The Number One Reason Why Every Christian Should Be on Social Media
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We’ve all read the statistics.
Psychologists have warned of the dangers of social media to our mental and emotional health.
Every week or so a new article publishes new findings and reasons why we should all abandon Facebook and reengage in society with our “real-life” friends.
Why the front porch should be physical, not virtual.
And you know what? I’m all for that. I really am. As much as I love social media, I’m all for hanging out with people I can actually touch.
However, I am not for abandoning social media. Not by a long shot. And here’s why.
Most of you know that I came to Croatia as a missionary. I had big dreams and huge goals. But God had another goal in mind.
3 years later I got married and then kids came along and my physical reach shrunk
We moved to the country and it shrunk even more.
As a stay-at-home mom in the country, and as a one-car family, we can only do so much to physically reach people.
But even if this scenario were different, our resources would still be limited to money and location.
The Internet offers us an opportunity to reach exponentially more people in a shorter amount of time for little-to-no out-of-pocket expense.
Literally every Christian with Internet access can become an online missionary.
No need to raise support.
Just grab your computer and the whole world is at your fingertips right now!
Here are 4 ways you can reach people on the Internet and how you can use social media to evangelize
1. Social Media – Social media is the obvious. Check out these numbers!
According to Statista, as of last quarter, Facebook had over 1.19 billions users. Twitter had over 236 million.
Now – just think of the reach you can have as an online missionary with those kinds of numbers!
2. Blogging – Yes, the blogosphere is saturated. But marketing experts all agree that blogging is not fading on the horizon any time soon. Everyday new bloggers enter the blogosphere!
You can choose any number of free platforms, or you can invest in your own website with your own url as a place to share the good news of Jesus Christ!
3. Internet forums – I would dare to say that Internet forums are one of the most neglected online mission fields.
If you have a passion to reach the lost but don’t know where to start, here is where you can start. If time is flexible for you, my advice would be to start working graveyard.
Many hurting people find they can’t sleep and end up turning to the Internet to dull their pain. They hang out in chat rooms and Internet forums where they open up.
These are people who you might not ever reach by any other means but through the Internet.
Here’s how you can use social media to evangelize:
1. Set your profile to public. If you are nervous about your personal stuff becoming public, just be cautious about what you share. The advantage to having your profile set to public is that your friends can share what you post to their own profiles and your reach has suddenly become world-wide.
Post encouraging statuses, Bible verses, your thoughts on your daily devotions, or even long blog-style posts right in your FB status.
I have a friend who daily posts “Back Porch Observations”. They are thought-provoking, encouraging and even challenging at times, and his reach is amazing!
2. Start a FB page, public group, or Google + community. If the idea of a public profile makes you nervous, you can start a page. Name if after yourself, or come up with a catchy name.
Be sure to ask your friends to like your page. Then ask them continue liking, sharing and commenting on what you post so that your posts are seen by more people.
3. Online Bible Study. There are a lot of online Bible studies to choose from. I help lead Good Morning Girls. To increase your reach with an online Bible study, consider running a Facebook page simultaneously with a secret group so that those who share private needs in your group are assured that their confidentiality is respected.
Even if you pair up with an existing Bible Study, like Good Morning Girls, you can run a page. Just give it a unique name and then share the the posts and images, with your own thoughts and observations from the study, to your page. By doing this, you’re not only helping to expand an existing ministry, your own reach will be that much more effective!
4. Vlog. Diversify your message by vlogging. Most devices now allow you to easily record yourself. Upload your videos to YouTube and then share them to social media.
To make your videos more Facebook-friendly, upload your video from your device directly to Facebook. This will increase your reach.
While it’s true that social media can be a waste of time, and even emotional energy, it is only a resource.
Social media is what we put into it.
Let’s be responsible stewards of this amazing resource and use it for God’s glory!
This article was featured at Charisma Magazine’s Spirit Led Women under the title “Why You Should Be On Social Media“
Find all the free resources for this study here below:
Agree with you completely on this! Great post! Thanks!
Thank you, Rachel!
I am a stay at home mom and we are a family in the ministry so I can fully agree with this post. I don’t have access to go out and do a lot, but I can use my voice through the internet to reach out. I have tried to do this with my blog and I have gotten a good response so far. It is work, but with God in it I know it will prosper. Great post and great ideas for being an internet evangelist!
That is wonderful!! Yes – a blog can be a lot of work, but it wonderful what we can do with it. And God will make it prosper, for sure!
I forgot to add I found this on Literacy Musing Monday 😉
I think this is great. I know that some Christians think social media is the great evil. But I agree that it can be used for good purposes. 🙂
Yes – it is a tool. It can be good or evil, depending on how we use it.
This is so true. Even Pastors are becoming more present and outspoken on Social Media.
Yes – it is wonderful!
This is such a great post and I agree 100%. I’ve always thought the internet was a wonderful tool for evangelizing. I reach people I would never even know existed otherwise. We connect over blogging and then we can easily open conversations about Christ. I always say if I can influence one person’s life by showing them Christ through my blog and online presence, then I’ve done what God had planned for me. Thanks for the post! (visiting from Living Proverbs 31 link up)
Thank you! And I love your mission for your blog! May God bless you as you honor Him with your words!
Thank you for writing this. You have given me some great ideas to think about.
Blessings
Mrs. White
Yea! My work is done! **Grin**
I generally agree with this, but I think there is some potential fallacy, too. We can easily become deceived by measuring our “success” in missions by things like “reach” and “engagement.” Often ours is just another voice amongst way too many others to have actual IMPACT on anyone’s lives. God has been showing me that real impact more often comes from being DIRECTLY involved in bringing hope, healing and reconciliation to those around me in a real and tangible way. Words are much easier for me than action because I have a big busy family. But real transformation has been happening when I have ministered to people in actual life – helping them with childcare, working on a service project, studying & praying together IN PERSON.
I see you’re point. I don’t mean reach as in success, as much as I mean that we have a medium at our fingertips that can cause our message to be heard by many more people. Jesus did this by choosing to teach on the Mountain when He gave His sermon on the Mount. It was an area that was like a natural amphitheater. As He spoke in a normal voice, many people could hear Him at once. He chose a medium that would carry His voice farther than usual. Social Media is our “amphitheater”.
I get what you’re saying, too. But I feel much more drawn to making my LIFE the message, not the words, do you know what I mean?
Oh wow such an eye opener.I always learn alot from yoh Rosilind and i ussually teach and print to tgem your articles my group what i learn from you. Youre really fulfulling your God ordained Purpose and walking on ur Destiny
Oh – thank you so much for this encouraging comment. It made my whole day! I am so honored that you’re sharing the comment with your group. I pray you are blessed in your labor for the Lord!
I completely agree with your post. I have a blog I started in Nov., 2017 called “Bringing Jesus Home.” It is directed toward Christian parents and grandparents, and includes ways they can more fully include Christ in their kids’ homelife. I started it because I see too many kids leaving the Church and their faith after they become adults. See, https://wp.me/p9kPLb-6W
The problem is, I get very few to no views on a regular basis. I have included a “challenge”, several suggestions for discussions and activities parents/grandparents can do with their kids, but I get no responses.
I honestly feel this is what God wants me to do, and have been waiting on Him to guide me in this endeavor. Have any thoughts? Thank you so much, Jan
Hi Jan – I am so sorry that I’m just now answering your comment. Please forgive me for getting behind in this. My advice to you in trying to grow your blog is to visit other relevant blogs and leave comments – as you have here. Also, choose one or two social media platforms and build an audience. Lastly, build a mailing list as a way of building a faithful, core audience to which you can write and communicate directly. These are all things that helped grow my audience. Finally (I know, I already said “lastly”) – don’t give up. Keep at it. Write and write and keep writing, even if it seems no one is reading. Growing a blog is hard work and it takes a lot of time. But those who refuse to give up succeed.
I totally agree! My sister doesn’t have any Facebook profile, and her Instagram is dead, but she does interact on social media. Recently she connected with a young girl who commented on a Youtube video that she was so depressed she wanted to kill herself. My sister peggy kept “talking” to her until she felt she could go and tell somebody in her church.
Social media is such a powerful medium to reach out to those you may not otherwise be able to touch. What a wonderful story about your sister! Thank you so much for sharing.