Episode Description: Today’s young people are not necessarily less religious than previous generations, it’s just that they have far less trust in institutions. In this episode, we share a breakout session from Orange Conference with Dr. Josh Packard, Executive Director of Springtide Research Institute. Josh shares some of Springtide’s findings about religion among 13-25 year olds that are especially relevant for ministry leaders. He also offers up some practical examples of what it looks like to build relationships at scale.

Episode Recap:

• Springtide focuses on data with heart (1:11)
• The stories that we tell ourselves matter (5:01)
• Gen Z is the most diverse generation, and it’s hard to wrap our heads around that (9:27)
• More and more kids are having conversations about religion outside of church (16:39)
• It’s not that religion is declining, but institutional trust is (20:57)
• The trust revolution has also created a crisis of belonging (25:52)
• The only solution to trust and belonging is relationship (38:45)
• How to build relationships at scale (46:15)
• Belonging precedes believing (52:40)

Resources:

• Find every episode of the Think Orange Podcast
• Register for Orange Tour 2022
• Springtide Research Institute
• “Lead Small” from Orange Books

Find show notes here: https://orangeleaders.com/podcast/.