t have hope, so we need to talk about hope,” Till Helms says of their creative process. “A lot of people are doubting God, so we can really talk about doubt… everybody doubts at some point.”
By choosing down-to-earth themes and backing them with a quick Bible verse and personal insight, the trio keeps viewers – many their own age – coming back daily. And it’s not just teens tuning in.
“Some of our friends will say, ‘yeah, my mom follows you guys and she sends me all these videos,’” Till laughs.
In an age of generational divides, these fresh-faced creators are managing to reach both Gen Z and their parents’ generation, uniting them, at least for a minute a day, around Scripture.
Meanwhile on Instagram and YouTube, young Christians are equally active. An Atlanta husband-and-wife duo, Nate and Sutton Eisenman, started a YouTube vlog to share their adventures and Christian dating advice.
Their channel’s mix of authenticity and biblical wisdom drew such a large audience that it actually surpassed the YouTube followings of well-known pastors like Beth Moore and Tim Keller.
Viewers say it’s the relatability and authenticity of this couple’s social media accounts that hooks them. They find it refreshing to see “normal” young adults living out faith in everyday life, whether on a travel vlog or a candid Q&A about relationships.
On Instagram, a host of twenty-something influencers are using the platform’s visual storytelling to encourage prayer and positivity. From young pro athletes and musicians to college students, many post scripture quotes, testimonies, and worship snippets that garner tens of thousands of likes.
The message is consistent: faith is not meant to exist in a vacuum, rearing its face on Sundays in a pew. We’re meant to integrate it into our study sessions, our gym workouts, our coffee dates. Wherever life happens, God can be part of the conversation.
One Instagram influencer quoted 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers.” Gen Z is taking that verse to heart, leading by example on the apps that define their generation’s culture.
Even established ministries are taking cues from these young trailblazers. R. York Moore, a 50-something ministry leader, recently began sharing the Gospel on TikTok in 60-second soundbites to reach those who “don’t like going to church.”
The result? His account has amassed nearly 400,000 followers and over 50 million total views, but more remarkably, he’s received over 140,000 messages from viewers saying they decided to follow Christ after watching his videos. This staggering number emphasizes social media’s potential as a mission field.
Moore calls TikTok a ripe harvest – a place where curious young souls scroll in search of meaning. And he’s not alone in recognizing this. New faith-based content studios, like one called SoulShop, are partnering with influencers to produce series aimed at Gen Z.
TikTok star Allie Schnacky, 23, for instance, teamed up with a Christian media company to film a docuseries called “Walking the Word” that brings the Bible to life. In the series, Schnacky and other creators visit biblical sites in Israel, then share bite-sized videos from those locations to connect scripture with real history.
For Schnacky, who has 4 million TikTok followers, using her platform this way is about “being a good steward” of the influence God gave her.
“Anything that does not have eternal value is pointless to us,” she says of her family’s approach to social media. “We can’t bring anything with us when we die; the only thing that we leave is… who are we bringing to heaven with us. That’s what it’s all about.”
From small-town American teenagers to young voices across the world, this next generation is embracing Jesus in a distinctly 21st-century fashion: by making faith go viral. They respond to comments and DMs with prayer and advice. They form online prayer circles with peers from different continents. And they carry an infectious hope that is breaking through the cynicism and nihilism social media is known for.
Yes, there are challenges. The internet can be a hotbed for trolling, debate and misinformation, not every video receives recognition, and not every trending moment leads to lasting change. But these youth-led movements are showing that the gospel can still flourish in the new age.
Many assume young people have written off religion, but Gen Z Christians are correcting that story with each post and video. Their posts are filled with authenticity, love, and a conviction that “Jesus is King and He gets all the glory,” as the Helms brothers like to declare to their fans.
Next time you scroll through your feed, you might just stumble on a teenager earnestly praying for “whoever’s on the other side of this screen,” and it might just stir something in your soul.
As 18-year-old Elijah Lamb says, the key is to steward the spotlight for God. And countless young influencers are doing exactly that. One click at a time, they’re inviting their generation, and anyone else listening, to encounter Christ in the most unexpected of places: right there on their phone.
