Are you sharing your faith online? If you have a blog site or if you post regularly on social media, it’s likely your carefully cultivated words will still be on the Internet after the Lord takes you home. If you desire to sow God’s good news and watch it grow in people’s hearts and minds, then have you considered the potential harvest from your labors on the Internet? You may have a lasting impact even after you’re no longer able to post.

Why I Love Sharing My Faith Online

Many years ago, I intentionally began blogging for lasting influence. I’m intentional about the content I share on social media. In addition, all three of my blogs have links and references to biblical truth. I hope each blog will continue to:

• Encourage the use of technology for evangelism and discipleship (this blog);
• Motivate and equip readers to share their faith as a way-of-life (MikeandSus.org);
• Reach and resource my readers who have limited access to biblical truths (The Sovereign).

Whether or not you have a blog site, are you sharing relevant content on social media? Your status and other posts will be on the Internet long after you’re gone. Do you have non-believing friends in your network? Do you have content to point them to Christ if they “go looking for you” online after you’ve died? What will they be reading if they find your social posts?

These questions might help you reconsider what you’re posting, whether on a blog or through social media networks. Would a non-believer be drawn to the post or would they turn away? I believe planting a thought here and there can often be better than a longer message. Proverbs 10:19 (HCSB) warns us, “When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is wise.” Try a steady drip to water the seeds you plant in people’s hearts; a flood may wash the seed and the soil away.

Blogging is also considered social media… and I emphasize “social.” Be available to listen, pray, and comment with those who respond to what you share. If something really upsets you, don’t respond quickly in anger. Take some time to prayerfully gain God’s perspective and direction.

“Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” James 1:19b – 20 (HCSB)

When It’s Hard to Keep Sowing

If you’ve tried blogging and not seen much success, perhaps I can help you.

First and foremost, allow God to guide you into whether you should be a blogger and/or active on social media. What is the message He’s given you to share and with whom?

Be willing to start small, if that is God’s will. If you’re only getting a handful of readers on a regular basis, let’s say thirty per day, re-think what that means. Would you have been able to talk to thirty individuals about spiritual matters today, in addition to what you already had on your calendar? Rejoice in these few.

For various reasons, you may find it hard to “keep going” with blogging. Perhaps my eternal perspective will help. If God has lead you into this ministry, our sovereign Lord has a plan for your heart messages. Be patient, like a farmer, to sow, water, and tenderly care for the hearts and minds He brings your way, trusting Him that He will reap in His time.

Make Sure You Have the Tools

Take some time to learn how to improve your blogging. I offer lots of advice on eQuipping for eMinistry.

WordPress is your best choice for a blogging platform, but the two “versions” of it might be confusing. WordPress.org is “self-hosted,” meaning you pay to have the blog stored somewhere. If the Lord takes you home, your blog will be discontinued after your payment runs out, or maybe earlier than that, if your blog gets infected with malware.

WordPress.com (not WordPress.org) will continue in cyberspace even if something happens to you and you’re no longer posting. For me, I want my blogs to continue on past my lifetime, so I choose the free options on wordpress.com. Because I’m using this free version for all of my blogs, I’ve made some choices:

• I’m not paying for any services for The Sovereign. This means readers will see ads from time-to-time (and I can’t control what’s in those ads).
• I’m paying annually for “no ads” and for domain names for the first two blogs. If the Lord takes me home, the ads return and the blogs revert to the original URLs with “wordpress.com” appended to them after I miss that next payment. I suppose I could pay for more than one year if I wanted to.

Besides sharing biblical truth and links to meaningful content, consider making your own “advertising” in the sidebar of your blog. On The Sovereign, I offer several ways my readers can grow in their faith. A few of these “ads” are:

• EveryStudent.com for answers to their questions
• Bible Gateway for an online version of the Bible in their language
• Truth for Life’s daily email from a Charles Spurgeon devotional
• The JESUS Film in your reader’s language

An “ad” from The Story takes visitors from the Sovereign to a gospel presentation. Since the start of my blog, 235 people have gone through this presentation. As I’ve intentionally and faithfully sown through my writing, God has brought in the harvest!

The Sovereign is my very part-time blog. I don’t spend a lot of time on it, so imagine if you had a blog that you took some time to set up and then wrote once a month. I only have about 50 readers a day. Perhaps, you could have statistics like these:

• 46,450 visitors (since February 2007)
• 110,665 reads
• 1, 482 followers
• 189 countries
• 235 gospel presentations

Learn How to Cultivate

Your blog will perform better if you make your writing “searchable” so that your content will be found through Google searches. I also recommend you use Wordpress’ email subscription service or use MailChimp. (I help with MailChimp on eQuipping for eMinistry.)

Obviously, honing your skills as a writer and finding eye-catching photos for every post will also help your blogs and social media updates do well.

I love blogging because it gives me a creative outlet, I have an ongoing impact on people with what I share, and God expands who I can minister to… even globally. I also am motivated that my blogging and social media ministry will extend past my time on this earth. God called me to this ministry about ten years ago and I have faithfully and patiently followed Him, trusting for His harvest in His time.

Have you ever thought of the lasting power of your writing online?

What can you do differently today to leave a message of Jesus’ love and forgiveness for your friends, family, and followers?

NOTES: 

• Subscribe here, if you’re interested in following The Sovereign or send me an email.
• If you’d like to guest post on any of my sites, please contact me (e4e at cru dot org).
• Your blog will have no ads if you use Cru’s GCX, which uses WordPress.org.
• Witness by sending people to the Internet whether you’re online or off. Read how in The Ripple Effect.

The image,  Four Horsemen of Apocalypse by Viktor Vasnetsov, is in the public domain in the United States. Many people recognize the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, described in Revelation 6, as symbols of the Tribulation in the Last Days.

Are You Sharing Your Faith Online by Sus Schmitt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.