Effective Evangelism with Gen Z Women in the Age of Social Media Influencers

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This article was published exclusively online in the Christian Research Journal, Volume 49, number 01 (2026).

It also part of the Effective Evangelism Colum which is a practical advice column on how to reach people of other faiths and of no faith with the gospel. These articles offer general tips on witnessing to adherents of a particular non-Christian or unorthodox belief system or group, or share insights on how to break through the barriers Christians commonly encounter with that group. The article may also explore effective evangelistic tactics or address common challenges when evangelizing a particular group.

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In the era of the smartphone — with its unbridled access to the vast depths of the internet — evangelism has become an increasingly difficult task. This is especially the case with those who prioritize online engagement over real-life relationships. Not only must those engaged in evangelism now compete for the attention of others who may even be standing right in front of them, but they must also combat the wide breadth of online voices that speak into the lives of those who engage with the internet on a daily basis.

Although there is much to say regarding online sources and how to navigate evangelism via the internet,¹ the rise and impact of internet influencers has become a striking and immediate problem that the church must address. “Christian influencer” voices range from biblically faithful to downright heretical, from biblically liberal “exvangelical” to “ultra-conservative” tradwives, and everything in between. The muddy waters in between the extremes on all sides, all conveniently called “Christian,” can be disorienting and confusing for young women who do not have a firm grounding in the faith.

Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) spends an incredible amount of time on screens. While an average American spends around seven hours on screens each day, Gen Z averages closer to nine hours.² This includes all screen use: phones, computers, TVs, any other devices for school, work, or play. Yet a significant portion of that time is spent on social media. More than 63 percent of Gen Z females are on social media for more than three hours per day.³ They know that this is not a good thing, with over three quarters of Gen Z saying that they spend too much time on their phones (76 percent).⁴ Much of the time that Gen Z spends on screens is spent watching influencers, of which Gen Z women vastly prefer short-form content from multiple sources, focused on things like “Day in the life,” “Get ready with me,” unboxing/haul, and recipe videos.⁵ Their preference for short-form content is contrasted with their male counterparts, who significantly prefer longer videos, spending much more time on YouTube than other social media apps.

And yet all social media users are at the mercy of the ever-fickle, ever-changing algorithms that continually feed video after video straight onto their phones, trying to capture and keep attention. Although we Christians cannot control the algorithms that curate what others encounter, we can prepare ourselves to discern and respond thoughtfully and faithfully to the messages they relentlessly promote.

Bear in mind that Gen Z women are a unique cohort when it comes to evangelism. They are in a particular crisis of self-identity; they feel an incredible sense of pressure (both internal and external), manifesting in increased anxiety. And that’s not all. They have been leaving the church in droves for a variety of reasons, if they ever were a part of the church at all.⁶ With a confluence of challenges in front of Gen Z women, how can Christians, especially older women (of the Titus 2 variety), help these women navigate these difficulties and evaluate the specific Christian influencer voices that they may be hearing?

First, as discerning followers of Christ, we must be equipped with the ability to help Gen Z women distinguish between helpful and harmful voices. Then, as we delve into the extremes of these voices speaking about the Christian faith, we can be emboldened to distill what aspects are truly in line with the faith, and which aspects should be rejected. Then, examining general trends and features of the “middle-of-the-road” voices can help us prepare to bring the good news to young women in a way that will address their anxieties, their self-identity crisis, and their animosity toward what could be perceived as “patriarchal” religion.

Not All Voices Are Equal. Of first importance is our need to develop an ability to engage in conversation about these various voices on the internet with clarity and conviction. We must remember that Gen Z has grown up immersed in internet culture and its idiosyncrasies. Taking advice from a person speaking to their cell phone on the other side of the country — or world — is commonplace for this age group. We must be able to carefully distinguish helpful input from harmful, expert from novice, and Christian voices from non-Christian. The goal is to help these young women learn discernment for themselves.

Finding truly authoritative and accurate voices and information on the internet can be a challenge. James Patrick Holding, president of Tekton Apologetics Ministries, explains in his 2014 column for the Christian Research Journal just how frustrating it is to have non-expert voices competing at the same level with substantive, well-researched, and carefully reasoned voices:

For the apologist, user-modified sources such as Wikipedia and YouTube engender serious difficulties for earnest dialogue. We may find our detailed arguments trumped by dialogue partners who regard Wikipedia, or some pseudonymous video on YouTube, as the last word on a subject.⁷

This is certainly a strange reality that we live in. Equally weighted in the eyes of viewers are the opinions of experts with years of teaching experience in their field and “some guy” living in his mother’s basement. This encapsulates the primary issue facing evangelism to Gen Z women: It doesn’t matter how much they respect you or honor your opinion — you could even be their pastor! — they will likely measure online influencers’ opinions with the same weight. Douglas Groothius, in his article for the Christian Research Journal laments the loss of credentials on social media and how it impacts our culture for the worse:

Anyone armed with a smartphone, a little tech savvy, and some money can find a platform for their ideas about anything. These “influencers,” as they are called today (some of them in their teens or 20s with millions of followers), are not public intellectuals, a term that harks back to credentialed experts who took their ideas to the general public, rather than leaving them in the academy or rarefied publications for a smaller audience.⁸

And still, even without credentials, education, or any real reason why they should be listened to, these influencers are looked to for answers to some of life’s most critical questions. When searching TikTok comments sections, author and student minister Elizabeth Davis was shocked to find so many young people asking deep questions about life and faith. She writes, “If teens are going to TikTok for answers, then they’re likely using TikTok to fill a gap that would otherwise be filled by a loving, invested adult….Maybe they have Christian adults in their lives and they’re still going to TikTok for answers. They seem to trust these influencers more than people in their own lives to give them the answers they’re searching for.”⁹

Although Davis is speaking of Gen Z in general, this encapsulates a perspective that is present even more overtly in Gen Z women. For this cohort, authenticity is a huge priority.¹⁰ Many will prioritize listening to a person that they deem “authentic” over one who is truly authoritative on a topic, citing “lived experience” as being the ground for accuracy. There is therefore no amount of research, terminal degrees, or peer-reviewed articles that can outweigh the “authenticity factor.”

In response to this problem, Kathy Caprino of Forbes gives wise advice about how to distinguish true experts from false ones in her article “Are You Dealing with a Real Expert or a Fake? 7 Ways to Tell.” She explains first that genuine experts are not preoccupied with themselves; they spend their time focused on their work and the field into which they’re speaking. “Fake experts,” she writes, “seem to star in every single story they tell.”¹¹ Caprino goes on to observe that authentic experts will admit if they do not have the answer to the question you’re asking. They also demonstrate intellectual honesty, even engaging with evidence that might contradict what they teach. She writes, “Real experts can be skeptical about not only others’ ideas, but also about their own.”¹² Finally, they demonstrate intellectual curiosity and are not afraid to keep learning. Reid Goldsborough of Government Technology similarly captures the contrast: “pseudo-experts tend to support their beliefs, ignoring evidence that’s not useful in this regard, while experts tend to test the validity of their positions, examining all evidence no matter where it leads, in search of the truth.”¹³

Therefore, here are some questions we might pose to Gen Z women learning discernment when dealing with Christian influencers:

1. Does this influencer point you to Christ, or to themselves?
2. Do they ever admit that they don’t know something?
3. Are they only skeptical and dismissive of alternative viewpoints?
4. Do they accurately represent views that are not their own?
5. Are they committed to truth, or to their platform?
6. Do they have credentials or oversight from a church?

As you engage in conversation with Gen Z women about their Christian influencer influences, these key questions can help you guide the conversation.

The Breadth of “Online Christian” Influence. Barring political discourse from the conversation at present, when we look at self-identified “Christian” influencers on the internet, or those who deal with Christian content, a wide breadth of varied convictions appear. On one extreme, you can see individuals who wholly reject the biblical canon, speak against historic Christian opinions, and hold deep animosity toward the institutional church (yet some still call themselves “Christian”). On the other extreme, you see people who purport to be biblically faithful and committed to the historic church, yet who have wholesale bought into a niche online patriarchal subculture that goes beyond historic Christian teaching and warps biblical truth. Then there’s the murky middle that leaves a much more complicated evangelism task ahead of us.

One extreme end is often referred to as “exvangelical,” so-called as a combination of “ex” and “evangelical.” This group of Christian, or in some cases ex-Christian, influencers are committed to highlighting personal stories of people who grew up in the faith and have since become critical of it. A great example of a notable voice in this space is John Piper’s son Abraham. Although no longer a Christian, Abraham often talks about his experience in the church in a way that resonates with listeners. Ruth Graham captures the thrust of his content well in her article for The New York Times:

On a snowy day in February, Mr. Piper took 59 seconds to explain to his followers why it is absurd for Christians to make their children read the Bible. “While other kids are learning to read with comics or whatever normal parents have around the house, here fundie kids are — 6, 7, 8 years old — devouring stories of Jezebel being defenestrated and then eaten by dogs,” he said with a bemused smile, using a slang term for “fundamentalist.” The Bible is “basically ‘Game of Thrones,’” he added, “except if you don’t read it, you go to Hell.”¹⁴

Abraham is charming and winsome, funny and irreverent. He produces the kind of content that so many people feel inclined to continue watching. The danger here is obvious if someone is on the precipice of leaving the faith or has had a bad experience in the church as well. And yet, it’s also the most clear-cut when it comes to apologetics. He advocates against the faith.

But gradations exist in this end of the spectrum, with some influencers ending up at more Mainline, liberal, or progressive Christian approaches.¹⁵ These influencers gain thousands and tens of thousands of views bashing traditional views that the church has always held about social issues and church doctrine. Pitting the words of Paul against Jesus and making all kinds of arguments for a female pastorate, asserting that the text of Scripture could not be historical, or making arguments that abortion can be licit in the church are just three examples of this kind of content. And the more insidious element here is the insistent claim that this is “true Christianity” — not what the church has always taught in contrast to it.

The rise of the tradwife, on the other extreme, adopts a patriarchal view of social relations in an attempt to promote it as the “most Christian” way of living. In these kinds of videos, one might find content about modesty, how it’s sinful for a woman to work outside the home, or mandates about what kinds of chores women must do in their homes. With a focus on family and self-sufficiency, certainly not everything a tradwife influencer says is wrong. The apologetical endeavor here would involve a lot more nuance to pick apart the good from the bad — carefully distinguishing what Scripture actually prohibits from what it encourages, and what constitutes sin from matters of Christian liberty.¹⁶ An important thing to note with this kind of content is that many tradwife influencers are not Christian at all. They’re Mormon.¹⁷ This raises many other questions that might impact how you speak to someone engaging with this content.

As with everything, the extremes of Christian voices comprise only a small slice of the overall content one might encounter on the internet. The middle is where things get muddied; and even within the middle, there is a wide range. For example, you can find staunch Roman Catholic influencers promoting submission to Rome and bashing the Reformation. You can find Eastern Orthodox content, where artists are painting icons or talking about the filioque. You can find Protestant content as well in the mix — everything from confessional Lutheran to evangelical Baptist.

How can you speak thoughtfully with new or lapsed Christians if you don’t know what ideas or narratives they’ve absorbed online? It seems like an overwhelming task. Here are some questions we might ask to diagnose the situation and help navigate conversations:

1. What kinds of historical claims is this influencer making?
2. Can those historical claims be proven to be true or false?
3. What is this influencer’s view of the Bible? Do they think it is true or only partly true?
4. Does this content or influencer point you to Jesus?
5. Are they telling you things are sin that are not called sin in Scripture?
6. Have they downplayed sin that is explicitly called sin in Scripture?
7. Do they spend their time talking about only what we should reject, rather than what we should affirm and believe?

Many books have been written concerning how to combat problematic views of Scripture, and how to engage with conversations about doctrinal nuances. There is a wealth of resources out there, but what is scarce is faithful presence. The main task that we must consider to evangelize effectively is to be prepared to answer wisely and to care deeply for — and remain present to — the young women who may be confused by what they’re hearing online.

The Opportunity. It’s not likely that Gen Z women will give up their social media influencers easily. Nor is it likely that they will all grow convicted of the importance of the local church and its authority structures overnight. But there is an opportunity that is ripe for the harvest. And this opportunity begins with robust relational evangelism. By forging meaningful intergenerational in-person relationships with young women, the door is opened for conversation, and trust can be established.

There is a deep desire among Gen Z women for information — especially information that comes in short, digestible content. Dr. Deborah Ko explains: “Gen Zers want nuances in a world of bite-sized information. With so many people expressing opinions online and a pervasive cancel culture, Gen Z consults multiple sources to find out where online publications or platforms are getting their facts, as well as search for multiple perspectives to form their own opinion and be able to back it up.”¹⁸

There is an active interest in consulting multiple sources that can be leveraged to the Kingdom’s advantage. We must pray that God will send evangelists who are biblically faithful, committed Christians who will point these women to Christ, rather than away from Him.

Ideally, these influencers would be credentialed and accountable to a church as well. Paul poses a relevant series of questions in Romans: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (10:14–15).¹⁹ We should be equipping and sending qualified individuals to this specific ministry. Kyle Keating, Dean and teacher at Providence Classical Christian Academy, encourages us that we must “take the long view, recognizing that witnessing is more often planting seeds of faith than harvesting the fruit.”²⁰

This kind of ministry must present biblical Christianity as it is authentically. If it doesn’t, it will not only be misleading, but it will also not be impactful to this generational cohort. Elizabeth Davis warns:

We’re all prone to imitate the world to entice others to follow Christ, but often Christian influencers fall into this in order to grow a wider audience. We want to make Christianity cool and comfortable. We essentially preach the message that following Christ isn’t that boring, weird, or difficult. “We’re just like you, only we have Jesus,” is the message many of us preach with our lives without realizing it. But scripture is clear: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).²¹

Just as Martin Luther leveraged the emerging technology of his day — the printing press — to reach the masses, we too can use short-form content on the internet to capture the good news and bring it to people all over the globe. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37–38; see also Luke 10:2).

A word of caution, however: we must guard against blurring the lines of commercialism and Christianity that is so prevalent in Christian influencer culture. Rachel Seo describes this disastrous conflation in her article for Christ and Pop Culture:

Entwined with the explicitly spiritual content that Christian influencers promote in their videos and captions is the implicit, underlying image of the “ideal Christian lifestyle,” which looks fairly similar across the board. Many Christian influencers post professional-looking photos of their spouses and families, then sell you photo preset packs so your Instagram feed can look like theirs….In all cases, their personal branding encompasses their faith, which they then use to help propel their careers forward. While this is not necessarily bad when done from the right motivation — it is their job to sell things — these trends can emphasize aesthetic over substance and make it hard to separate the cultural from the biblical.²²

Even if you are not the one called to this specific ministry, we must all be ready to engage in these conversations. Fostering real, in-person, intergenerational connections with Gen Z women is the foundation upon which this kind of evangelism can take place. This is the only way you can be the person who a young woman will consult with questions about a particular piece of media they encounter. And despite the fact that Gen Z women generally hate debating and confrontation, with a solid relationship in place, more challenging and beneficial conversations can happen. Just like in any other evangelism context, we must know the culture of the people to whom we are evangelizing, and we must enter into it with care and concern for eternal souls.

Lisa Cooper is a marketing manager at Paravel Insights and a freelance writer with numerous ministries. She has a master’s degree in religion from the American Lutheran Theological Seminary, has served in college ministry for the past decade, and currently serves as a women’s ministry leader.

NOTES

1. See, for example, Randall Niles, “Evangelism 2.0: The Internet Mission Field,” Christian Research Journal, November 9, 2012, updated November 3, 2023, https://www.equip.org/articles/evangelism-2-0.
2. “Average Screen Time Statistics: Exploring Average Screen Usage and Its Impacts,” Magnet ABA Therapy, February 28, 2025, https://www.magnetaba.com/blog/average-screen-time-statistics.
3. Stephanie Rand, “Gen Z Media Consumption 2025: What 1,000 Young Americans Told Us,” Attest, December 22, 2025, https://www.askattest.com/blog/research/gen-z-media-consumption.
4. Naveen Kumar, “Average Screen Time Statistics 2026 [By Age & Region],” DemandSage, December 4, 2025, https://www.demandsage.com/screen-time-statistics/.
5. Lindsey Roeschke, “When It Comes to Engaging with Influencers, Men and Women Are Worlds Apart,” Morning Consult Pro, December 2, 2025, https://pro.morningconsult.com/analysis/men-women-influencer-research.
6. Lisa Cooper, “How the Church Can Address the Crisis of Identity and Belief Among Gen Z Women,” Christian Research Journal, May 14, 2025, updated December 30, 2025, https://www.equip.org/articles/how-the-church-can-address-the-crisis-of-identity-and-belief-among-gen-z-women/.
7. James Patrick Holding, “The Mesmerizing (Mis)information Maelstrom, Christian Research Journal, August 14, 2014, updated September 9, 2025, https://www.equip.org/articles/the-mesmerizing-misinformation-maelstrom/.
8. Douglas Groothius, “The Death of Credentials: How Social Media Influencers Dumbed Us Down and Made Everything Worse,” Christian Research Journal, August 27, 2025, updated February 18, 2026, https://www.equip.org/articles/the-death-of-credentials-how-social-media-influencers-dumbed-us-down-made-everything-worse/.
9. Elizabeth Davis, “The Hidden Dangers of Following Christian Influencers,” theReb, May 6, 2022, https://therebelution.com/blog/2022/05/the-hidden-dangers-of-following-christian-influencers/.
10. Cooper, “Crisis of Identity and Belief.”
11. Kathy Caprino, “Are You Dealing with a Real Expert or a Fake? 7 Ways To Tell,” Forbes, May 19, 2014, updated February 13, 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/05/19/are-you-dealing-with-a-real-expert-or-a-fake-7-ways-to-tell/.
12. Caprino, “Are You Dealing with a Real Expert or a Fake?”
13. Reid Goldsborough, “Questioning the Authenticity of Online Experts,” Government Technology, July 27, 2010, https://www.govtech.com/archive/questioning-the-authenticity-of-online-experts.html.
14. Ruth Graham, “A Pastor’s Son Becomes a Critic of Religion on TikTok,” The New York Times, April 12, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/abraham-piper-tiktok-exvangelical.html.
15. For a comprehensive list of self-identified progressive influencers, see “Top 60 Progressive Christian Influencers in 2026,” FeedSpot, January 7, 2026, https://influencers.feedspot.com/progressive_christian_instagram_influencers/.
16. For a breakdown of things to consider when talking about tradwives from a Christian perspective, see Angie Velasquez Thornton, “4 Things You Should Know About Tradwives,” TGC Canada, June 15, 2025, https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/femmes-scriptura/4-things-you-should-know-about-tradwives/; Anne Kennedy, “How Traditional Are Tradwives: Evaluating the Social Media Movement,” Christian Research Journal 47, no. 2 (2024), https://www.equip.org/articles/how-traditional-are-tradwives-evaluating-the-social-media-movement/. For a comprehensive list of self-identified tradwife influencers, see “Top 30 Tradwife Influencers in 2026,” Feedspot, January 31, 2026, https://influencers.feedspot.com/tradwife_instagram_influencers/.
17. Many articles have been written about this particular demographic. See Ella Jones “Mormon TikTok Tradwives and the Politics of Agency,” Religion and Global Society, November 28, 2024, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2024/11/mormon-tiktok-tradwives-and-the-politics-of-agency/; Jennifer Vanasco, “Tradwife Life Isn’t as Good as It Looks on TikTok — Just Ask Former Tradwives,” NPR Morning Edition, December 19, 2024, https://www.npr.org/2024/12/17/nx-s1-5206673/tradwives-have-taken-over-tiktok-now-ex-tradwives-want-their-moment.
18. Dr. Deborah Ko, “Stay Woke: How Gen Z Is Teaching Us About the Future of News and Information,” Think With Google: Consumer Insights, January 2021, at The Wayback Machine, archived February 11, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250211160023/https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-apac/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/stay-woke-how-gen-z-teaching-us-about-future-news-and-information/.
19. All Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
20. Kyle Keating, “Planting Seeds of Faith: Making the Christian Story Plausible and Desirable to Generation Z,” Christian Research Journal, June 27, 2022, updated June 24, 2025, https://www.equip.org/articles/planting-seeds-of-faith/.
21. Davis, “Hidden Dangers.”
22. Rachel Seo, “What ‘Wedding Night’ Videos Say About Christian Influencer Culture,” Christ and Pop Culture, July 23, 2020, https://christandpopculture.com/what-wedding-night-videos-say-about-christian-influencer-culture/.