Social Media Christianity
I grew up a millennial who could not wait to get my first cellphone. I remember like it was yesterday getting my Nokia 5110 phone for a Christmas present. All my friends started to get phones and that meant that I needed to come up with an excuse to get one also. I thought through many different reasons why I should have a phone. My first reason was that because I played sports afterschool and I needed a phone to tell them when practice was over or canceled. Sounds legit right? Then I would move on to my second reason for needing a phone, safety. Everyone knows that a 5’10 teenage guy is an easy target for someone right? Well my parents bought these two excuses or maybe they felt bad for me because I did not have a phone to fit in with my friends. Whatever the reason, I got my Nokia phone and I was so excited.
I am not sure if you remember those days or were even alive back then, but you had limited text messages and, on some plans, you had limited minutes for talking. I did not care about which plan I had, but I wanted to have a phone.
Well looking back on that day, how the times have changed drastically. My Nokia would not stand up to any of the iPhones that have come into existence. Playing snake on our phone seems like a vintage memory, because now we can go to the app store on our phones and find any game we want.
In Christianity I think that we a battle before us right now and no I am not talking about phones, but there is a rise amongst Millennials and Generation Z drifting away from the Christian Faith. Though there appears to be some trends showing that Generation Z has potential to possibly grow in their faith and stop this movement away from God spreading.
I am a Student Pastor who studies our culture and trends occurring before us. Yes, I may see or know more from the teenage culture because that is where I work every day, but honestly the real battle before us started long before Generation Z was born. The battle before us today has been set from previous Generations. The battle before us has been happening for centuries and America has become the next culture to battle with choosing God or the world.
I think the best way to think about Christianity in America is through the lens of social media. No, I am not bashing or writing another book on social media within the Christian world. But, instead I am using social media as a tool or a way of thinking that all of us can relate.
If you are reading this blog, then the words Social Media mean something to you. Because of iPhones and Androids (Smartphones) taking over our culture it has changed the way we think daily. For example, every day I use my iPhone and iPad to plan out my day and week. I would be lost without my smart devices.
I believe in the same way without Christ in our lives we would be lost. Social Media Christianity is a tool and a resource for you personally to think through your Christian walk. I will be walking you through five different categories within social media and how they relate to our Christian walk.
The friend request: When we look at request on social media each one of us responds in different ways: accept, pending, ignore, and deny. The same thing happens in different parts of the Christian journey. The journey begins with us hearing the Gospel, God speaking into our life, and the ways God calls us into action.
The PERSON: You know who this people is on social media who like/love every post and picture that you put out there. But there are also people who look to post their perfect descriptions or post to get your likes. The same aspect appears within the Christian world of people putting something out there with their life so people will like everything they say and do. They feel like they have to script out every part of the things to say within the church, when all God wants is for us to be genuine and real.
The Influencer: The new and upcoming role within social media. The number of followers matters and the number of people you are following must also stay below a certain number when it comes to the influencer. The influencer has a pivotal role within Social Media, they are used by different businesses to help promote their products. Within the Christian world teenagers and adults alike are battling different people trying to influence them with different beliefs, views, and doctrines. The reality is that we are easily persuaded and influenced to do different things.
Take A Breaker: The person on social media that choose to take a break for whatever personal reason that they may have in their life. Through the Christian world there are people who because of experiences in their life choose to take a break from Christianity. People take a break from Christianity, but in reality, no one can really take a break from Christianity. I take a strategic approach to help people personally examine their walk with Christ and see if there are areas within their life where they are taking a break or shutting God out of their life.
The All-In follower: Looking over your social media accounts and followers to see who really a genuine all-in follower of yours is challenging. The All In Follower is not someone who occasionally looks you up on social media to see what you are up to next. He/She is not the person trying to sell you the next best item out there, and not even the person who likes all your post. But, instead the person who looks at your different accounts and you say this person right here is a true follower and actually cares about me. They may add comments and likes to your post, but in reality, they are always checking in on you and helping you be your best. In Christianity God calls us all to have that Matthew 4:19-20 moment, where we drop everything and be all-in for God. If he calls us to do something we respond faithfully because we have a genuine relationship with Him.
I believe these five characteristics from social media really matter to us in Christianity. I would examine your own life and see which characteristics are you? How can you take each teenager through these different stages?
