Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it looks like to be a Christian on the internet—how our online interactions represent Christ. Obviously, there are a lot of bad examples, but I started wondering what it might look like if we intentionally tried to act as good examples of how we behave on the internet.
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This was thought-provoking, Reagan- and timely, since this theme has come up in recent interviews with both Tim Challies and (especially) Nate Pickowicz.
The most compelling point, for me, is that if this is where the culture congregates (social media/online), then we should leaven the culture at that point if so called. I think this article does a great job of stating this well:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/lets-revise-the-popular-phrase-in-but-not-of
If we are truly intentional and mission-minded about social media, that would seem to have two consequences:
1. a lot fewer Christians on social media (those who are there without a clear, Christward focus would drop off)
2. a purifying of tone/content from those Christians seeking to actively engage the culture for Christ’s sake.
I left Twitter in 2017, and Facebook in 2015. Just wasn’t helpful for me, and I felt no calling to it. However, the sort of engagement you spoke is exciting to consider. Thanks as always.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Allen. Some great points. I appreciate that article you shared, too!
One thing I wished I had talked more about was that there is nothing wrong with not using social media at all. I know some folks that struggle with addiction to social media and have had to swear it off entirely because they just found that they could not use it in moderation. Others, like Tim, just found it to be too discouraging to be worthwhile. I get that. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.
I liked your first point about if Christians used social media more intentionally one consequence would likely be fewer Christians using it. That’s a great point. Not every ministry is for every Christian. Just as not every believer may actively participate in abortion ministry or prison ministry, so not every Christian needs to participate in “internet ministry”. And that’s nothing to feel guilty about. It’s simply that Christ calls us to different things.
Thanks again!