Read and Grow

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 2000yrs 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 prioritise drawing people into your personal space to share Jesus with them.

Here are 5 tips on how you can maximise 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 utilise 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.

Christians aren’t immune to struggles with mental health. It’s a fact. We might recognise we have hope, love and assurance that transcends any anxious thought. But we can’t escape the fact that we are mortal, imperfect, and the pressures of this world can consume us.

Even Godly people in the Bible struggled with their mental health. Consider the following statements:

“How long must I have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:2)

“My tears have been my food day and night.” (Psalm 42:3)

“I am a man who has no strength” (Psalm 88:4)

Does it surprise you that these are the very thoughts and writings of faithful God followers?

The reality is that knowing and following Jesus does not safeguard you from mental health struggles. David, in the Old Testament, very clearly struggled with depressive and anxious thoughts – his psalms are filled with them. He was thrown into the limelight at a young age, His king/father-in-law attempted to murder him – that would probably come up in counselling – and his personal failings were made very public.

Despite all these things David had God’s favour and was still chosen to do His work. God himself called David ‘a man after my own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14). David’s struggles with his mental health did not disqualify him, and neither do yours.

God doesn’t see you as ‘less than’ because of your struggles. You are in no way disqualified from sharing Jesus because of your mental health. The path to moving forward might be to see yourself from God’s perspective – and this could be your biggest challenge.

You are loved - nothing you do or experience will keep you from the love of God.

You are forgiven - His grace covers all your fears and failures.

You are cared for - He cares about the details of your life.

You are not alone - He is with you, and He will never leave you.

How do we get God’s perspective?

1. Read your Bible. Scripture dismantles lies and sets your eyes on Jesus.

2. Worship. Placing Jesus as the King of your heart puts your anxieties into their right perspective.

3. Pray. Share your struggle with the Holy Spirit and ask Him to give you revelation on who Jesus is.

4. Share. When the opportunity comes, share about the inner transformation that Jesus is doing.

Overcome your mental health struggles by walking close with Jesus and witness your life from His perspective.

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 show.

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

Bella is a graphic designer and has spent most of her working life in ministry and church. Stepping out into a secular work environment was a challenge, especially when it came to bringing up her faith. But Bella discovered a simple secret that made all the difference…

In my life, I’ve only ever worked in Christian ministries and churches. But recently I started a new job in a totally secular environment. I’ve wanted to be serious about living life on-mission but I felt nervous about talking to people about Jesus in a natural way. The Holy Spirit challenged me to just be honest when the moment arises and I wanted to be obedient to that.

Well, the other day I was having lunch with a new friend from work and we were talking about life outside of work. I showed her some photos of my friends and my housemates, and she asked me where I met them. It was such a simple moment, but I said, “Oh, I met them all through church.” I explained how we grew close by serving on teams together for a long time at church. I mean, it’s not like I shared my testimony or led her through a prayer of salvation or anything like that, it was just a simple moment of obedient honesty.

I felt pretty nervous as we were having the conversation. I didn’t know how she was going to react. I didn’t know what her past experience of church was like. I was feeling on edge.

But as the conversation went on I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t trying to convince her of anything, I was just making a plain statement about my life. I was just sharing who I am and how I live, and that thought was really calming for me.

I realized that just being casual, honest and authentic took the pressure off. I could be obedient to the Holy Spirit and the outcome meant we grew closer as friends because we know more about each other.

The Bible says that ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’ (Romans 8:28). So sharing my faith doesn’t need to be complicated, I can just be honest about my life and trust God to work out the good.

This whole experience reminded me that I don’t need to change the whole world, I just have to do my bit and be true to myself, display the heart of Jesus and be honest when Jesus comes up in conversation.

I realized that if I’m being honest and real, Jesus is going to come up in conversation because he’s such a big part of my life. So when someone says “Why do you do this? Or say that?” I can honestly answer with “Oh, it’s because I love God and I love people.”

And there it is, simple honesty. Be honest when someone comes up to you with questions. Be honest when you’re in a conversation – if God’s a part of your life He’ll come up.

Just be honest, it doesn't have to be more complicated than that.