(RNS) — With a seemingly endless flood of social media content, creators and AI warnings, 2025 emerged as a year of skepticism and spectacle. People were glued to their phones without knowing exactly what they could trust. Oxford University Press’ word of the year is “rage-bait,” a term that aptly captures how the internet operated for many people, without predictions about when the trend might end.
Leading the charge in their respective corners of the internet and weaving their personal experiences with their brands, here are RNS’ picks for the top movers and shakers in the online faith sphere in 2025.
Ms. Rachel
From a YouTube channel created in 2019, originally titled “Songs for Littles,” the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the relevance of Ms. Rachel’s show, making it a popular resource for families seeking quality educational content for kids. Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, 43, is now gracing the cover of Glamour magazine as one of its 2025 Women of the Year. For the magazine’s awards event, she wore an upcycled dress embroidered with drawings by children in Gaza as a statement of advocacy, which she said is grounded in her Christian faith. She also has been named to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural committee.
Accurso has been outspoken since 2023 about children suffering in conflict zones as her educational content has gone mainstream through platforms like Netflix, where episodes expanding on the work …