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Spiritual openness is up. Discipleship isn't.
Two-thirds of American adults say they've made a personal commitment to Jesus that still matters to them today. Among Gen Z, nearly three in four say they're watching their peers make the same commitment. By almost any measure, the spiritual climate right now is warmer than it's been in years.
So why does discipleship keep trending in the wrong direction?
New research from Barna, conducted in partnership with Gloo, identifies four trends reshaping how ministry leaders need to think about strategy in 2026. The headline finding is both encouraging and sobering: spiritual openness is rising, but long-term formation is not keeping pace. Fewer Christians than 25 years ago say faith is central to their daily lives, fewer attend church consistently, and fewer prioritize sharing their faith. People are claiming the label without organizing their lives around it. Meanwhile, a generational shift is quietly unfolding in the pews: men now outpace women in attendance for the first time in decades, with the gap widest among Gen Z. And nearly half of practicing Christians are already turning to AI for spiritual formation, mostly without any pastoral guidance.
The gap between curiosity and commitment is the defining pastoral challenge of this moment. People are spiritually open, but open doesn't automatically become rooted. That only happens through intentional discipleship, and that's entirely within your influence as a leader. The trends say the field is ready. The question is whether your ministry is structured to work it.
Three things to try this week:
Name the discipleship gap. Look at your last 90 days of attendance, small group signups, or baptism conversations. Where are people stalling between interest and engagement? Naming the gap specifically is the first step to designing for it.
Assess your formation pathways. Ask your team: if someone showed up spiritually curious this Sunday, what would their next three steps actually be? If you can't answer that clearly, that's your most important project.
Get ahead of AI. Your people are already using it for prayer, Bible study, and personal growth. One in three wants pastoral guidance on how to navigate it. Consider even a brief sermon mention, a newsletter paragraph, or a staff conversation this week to start developing your posture before the question forces itself.
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Ministry Intel
The Real Question Pastors Are Asking | Brianne Shaw, Gloo
Writing for Gloo, Brianne Shaw cuts to the question most pastors are actually carrying into the AI conversation: I'm already behind. Where do I even start? Shaw, a bivocational pastor herself, points to a telling data point: pastoral vocational satisfaction has dropped from 72% in 2015 to 52% in 2026, not because pastors have lost their calling (confidence in calling is actually up) but because too much of modern ministry has been consumed by administrative weight. Barna found that the leading driver of pastoral burnout is a mismatch between responsibilities and gifts, combined with a limited ability to delegate. Shaw's frame for AI is practical: if a tool returns twenty minutes of margin to a depleted leader, those minutes accumulate into the capacity that makes genuine pastoral presence possible. The goal isn't to produce more. It's to protect the work that only you can do.
This week: Identify one recurring task that consumes time without requiring your pastoral judgment—drafting announcements, summarizing meeting notes, building a sermon outline. Spend 20 minutes experimenting with an AI tool on that task and notice what it gives back.
Leadership Is Designed to Kill You | Dr. Nicole Martin, Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast
Dr. Nicole Martin didn't take the presidency of Christianity Today because it was an easy seat. Her conversation with Carey Nieuwhof is a frank look at what leading well actually requires of you. Martin argues that effective leadership is designed to crucify you—not as a metaphor for burnout, but as the intentional process of shedding ego and self-protection so that what remains can actually serve people well. Her most useful observation for any pastor: the higher the seat, the more the work shifts from doing to being. More stillness, discernment, and prayer than most achievers are comfortable with. She also names the discipleship crisis plainly: when Sunday school disappears and life groups go remote, you don't just lose programming. You lose the built-in framework that moves people from curious to committed. Leaders who want to close that gap have to be whole enough to build it.
This week: What aspect of your current role is most misaligned with your actual gifts? Name it, and consider whether delegation or a conversation with a trusted colleague might free you to lead from strength instead of strain.Growth Toolkit
A 1–2 hour introductory course focused on helping youth with mental health challenges and trauma. Can be completed individually on-demand or as a facilitator-led group. A practical next step for churches already invested in youth ministry who want to equip leaders to care well.
Canva for Nonprofits — Full access to Canva's premium design tools for qualifying churches and nonprofits. Lets a small or volunteer team produce professional-quality graphics for announcements, social media, and events. Free for qualifying organizations.
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