Read and Grow

Tayla is a former competitive surfer and self-confessed introvert. After an injury halted her surfing career, Tayla felt that God was prompting her to step outside her comfort zone and live life with a focus more on others than herself. She tells the story...

Tayla:

I found that living for myself is actually quite comfortable. So when I felt challenged to step back and start looking for others, it was scary, but I found that that's actually what we are called to do.

When I was living in South Africa, I was surfing competitively for a while and I was just so focused on myself—until I had an injury that prevented me from competing. The day before a contest that I’d been training really hard for, I sliced my foot right open and I couldn't walk anymore.

And that's when I really felt God was convicting me that I needed to step out.

I'm a super introverted person, which made it challenging for me to step out and share my faith. So it took a lot of courage, but it also brought a lot of fear when it came to actually doing something. So, I was praying for opportunities to come along where I could share my faith, and one day I was in the water surfing and I came across these guys. I found out that they were ex-street children and that one of my friends was going to start volunteering at the organization where these guys were from, called Surfers Not Street Children.

I just had the idea one day, you know, maybe I should start a Bible study. So a friend and I started one up with these guys, which was really challenging because it was really out of my comfort zone. The first time we rocked up at Bible study, it was pretty scary as we didn't really know what to speak about or how to engage with them. They were late teens/young adults, and were pretty sceptical.

I found their push back hard, but it was then I had to remember, you know, everyone comes from a different background, so just showing love towards them was the most important thing. Sometimes we have no idea where people have been or what they're going through, and sometimes they just need to be shown love. These guys were from the streets and they grew up on the streets. So we would try to choose topics that would relate to them.

There was this one really sceptical guy who came for the first few weeks. After a while, he became a bit more engaged in the study and asked more questions. It was so cool to see him interested in wanting to know more. One day he came to Bible study and just showed us his chest… he had ‘God is good’ tattooed across his whole chest—just like the ‘No Ragrets’ meme—which was really cool to see.

That’s when I was like ‘this is so awesome’ and this is why I'm doing this. It was so encouraging because I had been so scared in starting the Bible study. It was so awesome being able to see how God can even use an introvert.

I realised it's so important to be obedient to God's calling even when it’s something that's scary and we have a lot of fear towards. It’s encouraging knowing that when we are obedient, God is with us and he has put the opportunity in front of us for a reason. He’ll always go before us and be with us through it all.

Do you ever feel like your phone owns you, and not the other way around?

Through DMs, phone messages, and social media notifications you are connected with hundreds of millions of people around the world. Each ping from your phone is a demand of your attention, and every post, comment, and message you send comes from a desire for attention back. Instant attention from anonymous people on the other side of the world.

Thanks to the internet, our society is hyper-connected. Whether you like it or not we are plugged into the largest communication hub ever known to man. But the cracks are starting to show¹.

We are bloated with hyper-connectedness yet we hunger for a connection that is true, genuine, and personal.

Humans are hardwired for genuine connection. And it’s in that space Jesus calls you to share him with the world.

After His death and resurrection, Jesus gathers his disciples together and sends them out, saying, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Notice the progression of Jesus’ instructions; Jerusalem followed by Judea and Samaria, and finally the ends of the earth.

For the disciples, Jerusalem was the immediate area, the centre of their culture and society. Judea and Samaria were regions beyond the immediate, and the ends of the earth were… well, as far as you can go.

So if you’re looking for a way to share Jesus, start in YOUR Jerusalem. Start in your immediate area where you are already personally connected. Start with your friends, family and the people you see every day. Cultivate a friendship that is personal and genuine and share Jesus in that space. It could be as simple as starting a conversation with your barista or someone at uni, or in a friendship you already have but want to take deeper.

As you grow your friendship, find ways to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. Let peace, love, and joy shine out like a light on a hill pointing to Jesus. In the context of your close relationships, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and take opportunities to open up conversations about Jesus, church, and faith.

People are hungry for genuine connection. Share Jesus by limiting your hyper-connection with the world and explore true, genuine connection with the people already around you.

Who can you reach out to in genuine connection today?

References

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-human-connection/201912/making-real-connections-in-the-age-social-media

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Acts 1:8

Galatians 5:22-23

Brian is a regular guy who loves Jesus and has a heart to share him with the people he meets every day. A chance encounter at a gas station became an opportunity to share Jesus in a miraculous way. Brian was ready for that opportunity because he made one simple life choice…

The other day I was at a gas station. I noticed a dude who seemed to be limping, he looked like he was in pain. So I went up to him and I said, “Hey man, can I pray for you?” He replied, “Sure, yeah, you can pray for me.”

It turned out he was a Muslim, so he wasn’t bothered by me praying for him at all. I prayed that all his pain would go away. At first, nothing happened, but after a few moments, he turned back to me and said that his pain had gone away! I said, “That’s because Jesus loves you and cares for you.”

It was a super quick moment. He didn’t trust in Jesus at that moment, but it planted a seed. And maybe further down the road, he’ll be open to hearing the Gospel.

An easy way I’ve found to start talking to people about Jesus is to ask, “Hey, does that hurt?” because there are people everywhere who are in pain. I don’t always have the right words to say, but I just try to build their connection to Jesus.

There is one decision I’ve made that has been super helpful in sharing the Gospel: when I go out into the world, I simply keep my eyes open. Too often we’re so focused on ourselves we miss opportunities that are right in front of us. Sometimes there are things going on around you that the Lord wants you to see. He might want you to move in on someone else’s life. Right there at that moment. We need to learn to take our blinders off and ask God, “What are you doing in this place around me?”

Pretty soon when you do this, you’ll start to see the needs of those around you. Everywhere you go, there’s somebody who needs a word of encouragement, kindness, an act of charity, or healing through the gospel.

Anyone can do this. You’ll be amazed at what comes across your path as you simply begin to move about your world with your eyes open.

Social media has changed the landscape of how we share Jesus forever. It used to be rallies, cable TV shows, and church outreach events, now you can reach large crowds with your social media account. Of course, it’s not always that simple.

Social media isn’t always an effective space to talk about things like faith and Jesus. Have you ever wondered why you can post a picture of your cat falling off the couch and it basically goes viral, but a post about your faith makes you feel like people are scrolling with their eyes shut?

How can you leverage your socials to share Jesus in a way that’s effective and engaging? To do this, it’s helpful to understand the nature of the environment in which you’re communicating.

The Social Space

When posting online, the first thing to recognise is you’re operating in a ‘social space’. A social space involves a large audience, for example, a lecture, a church service, or even a YouTube video. Information can be shared with a large audience, but often at the expense of meaningful engagement and personal transformation.

The Personal Space

Talking about Jesus in a way that results in ongoing life change is most effective when you’re operating in the ‘personal space’. A personal space takes place in one on one conversations or small group interactions. Here emotional guards can be lowered, trust can be built, and meaningful life transformation takes place.

We can learn a lot from observing how Jesus communicated in these two spaces. Although He operated in both spaces, he invested heavily in the personal space. Most of his time was dedicated to his 12 disciples and as a result they were the most impacted by him and had the most meaningful life change. We still experience the effects of this investment over 2000 years later.

So how does that apply to posting about Jesus on your socials? Here’s a helpful strategy: speak to the large audience of your social media space, but prioritize drawing people into your personal space to share Jesus with them.

Here are 5 tips on how you can maximize meaningful engagement with your social media account.

1. Be a Normal Person

Intersperse your posts about Jesus, with posts about your everyday life. People are primarily interested in who you are as a person. Your relationship with Jesus is best shared in the context of your everyday life. Also, if people always scroll past your Jesus posts, the social algorithms will cause them to eventually not see your posts at all.

2. Ask Questions / Polls

Engagement is gold! There’s plenty of engagement tools built into social platforms like questions, polls, sliders and video replies. Draw people in by asking intriguing questions and utilize polls in your stories for interaction.

3. Challenge The Norm

You can grab people's attention by using language that challenges normal cultural ideas and their perceptions of what it means to be a Christian.

4. Speak To Need

There are many needs out in the community. Raise the topic and share how Jesus, church, and faith intersect with those needs.

5. Follow Up In DMs

When people engage with what you post in meaningful ways, follow up with them in DMs, or ideally, in-person.

Let’s follow Jesus’ example of drawing people from the Social Space into the Personal Space. (Matthew 4:19) “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Keep in mind that while it’s nice to get a lot of likes on our posts, every number is a person. Be intentional and prayerful about taking people deeper, even if it’s just one person.