‘We’ve got to do better’: Social media and our Christian witness
By Chris Turner
Tennessee Baptist Mission Board
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles set off a social media firestorm when she withdrew from the first week of Olympic competition, and apparently her withdrawal sparked a wildfire that’s torched Christian witnesses across America.
Biles is arguably the greatest Olympic gymnast in history. Her gold medal sweep at the Tokyo Olympics was all but assumed prior to the opening ceremony. But Biles did not complete a sweep. In fact, she didn’t even make it very far into the competition before she withdrew due to mental stress.
It is impossible to know what “mental stress” means in Biles’ context. And that’s the point. No one knows except for Biles and possibly a few close confidants with whom she shared information.
However, our collective ignorance of the details hasn’t prevented countless individuals from assailing Biles. Unfortunately, even professing Christians have been spewing uninformed, demeaning, belittling, ungodly, mean-spirited and deeply uncompassionate comments through their social media channels. Every such post only torches their witness, leaving an ash heap in place of what may have once been credibility.
And we wonder why people are walking away from, or want nothing to do with, the Church.
Biles’ situation is only the latest log to fuel what is perceived by many as a raging dumpster fire for Christians.
It seems any issue rolled into the public forum these days — politics, racial issues, COVID-19, MLB All-Star game, the Olympics, the Southern Baptist Convention — becomes fodder for division while the world watches Christians engage in verbal knife fights.
‘What have we become?’
Reading comments about Biles posted recently by supposed disciples of Jesus leaves me shaking my head. … Seriously, it is truly worth asking, what have we become and what are we becoming? And what happened to the fruit of the Spirit?
While social media has the capacity to be used for good, I am increasingly convinced it is the tool that saved Wormwood’s fledgling demonic “ministry.”
You remember Wormwood, the hapless nephew of Screwtape, the head demon in C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters.” Screwtape tells Wormwood that, “All extremes, except extreme devotion to (God), are to be encouraged.”
Has there been any “tool” in Wormwood’s toolbox over the past 15 years that has inflamed passions, escalated tension and pushed Christians further toward extreme division than the use of social media?
People feel an unyielding determination to not only be right, but to convincingly bludgeon others who they perceive are wrong. We’re making Wormwood look like a genius. We often say things like, “Just because I don’t agree with you, doesn’t mean I don’t still love you.” However, we often then take to social media and hammer out self-righteous vitriol 280 characters at a time.
Christians, we’ve got to do better. A dying world is watching.
What if we did pursue “extreme devotion” to God? What if we did use social media “for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12) rather than tearing it apart and others down? To get there we must start with self-examination and an honest examination of our own social media feeds. If your comments are the antithesis of the grace you supposedly claim, repent and work on your heart.
As Jesus declared “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). He could just as easily have said, “for out of the abundance of the heart your social media speaks.”
Self-inflicted destruction
A Christian witness can take years to cultivate then literally be destroyed through social media in a matter of seconds. The destruction is self-inflicted when it happens.
Don’t be the cause of your own downfall. Before you hit return and skewer Simone Biles (or anyone else), ask yourself, “Do I really want to strike that match and torch my witness?”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Chris Turner is director of communications for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. This article first appeared in the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector.
Surveillance, persecution expand
While Americans are relatively protected from many of the human rights violations endured abroad, our online activity contributes to persecution-enabling platforms.
Government disinformation schemes exploit social media channels including Facebook and WhatsApp, as faith groups and news outlets become increasingly dependent on them. And the
pandemic-driven rise in online church attendance further exposes people of faith to persecutors.
The spyware software Pegasus, adopted by many nations with histories of human rights violations and capable of recording phone calls, activating cameras and microphones and collecting location data, reveals no online expression of faith is truly safe.
The world must redouble our commitment in pressuring authoritarian regimes to respect the free expression of religion and freedom of speech.
David Curry
President, Open Doors USA
Thriving churches post-COVID
Thriving churches are realizing that racing back to their pre-COVID approaches to ministry is a wasted opportunity to gain some essential clarity about purpose.
Instead of operating like a tourist or a traveler who skims the surface of what a congregation could be, what if we looked upon this next chapter of our life together as an opportunity to take a pilgrimage? Could we take a more mindful approach to who we are, why we are here, how we got here and where we are going?
It will mean being much more thoughtful and deliberate about everything. Many churches are awakening to the fact that the landscape of congregational culture has changed before our eyes.
Many who were marginal will not be back. Many of our regulars will be showing up much less frequently.
Some who never connected in person are waiting online to see if we have anything to offer them other than being a spectator at our worship service.
“Church on demand” is our new reality, whether we like it or not. We face a nation less and less interested in institutional religion, while still being curious about Jesus. …
This new landscape is begging for us to begin a pilgrimage.
We can race through it, dabble in it or seek to immerse ourselves in it and learn from it, while maintaining our unique perspective on it.
I firmly believe the Holy Spirit is looking for those who want to join in that holy endeavor and become salt and light to a bland and blind world. I hope you will set off on your pilgrimage soon.
Bill Wilson
Director of The Center for Healthy Churches
Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Who I am today is because of WMU women who’ve invested in me.”
Sandy Wisdom-Martin
Executive director/treasurer, National Woman’s Missionary Union
People of faith can be “holy advocates” for children who desperately need care.
Kathy Manis Findley
Macon, Ga.
I feel like Jesus, when he was walking this earth, when he wanted to tell you something straight, he would just tell it to you straight. When he wanted it to make a point, he would turn over a table. But when he wanted to touch your heart, he would tell a story. So when I’m writing, I ask the Lord to put me in the place of the person whose reading my stories.
Author Karen Kingsbury
The cooperative mission of our churches sets Southern Baptists apart and gives us the privilege of fulfilling the Great Commission together in our generation and in the generations to come.
Pastor Jack Graham
Prestonwood Baptist Church
Plano, Texas
Allan Petersen once stated it succinctly and yet with utter significance: “Everything Christ asks of the Church, He did first:
- To love Him — He loved first
- To serve Him — He served first
- To sacrifice for Him — He sacrificed first
- To be so committed to Him that we are willing to die — He died first.”
Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper, Ala.
Churches in Japan are facing the same thing many churches in America are facing, and that is to realize, nowadays, you’ve got some people who absolutely want to get back together and see one another’s face.
Carlton Walker
IMB missionary in Tokyo
We’re trying to balance the tightrope between faith and risk management. We want to do the best for our church and our folks. I’m thankful we have a team here willing to talk these things over so we can make the best decisions with the information that’s available.
Pastor Charles Mayberry
First Baptist Church
Waycross, Ga.
From the Twitterverse
@GaryFenton07
“Let’s have a quick prayer before we start the meeting.” Perhaps if we take our time in prayer, we could then have a quick meeting.
@CSLewisDaily
“If you’re thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you’re embarking on something, which will take the whole of you.”—C.S. Lewis
@DianeLangberg
The most effective lies are those that contain some truth in them. People inoculate themselves with a good thought so they can justify the wrongdoing they are about to choose — a common mechanism among fallen human beings.
@brocraigc
Received this prayer request from a pastor this morning: “Pray for our community. It’s a dark place with rocky soil and hard hearts. Pray for our workers not to grow weary.” How many communities need this prayer? How many pastors are praying this prayer over their communities?
@BillyGraham
“Our prayers must be in accordance with the will of God for the simple reason that God knows better what is good for us than we know ourselves.”
@haines_matt
I’ve sometimes regretted several social media posts and tweets that I have sent but I have never regretted one that I chose not to send. #wisdom
@matalexander
If you were interviewing for a position on our staff and I saw you being pugnacious and mean spirited online, taking potshots at leaders in comments, and constantly expressing outrage I would assume that’s how you’ll treat God’s people as a minister.
@drjamesmerritt
I believe God works everything out together for my good. But I’ve also learned that it’s for what He knows is good, not what I think is good.
@claysmith79
I have preached most Sundays for the last several years. Yet Sunday after Sunday, I feel inadequate to the task. I guess that’s the point. Without God, I’m just spewing words. I pray the Holy Spirit shows up and does what I cannot.
@micahfries
I fear an American Christianity that makes Jesus a commodity and markets him like a cheap ware to disinterested consumers. Don’t cheapen Jesus.
Share with others: