Jesus & The Internet: How To Share The Gospel On Social Media

We are charged by God almighty to share his gospel with the world. God is good. His gospel is pure, right, and timeless. Therefore we ought to share it with all peoples, in all nations, everywhere. Many of us consider cities, towns, and nations that need the gospel. Many of us consider the post-Christian nature of the United States and Europe. Many also consider the 10-40 window and the persecuted church in those areas. But how many of us consider the power of the internet in sharing the gospel?

The internet is a strange realm. It's rife with chaos, bluster, and profanity. It's a hot bed for pornography, hate speech, human trafficking, and other horrors. Yet it's also a field of ideas, a field of debate and discussion.

The internet is also a beautiful realm. It's a place where people gather to discuss ideas. It's a place where charities grow and flourish. It's a place where people stand against evils in the world, and expose corruption. The internet is a place where Christians create websites, apps, and online Bibles to share the truth. It's a realm that gives a voice to millions of bloggers. It's a hot bed of discussion, much of it negative yes, but much of it also positive and productive.

Many are dismissive of the internet. They don't seem to think that the internet is real, or important. What they fail to realize is that behind every post, every page, every site, and every profile is a real person. That real person is influenced by the ideas shared on the internet. Therefore, the internet is simply a realm of people. And we are called to share the gospel with all peoples.

Media hasn't always been as open as the internet. Television was the great silencer of debate and alternative ideas. Thank God almighty himself that we no longer have only the pale orthodoxy of television to guide debate and discussion in our culture. Imagining a world without the internet is imagining a dark, establishment driven march toward progressivism and moral relativism. Thank God again for the internet. It's just what we needed to counter such a narrowing of the debate.

The internet is a vast network of ideas and discussion. These ideas come in many forms. You have social media, you have blogs, search engines, all of these lanes to navigate. Within these endless pages live the chance to stand for Jesus Christ, and to share his gospel with the world. Imagine how many people you can reach! These are not just usernames, or meaningless entities; these are people who can be deeply influenced.

We engage in the realm of ideas. The internet is a giant mission field where we can share the gospel and transform culture. There are dozens of outlets for the sharing of ideas: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Blogger, Reddit, Linked In, Tumblr, Stumble Upon, and Wordpress. There are many, many others as well.

The most important thing about the internet in regard to culture and the gospel is this: Young people are the vast majority who interact on the web.

Young people are the future. Therefore, sharing the gospel via the web is vital to our efforts as Christian activists. It's ground we must conquer, because it is the open forum. We're locked out of the television already, and the media. We're almost entirely locked out of Hollywood, the college system, psychology, medicine, academia, the sciences, and public schools. We're not locked out of the web. And the web is the key to reaching young people. This is how many young people prefer to interact.

So how can we share Jesus on social media effectively? How can we begin to influence the web? Let's look at some common sense ways to share the message on social media. The two largest social media platforms are Facebook and Twitter. We'll look at Facebook and Twitter, and how to share Jesus on these prominent platforms. The lessons we discuss regarding these two giants can be applied to any of the myriad additional social networks that exist on the web.

1. Facebook is the largest social media site on the web. There are three primary ways to engage on Facebook: Through an account, a page, or a group. Experiment with these options. But for our purposes we'll discuss how to engage via your personal account.

One of the best ways to share on Facebook is by resharing pictures. This is a very common method of sharing the Christian worldview on social media. It's best done on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. There are tons of Christian pages that regularly put out Christian pictures. They tend to have quotes from Christian leaders, Bible verses, apologetics information, and other content. Click reshare, and get the truth out there. Very simple. I tend to share 3-5 pictures a day on my Facebook account.