July is eMinistry month in the You-Can-Too series. I planned to share tips on July 1st about using social media for eMinistry, but learned this morning that June 30, 2014, is Mashable’s fifth annual Social Media Day, which encourages people to hold meetups today. So pick out some new ideas to share your faith online today and join in the Cyber Conversation. (Use #SMDay today.)  Picture yourself throwing your baited hook into the social sea, trusting God for a nibble, or, even better, you could send specific content to specific friends.

How to Use Social Media for eMinistry

One third of the world’s population uses the Internet. Not including QZone (which is specific to China) or other similar sites, here’s the number of active users on social media:

• Facebook has 1.3 billion
• Google+ has 343 million
• LinkedIn has 300 million
• Twitter has 255 million
• Tumblr has 230 million

Two Christian organizations, Reach Beyond and GMI, are encouraging Christians to share their faith online today (see article). I’m encouraging you to find some new ideas from my post and to start sharing your faith intentionally. I’m also encouraging you to go beyond simply posting Bible verses. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s start conversations or join ones that are already going on. Choose material that will encourage sharing so more people hear and see your message.

Facebook

Share photos and links from Facebook pages like Cru, The JESUS Film Project and Athletes in Action. If someone is interested in what you shared, use Facebook messaging to have a private conversation.

Twitter

Find out what’s trending on Twitter on Nibbo.com or TrendsMap.com. You will even see what conversations are happening in your part of the world right now. Tweet a thoughtful response to an event with a message that points to Christ and use the hashtags you find on the Trends Map to make your tweets more findable.

Blogs

Again, use Nibbo.com or your favorite sources to see what the buzz is on the Internet. I like to post in response to some movie releases, major news events, and more. Here’s some Best Tags and Keywords for Your Blog  to include with your post so more people can find what you’ve written. Share the link to your post on social media sites.

Great Sources

Photos

Photos with quotes are very popular for sharing. Yes He Is offers shareable photos and videos. Their photos work very nicely on Pinterest.  Missional Women’s Pinterest photos link to their great articles. Also, Cru Global and Missional Women have great photos to share on Facebook.

Videos

I’ve listed two dozen evangelistic videos on eQuipping for eMinistry’s YouTube channel and will add more, I’m sure. Check out I Am Second for powerful testimonies. The JESUS Film Media app has lots of great JESUS Film clips and short films. Encourage your non-Christian friends to download the app and watch great films on their phone or tablet. Also share videos from their website on social media.

Websites

EveryStudent.com (ES.com) has great articles and videos, as well as many great suggestions how to use their resources at EveryStudent.info. ES.com is available in over three dozen languages. Find them here. Use EveryPerson.com if you think “student” will not appeal to your friend. Find shareable content from Josh McDowell and Power to Change, our ministry in Canada, on all social media networks. Global Media Outreach, a partner ministry, has over 100 sites. Become familiar with a few favorites and share links to them on social media and in emails. Better yet, maybe God is leading you to be an Online Missionary. Apply to answer email inquiries that come in to these sites. Jesus.Net is also a partnering ministry. Their Knowing God website is available in 26 languages. I’d like to highlight two more of their concepts:

1. MyStory.me is a great place to put your testimony. People would find it on this site and contact you if they have questions or want to thank you for your story. Create a business card with a link to your testimony to hand to people that you share your faith with when you’re out-and-about. A caution though: random people could share your photo and story on Facebook and Twitter, so if you’re nervous about that, this option wouldn’t be for you.
2. They have landing pages for the questions people are asking. For instance, if someone typed “My life is out of control,” the Jesus.Net page comes up in that search: http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/my-life-is-out-of-control/. Check it out to see what a great tool this is, complete with a “Four Laws”. If I knew someone with that struggle, I would definitely send them this link. I am trying to acquire a list of links to their landing pages.

Well, I haven’t exhausted the possibilities, but even if I had, there’d be something new on the Internet tomorrow that we could use as a way to reach people’s hearts for Christ. How are you sharing Christ on the Internet?

<< First  (in You-Can-Too series)

< < First  < Prev  (in social media posts)  Next >

Visit the Table of Contents for the You-Can-Too series posts. This post is the third in the social media series.  Keep following the series for posts on databases, communication, websites, and social media.

NOTES:

• I love the screenshot at the top of this post from Global Media Outreach, showing one person visiting an evangelistic website and another indicating a decision for Christ simultaneously. Follow the link to watch this map in real time as people search for God online!
• Social stats from Statista.