Trust is one of those intangible things that shows up in everything. It shows up in our pizza choices, the car dealership we buy from, which realtor we engage, and the church we attend. Like many of the most important things, it's invisible but lurking behind every decision.
In the latest research on trust, both pastors and entrepreneurs can glean some important insights. If you jump to the bottom of the list, the first thing we learn is that celebrity doesn't get us much trust, and in that same range of low trust fall both social media and AI. We love them all, but when it comes right down to it, we don't trust them.
Local businesses still edge out small churches and have twice as much trust as megachurches. The local nature of the church and the small business is an important part of what sustains trust. As the church or the business begins to look like something out of a big box store, it loses trust.
For entrepreneurs, calling yourself a Christian Business doesn't get you any trust points; it actually drops the trust level by 13%. The fact that local businesses have more trust than Christians or small churches tells us something about what they are stewarding as community leaders.
Pastors need to understand the trust capital that entrepreneurs and business owners carry. They are embedded in the fabric of local community, and their health and vitality matter to the spirit of a place and its people. Reaching a community requires that you engage with those who are already trusted - Jesus gave those instructions when he sent out his disciples looking for persons of peace, and it's true today. Churches that want to reach their community have to do that with the trust agents that are already established. Engaging and equipping entrepreneurs as marketplace missionaries isn't really optional if we want to reach our culture.
...Not with retention of trust. For business, it costs a whopping 30% on the trust meter; for churches, it's about the same. What people connect to is something closer to home, a place where they can be known. That's the opposite of what has been commercialized, packaged, and made impersonal.
For both, there is credibility to be lent to others. When family members (the highest trust group) speak highly of a church or a local business, it matters. When local businesses support and engage with a local church, that trust can be shared. Bypassing trust realities won't work.
If you look at this data, the answer seems clear.
That's the difference between big and small, labeled and local.
The bigger and more professionalized look is actually breeding suspicion. If something looks that great, can it really be true? We've seen the TV pitchman a time too many.
We want things that are real, committed to us and personally connected. That's a lesson for everyone.
Americans-Trust-Whats-Local-And-Small-scaled, Barna 2026