The blessing and curse of Internet evangelism mixed with social media

We can’t know how many users of the Internet there are, because of the basic way that the Internet is created. In 2001, Statmarket.com estimated that, on any given day, 50 million Internet surfers visited more than 150,000 sites worldwide. The Global Internet Statistics page estimated that, also in 2001, there were 230 million English speakers and 560 million non-English speakers online.

Today, that’s about the population of Facebook alone. Over the years, a lot of Christian leaders have asked, “why not use it for evangelism?”

There are a lot of obvious and not-so-obvious reasons for doing this. Since you don’t have to go where people are (for example, traveling to Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan), you can do talk to them less expensively, get around restrictions on evangelism, and avoid some of the dangers. It’s also less dangerous for them, since they can do this from the privacy of their home (or the semi-privacy of an Internet cafe). If you frequently post through social media your life can, to a certain degree, be a witness.

But there are some “curses” you need to be aware of. I want to scout a few of these out – not to warn you off from Internet-based evangelism, nor to invalidate the idea of evangelizing Internet users, but rather that we might consider these and come up with good solutions.

First, you’re not going to be meeting a person face-to-face. You don’t get the sense of their body language, you can’t look into their eyes (the “windows to their souls”), etc. You will miss a major part of the way in which we intuit what a person is thinking, saying, and whether they are being sincere and earnest or not. And, no matter how much of your life you post, you won’t be “living life together.” You won’t have the chance to share meals (or the Lord’s Supper) or baptize or (typically) worship together.

Second, you’re not going to know if who you’re talking to is REALLY who you’re talking to. They could be someone adopting another identity entirely. This can be true in real life – we’ve all heard the apocryphal story of spies in the midst of the church (who, typically, turn out to be true believers, in a true case of triple-identity) – but it’s even easier online. You’ll have to speak as the “character” or “persona” they have (perhaps!) adopted, with eternal truths that speak to their “real person” inside.

Third, they can turn away from you far more easily. Social media has easy ways to block a person without them even knowing they’ve been blocked. And, your posts (if not appreciated) often won’t even appear in the other person’s timeline. You can’t pursue a person in cyberspace without opening yourself up to charges of stalking. You have to labor even more on making your invitation to talk inviting – without watering down the Gospel!

Fourth, you’re going to have to endure flame wars and attacks from sincere Christians who think you are wrong in your approach or your beliefs. You have to have a firm grounding in the Word and a firm understanding of what and why you believe.

Fifth, you’re going to have to endure some very messed up theology, soteriology, and eschatology! (or, the study of God, salvation, and the return). You’ll have to decide if you’re in the business of evangelizing the lost, bringing renewal to backslidden Christians, or reaching unreached peoples – it’ll be difficult to do all three, and each of the three require very different approaches!

Sixth, you’re going to have to study a lot about Internet usability and Internet technologies. You can restrict yourself to social media and have to do less of this. Slapping up a web page isn’t easy – it’s a fine art. It may actually be easier for you to start an e-zine (do you know what that is?–time for more study!) or hang out in chat rooms to talk with people than to start a web page. In fact, you’ll probably get a lot more interaction by doing so.

Seventh, with regard to people in restricted-access nations–you have to be sensitive to what you say, since you can get an earnest seeker in a lot of trouble. There is very little knowledge on the Internet about security issues, and that Saudi you just evangelized last night may today be getting a visit from the religious police. If evangelizing unreached peoples via the Internet is your game, it would behoove you to study and link up with other people BEFORE you get started, not after. If you want to do that, send me an e-mail and I can connect you with some other folks.

There are a lot of difficulties involved in Internet evangelism – but probably no more than with personal evangelism. Don’t make the mistake of considering the Internet the “easy fix” to all of the world’s missionary and evangelistic problems. The Internet makes possible wider communication, but that just brings up more problems while solving a few. If you keep that in mind – that it’s an added complexity, not an easy-fix-solution – you’ll be better off.

Finally, remember: “if you speak it/post it/blog it, they will come, and get saved” is not necessarily – not even probably! – true. You’ll have to work at it. Be prepared to do that.