Sharing the Gospel Online
By Kristen Duke
Having had an online presence for over 10 years now, I have a strong testimony of sharing the gospel online. When I first began blogging, I was pretty excited to have a space that I could share my creativity as well as my heart, and I’ve done so from the beginning. I love the gospel with all my heart, and I have a strong testimony that how we live, how we share our light, has the opportunity to bless others.
Sharing the gospel in person with our neighbors and friends has always been encouraged, and I do that every chance I get. But sharing the gospel online is so easy, so unobtrusive, we can do it every single day in a variety of ways, and I wanted to share today a way that some may not fully realize how powerful it can be and it’s so easy!
I recently sat down with 4 Sister missionaries serving in my mission boundaries to talk about social media. They have been assigned to run the mission Instagram page, and asked me for some tips. After an hour and a half conversation, when they left I told them that the single biggest thing they can do is to better educate the current members of the church on the best and easiest way (in my opinion) to assist the missionary effort locally.
What’s that you say? ENGAGE on their social media pages! Every mission, every area has created a Facebook page and many are opening up Instagram pages that missionaries run for the sake of sharing the gospel. The handle looks something like this: @TalkOfChrist.SoCo (for Southern Colorado). With these pages, they are sharing daily devotionals, and we have the opportunity to help them, to further God's work in ways that sometimes need to be explained.
As someone who has worked in social media for years, I get all the training in workshops, conferences, courses that in a nutshell says, “the more people engage (like, comment, share, save) on your posts, it will get shown to more and more people.”
Lets say that @TalkOfChrist.SoCo account has 500 followers (hopefully all of the members in that area at the least). If they post and no no engages, it’s shown to maybe 50 people. If 5 people engage, it may be shown to 100 people. If 10 people engage, it’s shown to 150 people...you get where I’m going with this. The goal is ultimately to have more than local members following that page, the goal is to spread light to all faiths.
I currently have 2 sons serving full time missions, and they are also encouraged to share on their personal Facebook pages (aside from the mission Facebook page) a weekly post or devotional. This is great, because it reaches people they know in real life, but it isn’t shown to many people if it doesn’t have engagement on it. Every time I see their post, I comment and like and sometimes share it to my personal Facebook page. I know that it’s getting that “Facebook juice” to be boosted to even more people.
All of this to come back and say that one of the BEST ways we can share the gospel online is to engage on the missionary posts, and of course share our own devotional inspiration in our own posts as well. Many of the people we are connected with online are seeking light, and we have the opportunity to be that light in a way we may never know through sharing scriptures, quotes from the prophet, or our own soul searching.
The next time you see your local missionaries, ask them what the mission Facebook or Instagram page is. Follow it. Hit the bell to receive notifications when they post.
Comment and LIKE the post at the very least, and SHARE it if it resonates with you. (Have a secret SAVE folder, it gives great Instagram Juice!) It’s so simple, yet so few do it, even if they know it can be helpful. Many don’t always know what to say, and sometimes the questions asked on those posts don’t lend themselves to an easy answer, but give yourself a goal to make the effort.
Kristen Duke grew up in Texas and Louisiana, and now raising her family in the mountains of Colorado. As a former early morning seminary teacher, she loves teenagers, and is striving to help parents feel more hopeful in raising teens on her instagram @KristenDukeChats. With two sons on/preparing for missions and two girls at home, she’s loving mothering the BIG KIDS.