Finding faith beyond the feed

Helping teens and youth workers with social media

A teenager brings you a question about God. But before you can respond, they pull out a TikTok clip of someone else’s hot take, and you begin to realize the conversation began long before you entered it.

For parents and youth leaders, this can feel like losing ground. But a new Canadian study (TheEFC.ca/InfluencingFaith) on social media and faith formation among youth in Canadian evangelical ministries offers reasons for hope. Young people still turn to people they know. Many recognize their need for a break from screens.

We can help teens navigate digital life through everyday practices of listening, hospitality and belonging.

Who answers first?

Among surveyed youth 43% said they’d go first to a parent with a faith question, and 19% to a youth pastor. These relationships still matter, even when students arrive already half-satisfied with someone else’s online explanation.

We may still be trusted, even when we’re no longer the first voice they hear.

One practical response is to ask, "What got you thinking that way? Can you show me the video?" Listen for what caught their attention. Was it a convincing argument, an uncomfortable question or someone whose experience sounded like their own?

Resist the urge to dismiss an online creator immediately – that can cause the young person to also feel dismissed and so to stop bringing questions. We can welcome curiosity while taking truth seriously.

Then examine the claim together. Open the Bible and read the context, explore trusted sources of knowledge together, and show them how you go about wrestling with your own questions about faith.

And when you don’t know, say so. "Let’s find out together" models a faith that can keep learning at any age. Digital discernment grows through curious conversations in which young people feel safe, heard and taken seriously.

Where teens go to log off

The study reports 63% of youth took a social media break in the previous year. Many young people are deleting apps, then reinstalling them when boredom or the desire to reconnect returns. But the breaks supported by friends, youth groups and camps make it easier because there is community to step into.

This is a great opportunity for churches to do what they’ve always done best. Invite young people into a shared meal, walk, service project or games night with agreed times for putting phones away. If you ask them to help shape the experience, they’ll be more invested, as long as adults follow the same phones-away rule.

Make room for ordinary conversation with youth, including the awkward pauses before someone finds the words. Every moment doesn’t need to be highly planned and entertaining. Community belonging and trust can grow as teens and adults stack chairs or linger in the parking lot together.

Be clear when an opportunity is meant to give each other full attention and respect as we turn off the noise. If we want young people to experience life beyond their feeds, we need to offer time, friendship and somewhere they’re happy to be.

63% of surveyed youth took a social media break in the previous year INFLUENCING FAITH (2026)

We encourage teens to take breaks while sometimes making social media essential to participating in church.

Belonging without Instagram

Here’s a contradiction worth examining – we encourage teens to take breaks while sometimes making social media essential to participating in church.

The report describes pressure to join social media platforms because friends, teams and youth groups communicate there.

Use this filter for your own outreach and programs: Can a teenager without Instagram know what is happening, register for an event and feel included?

Put essential information somewhere accessible without a social account. Offer an email update or a website calendar. Announce plans in person. Print invites to go on someone’s fridge.

Ask young people where communication is failing them. Having several channels helps only if someone keeps them current, and most youth groups and churches don’t have capacity to update multiple places each week.

Our digital choices communicate who belongs. A young person should be able to step away from a platform and remain fully connected to their church, assured they are seen, loved and welcome.