Using Social Media for Digital Evangelism

What is digital evangelism and what benefits are there to using social media to spread the gospel? Let’s first start with the problem.

People are turning to the internet for real solutions to their struggles. As we like to put it, “Nobody lies to Google.” Thousands of non to nominal-Christians are searching for answers to life’s most profound questions every day. “Porn addiction,” “the cure for loneliness,” “surviving after divorce,” “the meaning of life”… these are just a few examples of felt needs that online explorers, or Seekers, might be searching for online. 

Sadly, despite all of the benefits that have come with the digital age, people are less and less likely to go to family, friends, or even teachers to find answers to these sorts of questions.Rather than leaving it to the internet to answer their questions, you can begin to reach these people right where they’re at online through social media evangelism.

Where Is Digital Evangelism Going?

Not too long ago, the idea of digital evangelism was simple. You’d go online, find someone to disciple, disciple them, and then pass them off to a church.

But, what if we told you that that way of doing things might actually be hindering your ability to reach people effectively? Let me explain.

Remember all those keyword searches—“porn addiction,” “the cure for loneliness,” “surviving after divorce,” and “the meaning of life?” People are searching for answers to these things because they want to understand the world around them. People don’t want to be sold to. Instead, they want to be educated.

And the good news is you can actually bring the answer to these questions (Spoiler alert: it’s Jesus) to Seekers who follow you online. There are a variety of ways you could go about this, but one great option is to implement a social media strategy that’s focused on presenting the gospel.

Using Social Media for Evangelism

There are an estimated 3.78 BILLION social media users online with an anticipation to grow significantly in 2022, up to 3.96 billion and counting, as ease of access and mobile usage continues. That’s roughly 48% of the global population (Statista.com)! Regardless of demographics, most people are using social media to engage online. But just knowing that isn’t enough.

Gone are the days of posting inspirational verse-of-the-day graphics from some online generator. (Sorry mom!) Sure, snippets from Sunday’s sermon are great, but simply posting “Christian high-fives” can generate vanity metrics. Which is a fancy way of saying they can make your church’s social media engagement seem like it’s spiking when actually you’re just reaching the everyday church-goer.

Remember—if you want to use social media to spread the gospel, your goal should be to reach non to nominal-Christians. But in order to best evangelize in the online mission field, you’ll need to be posting content that can engage Seekers online who don’t know that Jesus is the answer to all of their felt needs.

This of course requires high quality content. A quick Google search will tell you that content is the key to any successful social media strategy and makes it possible to engage and connect with your digital audience. Including everything from videos, images, GIFs, and more, all posted at regular intervals.

The worst thing you can do is go dark on any of your social media platforms. By posting in regular intervals, your audience stays engaged and becomes trained to look for content, directing regular traffic to your profile. 

www.sdadata.org

But all this might be daunting if you haven’t already created high quality content that you can share… 

Thankfully there are a lot of great tools and services out there that can help you with sharing the gospel through social media. We recommend Church Butler, Outreach Digital, Sunday Social, or our own Social Partners program to help get you started.

Want to Create the Content Yourself?

Great! Many people at this point begin stressing over what we’ll call the three “E's.” They are: access to Equipment, lack of Experience, and plans for Execution. 

Equipment
If you’re the kind of person who can interact in the online space through quick video snippets, but don’t have all of that “fancy” equipment—don’t sweat it! Got a camera on your phone? That’ll be a great way to start. 

Experience
If you’re new to “creating,” try checking out resources like Canva, Visme, or Desygner! There’s a great body of resources out there that make creating graphics as fun and easy as drag-and-drop.

Execution
Having a plan for “why, how, and what” is even more important than the creation of content itself. Because if you don’t have a strategy in place for regularly scheduled content, then you’ll lose much of your audience to those who do.

Remember that evangelism should come with authenticity. People won’t even want to listen if they think they’re being sold to. The motive to engage with people should stem from a genuine, Jesus-centered love. 

At CV Outreach, it’s our belief that Jesus is the answer to every felt need any person will ever have. And it’s our goal to meet these online Seekers right where they’re at and connect them directly to one of our local church partners. Effectively bringing the digital mission field to their news feed. This of course is just one of the many advantages of social media.

If this sounds like something you and your church want to be a part of, consider joining our Social Partners program and see your digital evangelism strategies go from good to great. There’s just no telling how God will use this content on your church’s Facebook or social media to impact the Seekers in your digital community.