Witnessing in a Facebook World
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn. For some people, these social media systems are passing fads. Others use them to keep in touch with family and friends. But suppose we think of these revolutionary communication advances a different way—as a means to build the Church of Jesus Christ.
Kei, a 40-year-old government employee from Hong Kong, is one of nearly 9,000 Chinese-speaking people who receive daily encouragement from God’s Word through Facebook.
“Life in Hong Kong is very busy and hectic,” says Kei, who contacted Back to God Ministries International (BTGMI) Chinese media team. “So I make good use of my one hour bus ride to read the Chinese Today devotional each day.”
Kei previously used the printed Chinese Today booklet. Then in June 2010, Kei was excited to discover the Chinese Today Facebook page. “I immediately joined this Christian community,” said Kei. “I found this community very precious. Fans share their faith each day, and greatly encourage each other… and I am proud to be one of them.”
The BTGMI Chinese media team launched facebook.com/ChineseToday in April 2010. “We want to build a Chinese Today community through which fans can share and encourage each other in their Christian faith,” explains Rev. Jimmy Lin, BTGMI Chinese ministry leader. “Through the viral effect of Facebook, we hoped to reach our audiences and expand outreach to their friends, directing them to the chinesetodays.org website.”
Within the first month, 2,000 Chinese-speaking people had become “fans” of the Chinese Today Facebook site. As friends shared with friends, that number multiplied at a surprising rate, and by February 2011 more than 9,400 people had become fans, and an average of 400 people each month were leaving comments about how the devotionals were making an impact on their lives.
Those who visit the site were also offering encouragement to others struggling with faith or life issues. Traffic on the Chinese Today website increased by 30% over last year as a result of the new Facebook site: from 77,624 visits in April through October 2009 to 108,314 visits in the same time period of 2010.
If those numbers blur your eyes and mind, then think of it in terms of the 30,690 additional Chinese-speaking people who now have access to daily biblical teaching and encouragement.
“Of course we are excited about the growth of our readership and participation (comments, etc.),” notes Rev. Lin, “but we are even more excited to see these evolving pockets of “virtual” communities of faith. While we understand this can never replace a physical community of faith like a church or a Bible study group, it is very encouraging to know that we are providing a platform for sharing and encouragement. The Lord is blessing our outreach using social media, but at the same time we are challenged with our changing role as a broadcaster in this new and exciting adventure.”
Social Media Evangelism and Discipleship
So can social media be used for God’s glory and the increase of His church? The experience of the BTGMI Chinese ministry suggests it can be used very effectively as a mission outreach tool.
“There is a digital skin forming around the world that is rapidly connecting people together in ways we never thought possible,” says Rev. Bob Heerspink, BTGMI director. “If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world. Claiming the digital world for Christ allows us to share the gospel and nurture faith in ways that transcend geographical boundaries. We’re committed to using social networking tools to evangelize and disciple the ‘country’ of Facebook.”
Back to God Ministries International began using social media several years ago in Japan, where Christians are isolated and technology is popular. In fact in 2007, the BTGMI Japanese media team developed its own social networking site called “Pajapaja.” (The Japanese name for “Pajapaja” is created from two simple characters that are easy to access by phone or website.)
“Social networking is effective and useful both for connecting people and encouraging each other, without interference from unknown outsiders,” explains Japanese ministry leader Rev. Masao Yamashita. “For the first five years after we launched our website we had tried to communicate with website visitors by using online chat rooms and a bulletin board system, but we experienced some trouble. Sometimes the chat room became a battlefield between Christians and anti-Christians, more of a place for arguments. Such situations often prevented people from coming to our website. So we found social media ideal for our purpose and developed Pajapaja.”
Rev. Yamashita asked Pajapaja members to tell how this ministry has encouraged their faith walk. Shuji left this comment: “A good thing about using Pajapaja is that I never felt lonely. I’m encouraged by the fact that I'm connected to Christians all over Japan through social media.
Teruno added, “It’s been a very nice place to meet other Christians. When I have a bad day and write about it, I get encouragement and prayer. And I can do the same when others have bad days. I always felt alone but now I have a sense of belonging. I’m thankful for that.” Teruno also discovered our Japanese program Gospel Wave through a link on Pajapaja, and now listens to the teaching program faithfully.
Teruko, who gave her life to the Lord at one of our summer camps, told us, “My family is Buddhist. I was baptized on Christmas 2001, but only recently told my family. They were very surprised. They still don’t understand about me and my belief, but I’m hoping they will one day. I hope that through the internet more people would know what Christianity really is.”
And Ryo added, “Everyone on Pajapaja is my wonderful family.”
BTGMI Indonesian and Arabic ministries are in the early stages of using social media to engage young people in faith conversations. “Social networking is becoming more popular in Indonesia,” reports ministry leader Rev. Untung Ongkowidjaya. “It is a powerful and inexpensive way to connect with people. I see our users strengthening each other with Scripture. They are able to express their heart more openly on this site.”
Share YOUR Faith through Social Media
"Ministry is all about relationships, either in person or through media, so social media was an obvious route of expansion for us,” notes Steven Koster, director of ReFrame Media, the English outreach of BTGMI. “The whole point of social media is to engage more conversationally with people and their friends, so we consider it a key channel for all of our programming. Social media is a part of everything we do.”
ReFrame Media first ventured into social networking in 2007. Realizing the potential for increased outreach, ReFrame hired Todd Hertz in the fall of 2009 to oversee and execute social media expansion for all its programs. This enabled the ministry to provide consistent and strategic social media ministry.
“We now consider our Facebook pages as crucial to our overall outreach as radio itself,” says Rev. Koster. “Radio is a one-way medium, but Facebook allows conversation—conversation between us and fans, and conversations between our fans and their friends."
You can be part of that conversation and introduce your Facebook or Twitter friends to faith messages using these discipleship tools. Rev. Koster explains, "We’ve included social features on every ReFrame Media website so that our content is easy for our listeners to share."
Hertz adds, "The chief ministry for most of our social media venues is disciple-making. The best way we can do this online is through knowledge and relationships. We want to gather believers--from various points on their paths of faith--into a virtual room, giving opportunities to interact and sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron. We want to create communities that discuss, encourage, challenge and inspire its members."
These online faith communities are growing! On the Walk the Way Facebook site, for example, fans of the page have grown from 517 fans to more than 10,000 in one year and interactions between fans has increased from 19 per month in 2009 to more than 1,200 in 2010. Other programs have also seen phenomenal growth, such as the Facebook pages of Under the Radar (with more than 7,700 fans) and Spotlight—the International English program—which has more than 5,000 fans!
“Beyond conversations on Facebook, we’ve also seen direct ways we’re helping people grow their faith,” Rev. Koster reports. “On our Today [devotional] Facebook page, Alicia L. has commented several times about the redeeming side of Facebook. ‘I am reading more of the Bible than I ever have. I’m now using Facebook for God’s glory instead of letting it rule my life negatively.’”
Koster summarizes social media ministry: “To share God’s story in people’s lives, we embrace new communication channels. And as our projects continue to grow, we know it’s not about us, but all about God using a tool like Facebook to bring people closer to him. Will you continue to pray that our ministry projects will reach more people through social media? And if you’re on Facebook, will you be part of the conversations? We’re so thankful for all the ways you support our ministry!”
