{"id":4941,"date":"2020-11-30T15:24:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T20:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=4941"},"modified":"2020-11-30T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T20:24:22","slug":"can-tiktok-help-drive-gen-z-to-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2020\/11\/can-tiktok-help-drive-gen-z-to-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"Can TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While TikTok may seem like a frivolous app teenagers and 20-somethings play with on their phones, the platform \u2014 which is relatively new to the U.S. market \u2014 has already shown the power to make change \u201cIRL.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video-centric app is credited with popularizing the runaway hit \u201cStunnin\u2019\u201d by Curtis Waters. In another instance, it exposed to millions of viewers a dance sequence known as \u201cThe Renegade\u201d created by a 14-year-old girl in a suburb of Atlanta, resulting in teens mimicking the moves in school hallways around the country.<\/p>\n

That TikTok\u2019s 15- to 30-second clips are perfect for making new songs and dances go viral is obvious, less so is its potential to #MakeJesusViral. But the hashtag garnered 362 million views, proving bite-sized chunks of theology just as edible. Similarly, #Christian has gotten 10.5 billion views #Jewish 1.1 billion and #Islam a whopping 23.7 billion.<\/p>\n

To say that religion is big on the platform is an understatement.<\/p>\n

These lessons aren\u2019t lost on young people hoping to build faith communities. Christian, Muslim and Jewish creators alike are utilizing TikTok to spread the word \u2014 with evangelicals, in particular, embracing the platform as they historically have with new technology.<\/p>\n

Religion\u2019s outsize presence on the app also calls into question the widely held belief that Gen Z, those born after 1996, is following the decadesold American trend away from religion. Maybe TikTok isn\u2019t exactly bringing them into the fold \u2014 but some religious leaders say the proliferation of faith-related clips suggests the young are searching for something.<\/p>\n

In search of the flock<\/h3>\n

Many TikTok creators making religious content use the same methods as other TikTokers \u2014they ride the waves of the trending content to bring religion to the masses \u2014 to maximize attention to their posts.<\/p>\n

Father Matt Lowry (@catholic.jacks<\/a>\u00a073.8K followers) is a Catholic priest who leads a church at Northern Arizona University. He\u2019s not a Gen Zer but \u201cFather Matt,\u201d as he\u2019s affectionately called, has a team of college students who help him create social media content to reach local students. When Father Matt and his Gen Z advisers combined two trends \u2014 the song \u201cStunnin\u2019\u201d with the \u201cWhat I\u2019d wear\u201d concept \u2014\u00a0he went viral to the tune of 3.7 million views<\/a>\u00a0and over 350,000 likes.<\/p>\n

Father Matt was shocked at the success of the clip, which simply shows him in different robes for various holy days. He was also surprised by the popularity of a clip in which he and young members of the church did the \u201cCOVID Slide<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a humorous, socially distanced version of the song \u201cElectric Slide\u201d that starts with putting masks on, continues with elbow taps, and concludes with washing hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt got over a million views,\u201d he says. Out of curiosity, he searched the app to see who else was using the same track. It seemed to be mostly people between 14 to 21 \u2014 \u201ca demographic that the church struggles with right now,\u201d says Father Matt. \u201cThey\u2019re in TikTok. And if this is where the people are, this is where we want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using TikTok to reach out to Catholics, Father Matt says, is an \u201cattempt to emulate Jesus, who goes in search of the flock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ultimate goal<\/h3>\n

While Father Matt stumbled into the evangelistic aspect of TikTok, Gabe Poirot \u2014 a 19-year-old TikToker and student at Kenneth Copeland Bible College \u2014 got onto the platform specifically because the technology seemed perfect for broadcasting the word of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith churches you swing through the same people every week. With TikTok, it\u2019s all evangelism,\u201d says Poirot, who has over one million followers spread out across four TikTok channels (the most recently updated\u00a0@gabe_poirot<\/a>).<\/p>\n

When Poirot talks about \u201cevangelism\u201d on TikTok, he\u2019s talking about making contact and getting viewers interested enough so they\u2019ll want to know more. \u201cA 30-second video never changed anyone\u2019s life,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat it does is it gives exposure to the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot makes TikToks \u2014 as creators call the clips \u2014 with three goals in mind: The first, is to keep things light. \u201cI capture their attention by being excited, by having a smile on my face.\u201d Second, he wants to hit viewers with a little gospel \u2014 \u201cjust a tad bit so it pulls on their heart,\u201d he says. The last \u2014 and, arguably, most important \u2014 is to send them elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of every TikTok is to take them to the profile (and then) to the YouTube,\u201d says Poirot.<\/p>\n

There, they can watch Poirot\u2019s sermons, which range from 15 minutes to an hour. And, on Friday and Sunday nights, they can join the Bible study groups Poirot holds on YouTube Live. Participants engage in real time, through live chat; Poirot interacts with them, getting to know some by name, creating feelings of cohesion and community.<\/p>\n

TikTok fosters community in a similar way. At first glance, the platform might seem like a home for passively consumed content. But the commenting sections reveal that videos sometime serve as springboards into deeper conversations and interactions or to faith in real life.<\/p>\n

A number of Northern Arizona University students who have come to mass have approached Father Matt to say \u201c\u2018I initially connected with you on TikTok.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Poirot and other TikTok evangelists have also set up events in hopes of turning the virtual into a physical interaction. He recently took part in one leg of the Gen Z For Jesus Tour \u2014 a multi-city event held at the end of October. A number of Christian TikTokers \u2014 including Cash Baker, (@cashbaker) who has 16.5 million followers \u2014 hit the road, stopping at cities in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida to hold religious revivals in a variety of venues, from churches and parking lots to football fields and the beach.<\/p>\n

Footage from each gathering was uploaded to the platform under\u00a0@genzforjesus<\/a>\u00a0(18.6K followers) as clips of young people getting baptized in everything from large plastic tubs to the ocean. At the event that Poirot attended in Fort Worth, Texas, several young people approached him and said that they followed him on TikTok and YouTube. Poirot also spoke with another girl whose mother had brought her to the event. He urged them to join the same church he attends.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy purpose is not to substitute for the local church,\u201d says Poirot. \u201cIt\u2019s to bridge the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

A long-term commitment?<\/h3>\n

Using TikTok \u201cis the next iteration of what evangelicalism has been incredibly good at historically,\u201d says Richard Flory, a sociologist and senior director of research at University of Southern California\u2019s Center for Religion and Civic Culture. \u201cPeople want to call (evangelicals) anti-modern but they\u2019re not. They\u2019re incredibly smart about using technology. In the 1920s, some of the first radio owners were evangelicals and Pentecostals.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that came television (think Billy Graham and so-called televangelists). \u201cThey\u2019ve always been quick to capitalize on technological innovations and bring it into their own world,\u201d says Flory.<\/p>\n

Though Flory is unsurprised by the flurry of TikTok evangelists, he is doubtful of their ability to bring young Americans into the fold in a large scale way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to separate out that they don\u2019t represent Gen Zers. They represent\u00a0religious<\/em>\u00a0Gen Zers and the total number of hits is global,\u201d says Flory, author of \u201cBackpocket God: Religion and Spirituality in the Lives of Emerging Adults.\u201d \u201cIf someone has 16 million followers \u2014 where are they located? My guess would be they\u2019re not all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quantity and popularity of religious content on TikTok \u201cmakes sense,\u201d he adds, \u201cbecause it\u2019s 30 seconds. It\u2019s absolutely no time commitment on my part. Even if I watch 10 of them it\u2019s like 5 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

While TikTok evangelism excels at outreach, it lacks the follow-through \u2014 the commitment \u2014 demanded by earlier forms of evangelism, even those that utilized technology, says Flory. Because of that, Flory is skeptical of the platform\u2019s ability to make a long term, meaningful impact on GenZ\u2019s religiosity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think back to someone like Billy Graham … (his) model was you go into a city, get participation from local churches and they would do whatever the show was \u2014 whatever the program was with music and some testimonies \u2014 and he would offer the opportunity for people to come forward and receive Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what viewers saw at home wasn\u2019t the end of it. Off camera, the new converts were recruited into the local churches. \u201cYou didn\u2019t give them experience and then just hit the road,\u201d says Flory.<\/p>\n

While Poirot emphasizes the centrality of brick and mortar churches, he argues there\u2019s not such a big disconnect between online and off \u2014 what they do on TikTok and in other digital spaces matters.<\/p>\n

He also says that maybe people need to rethink what spirituality and religiosity looks like, especially when it comes to Gen Z. \u201cWhen you look at the polls \u2014 the research \u2014 they ask \u2018How often do you go to church?\u2019 because they associate going to church with religion … We associate stuff we do in digital world closely with what we do in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI get a lot of people telling me that they still don\u2019t go to church but they\u2019re getting to know God better,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

A \u2018sneak peek\u2019 into Judaism and Islam<\/h3>\n

Not all faiths use the app to win converts. Both Jewish and Muslim TikTokers seem to deploy TikTok as a way to normalize or demystify their beliefs and practices to fellow TikTokers.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that demystification is intentional, like the clip that Will and Sana Saleh \u2014 young, married Muslim Canadian couple (@salehfamily 637.4K followers) \u2014 made called \u201cWho gets to see her hair?<\/a>\u201d A brief explanation of Islam\u2019s approach to women\u2019s modesty, the clip got 18.5 million views, over three million likes, and is one of the first to come up under #Islam.<\/p>\n

But in some circumstances, the platform turns creators into accidental ambassadors for their faith. That\u2019s what happened to Toiby Hayes (@toibycontinued<\/a>\u00a054.3K followers), a 24-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman who lives in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

She explains that her TikToks were born of her own faith-related struggle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout high school I felt like I couldn\u2019t be into fashion and (follow) Orthodox … laws of modesty,\u201d says Hayes. After going out and experimenting, she wanted to share\u00a0her ideas<\/a>\u00a0to offer comfort and inspiration to other Jewish women who felt the same way. \u201cMy intention was for people within my community to find inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after one video went viral, suddenly non-Jews were reaching out. \u201cWe\u2019re alienesque,\u201d she says with a laugh. Her channel offers \u201cthis sneak peek into what it\u2019s like to be Orthodox\u201d and correct misconceptions.<\/p>\n

Secular Jews who \u201cwould like to be more engaged,\u201d Hayes says, have also approached her on TikTok to ask for advice about deepening their practice. In those instances, she has directed them toward more authoritative resources \u2014 making her videos a conduit of faith.<\/p>\n

She also feels that her presence on TikTok offers other young Orthodox Jews an image of themselves. \u201cYou feel very different as young people (from non-Orthodox peers),\u201d she says. On her channel, they see themselves \u201cnormalized,\u201d she adds \u2014 a powerful thing for any teenager or 20-something.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an aspect of oh it\u2019s fun and everyone is having a good time, but there are smaller communities that are finding comfort (on TikTok),\u201d Hayes says.<\/p>\n

Father Matt believes Gen Z is searching for the same thing as everyone else. \u201cThere\u2019s something in us that looks for grounding,\u201d Father Matt reflects. \u201cThey\u2019re looking for harmony and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Guest post by Mya Jaradat of Desert News.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While TikTok may seem like a frivolous app teenagers and 20-somethings play with on their phones, the platform \u2014 which is relatively new to the U.S. market \u2014 has already shown the power to make change \u201cIRL.\u201d The video-centric app is credited with popularizing the runaway hit \u201cStunnin\u2019\u201d by Curtis Waters. In another instance, it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":4944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1509,90,1506,936,1503],"class_list":["post-4941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages","tag-desertnews","tag-faith","tag-gen-z","tag-social-media","tag-tiktok"],"yoast_head":"\nCan TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While TikTok is best known for its lighthearted clips, surprisingly, the app is an excellent vehicle for religious content and community building.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While TikTok is best known for its lighthearted clips, surprisingly, the app is an excellent vehicle for religious content and community building.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-30T20:24:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2020\/11\/tiktok-5390055_960_720.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"471\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deseret News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?","description":"While TikTok is best known for its lighthearted clips, surprisingly, the app is an excellent vehicle for religious content and community building.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?","og_description":"While TikTok is best known for its lighthearted clips, surprisingly, the app is an excellent vehicle for religious content and community building.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2020-11-30T20:24:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":471,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2020\/11\/tiktok-5390055_960_720.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Deseret News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2020\/11\/can-tiktok-help-drive-gen-z-to-faith.html","url":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot","name":"Can TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2020\/11\/tiktok-5390055_960_720.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-30T20:24:22+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-30T20:24:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/81a0d2bc5e0086d4f6d8c9042ae207c8"},"description":"While TikTok is best known for its lighthearted clips, surprisingly, the app is an excellent vehicle for religious content and community building.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2020\/11\/tiktok-5390055_960_720.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2020\/11\/tiktok-5390055_960_720.jpg","width":768,"height":471},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/indepth\/2020\/11\/21\/21570276\/tiktok-christianity-evangelism-catholicism-islam-judaism-orthodox-jews-unorthodox-gabe-poirot#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can TikTok Help Drive Gen Z to Faith?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/","name":"Inspiration Report","description":"Inspiration News, Life Advice and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/81a0d2bc5e0086d4f6d8c9042ae207c8","name":"Deseret News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/df2\/df20b363e6585191f03aec135618721cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/df2\/df20b363e6585191f03aec135618721cx96.jpg","caption":"Deseret News"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/dnews"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4941"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4953,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions\/4953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}