Over the past 50 years, the percentage of the public who self-identify as Christian has declined from 90% to 64% , according to a recent Pew Research Center study. In addition, less than half claim active membership in a house of worship.

The decline of religious practice is mirrored by a startling rise of people who profess no religious preference, also known as “nones.” This rise is most prevalent among younger people , who are far less likely than older generations to profess a belief in God or the necessity of religious practice. If current demographic trends hold, Christians will comprise less than half of the U.S. population in the coming decades for the first time in its history.

For most modern evangelists, maintaining demographic majorities for the sake of cultural power is not the primary concern. Most have long been at terms with the end of Christianity’s predominance in modern culture, as well as the hostile targeting Christianity attracts from each of the nation’s major cultural institutions. Instead, the stark decline is understood foremost in spiritual terms. The reality of the Gospel — that God became man, suffered death, and rose from the dead in order to repair the spiritual estrangement caused by sin — is of an order of magnitude greater than politics. Christ, they believe, is not a symbolic figurehead of an earthly tribe but the very real son of the living God who is in pursuit of very real souls.

In the 21st century, America has rapidly transformed from being a vibrant Christian stronghold to missionary territory. This shift coincides with sharp declines in mental and emotional health. The public now self-reports as being more angry, depressed, addicted, and alienated from one another than ever before. They boast a lifestyle of convenience and abundance unknown to the kings and queens of history, and yet they derive increasingly little satisfaction from life. The utopian promises of a post-religious, postmodern secularism have yet to materialize.

However, there are some rays of sunshine busting through for the American Christian church thanks to the efforts of certain evangelists to spread the Gospel and draw the public back into the fold.

I’ve spoken to a number of them in recent months in order to discover their methods and to shine a light upon the success of their ministries. My aspiration for this series, Great American Evangelists, is to create a repository of best practices for evangelization from across the Christian landscape and to counteract the deluge of negative headlines about church participation.

For those who believe in God, particularly those who believe in God's historical manifestation in the person of Jesus Christ, the notion of miracles isn’t remotely far-fetched. Indeed, for a Christian, the most foundational truth of existence — that we exist at all — is a miracle of untold proportion. God didn’t need to create time and space, nor did He need any of his creatures. And yet, here we are, pondering the mysteries of His love in our hearts.

The catechism of the Catholic Church sums up this foundational miracle tidily in its very first sentence: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in His own blessed life.”

For those who really believe such a marvelous idea, anything is possible.

In this light, it is no surprise that the Catholic prayer app Hallow has been able to flourish in a culture that is singularly hostile toward Christianity, and Catholicism in particular. In its brief existence, the app has accrued more than 10 million downloads and, as recently as late May, is listed as No. 3 on the App Store, ahead of digital behemoths such as Amazon, Netflix, Instagram, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube.

Yes, you read that right. A Catholic prayer app is currently hotter than the biggest brand names in digital tech.

Alex Jones, CEO and co-founder of Hallow and devout follower of Jesus Christ, has cultivated and overseen this seemingly miraculous rise for his company. And while his approach has been thorough, evidence-based, and methodical, in a recent discussion with the Washington Examiner, he credits the success of Hallow to a single, foundational principle: “Radical, radical surrender to God.”

This fundamental idea permeates throughout the user experience of the app itself. Through an incredible catalog of content, which runs the gamut of Catholic spirituality from the daily Lectio Divina (meditative scripture reading) to The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola to catechetical study programs such as Father Mike Schmitz’s popular “Catechism in a Year,” Hallow is a digital training station for learning how to let God take the wheel. And yet, none of the content is watered down for the sake of pleasing a modern audience.

"There's something about the intensity of the Christian life that I think we've lost," Jones told the Washington Examiner. "It's radical. It's intense. There's something about that that really pulls people in."

And, perhaps counterintuitively, this emphasis on full-bodied spirituality is backed up by the research. In our interview, Jones cited recent statistics that, despite an overall decline in religious practice and affiliation, reveal a deep hunger for spirituality.

"The number of religious people fell,” Jones said, “but it wasn't replaced by agnostics and atheists. It was replaced by 'spiritual by not religious.' And I saw this in Silicon Valley. If everyone was asked if they were religious, they'd all say ‘no.’ But if they were asked if they were spiritual, they would all say, ‘Yes, of course.’"

Similarly, despite the decline in organized religious practice, the percentage of those who report to pray regularly has remained static over the decades. A Pew Research poll found that between 2007 and 2014, a period that saw a sharp decline in religious participation, revealed that the percentage of those who self-report that they pray at least daily actually increased from 66% to 68% in that period.

For Jones, the persistent hunger for spirituality and prayer among the public makes an ideal entry point for evangelical outreach. This commonality between Catholics and their nonreligious counterparts is ripe for mutual exploration.

“The opportunity to say to young people, ‘You’re interested in spirituality? You’re interested in peace? Well, we have this really beautiful spirituality that I’d love for you to give a try.’ At this point, you aren’t trying to convince them to go to confession or Mass. God is. You’re just helping them talk to God.”

But perhaps the most innovative aspect of Hallow is that, while it is intended to draw nonpracticing Catholics into the faith, it was designed according to what established users already liked about the app, not to what nonusers might like. One might say that Hallow spread like fire using the opposite approach currently on display at the Synod on Synodality, which relies heavily upon the opinions of nonbelievers to effect change within the Catholic Church.

“You start an app, and 100 people download it. Ten use it the next day. Then, eventually, five. Most people would see those numbers and would go talk to the 90 who didn’t use the app. … That’s not nearly as helpful as going to the five and asking why they use it every day. I think what we tend to do as a church is talk to the 90 and ask them what they don’t like about the church. If, instead, you went to the people who are in the church at 2 a.m. and asked them what they’re doing here, they’d say. ‘I’m praying. God’s here.’”

Jones was also eager to express the overall quality of his product as a reason for its stunning success. For any product to be successful in any field, it has to be great. Hallow is sleek and intuitive, and it features the highest-quality content from America’s leading Catholic figures, from actors Jonathan Rumie and Mark Wahlberg to Bishop Robert Barron.

Hallow is a cathedral of an app, meticulously made and resplendent. It’s a true labor of love. Some might even call it a miracle.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner and the founder of Crush the College Essay. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, the National Catholic Register, and the American Spectator.