Are Biblical Christians Making a Difference on Social Media

My honest answer to the title of this post is that I have no idea if Biblical Christians are making a difference on Social Media. From a personal perspective, I have received both an unusually higher level of encouragement from my limited blogging (I have been on somewhat of a hiatus in the last month) as well as an increase in the number of new Christian writers asking for advice.

Anti-Christian Social Media

Perhaps the tired rhetoric of “bad church…”, “bad Christian…”, and “everyone is deconstructing…” is finally waning in interest on the part of readers looking for answers to profound questions. Perhaps the once overwhelming number of anti-Christian authors/posts that use “Christianity” as their primary tag on Medium.org are finding their hatred increasingly unrewarded (both financially and in likes and comments). Frankly, Medium is an excellent source of worldwide litmus testing on whether God is winding up mankind’s tenure on this old earth. If He is choosing to: 

Matthew 24:12 – And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 

On a personal level, last week I received the following one-line comment from one of my less-than-encouraging readers…

“It seems your “Worldview” isn’t expanding much, Jeff.”

My response, in summary, was that, from the standpoint of what she could see from my stats, her observation was quite valid. Since I started writing on Medium in September of 2021, I would have expected more than 750 “followers” by this point. 

However, I’m not sure, (likely rationalizing), that “followers” is a good representation of spiritual impact on the platform. Many writers try to attract followers by indiscriminately following everyone that can fog a mirror, in the hopes they will reciprocate. I have been intentional in not doing that. Further, when we receive curated feeds from Medium or go on our own homepage, it is easy to get inundated with so many articles that the value of these filtering methods becomes totally ineffective. I do use tag searches on topics such as Bible, Christianity, Jesus, etc., but now Medium has blocked our ability to sort by date published, perhaps in order to emphasize posts based on their internal algorisms.

Are Biblical Christians Making a Difference

I look at two primary criteria to determine if our Biblical Christian message is getting out on Social Media, (1) comments and (2) time spent reading posts. 

Comments

Since 9/21 I have personally responded to 4,070 direct comments on the Medium platform. These comments come from both readers behind the paywall on Medium AND readers who see our material on BCWorldview.org for free and comment from the free link that goes into Medium. In addition, from our website, BCWorldview.org, we are currently sending out over 5000 emails per week which are a compilation of our posts. From those emails, we have increased our open rate to nearly 70% on the weekends and 35% on the weekdays. 

Reading

On BCWorldview.org we have recently spent heavily (at least in my view) on SEO with the objective of increasing Google search engine results on Biblical Christian topics. The fruits of that effort will hopefully start showing up in early 2023. It is a tough world out there for Christian websites (focusing on contemporary topics) and Google search algorithms. Currently, on Medium, we are seeing nearly 3000 views and 1400 reads per month, with a fairly steady increase over time. On both platforms, I pray for more but, in the end, the timing and the increase are not mine to control. 

Silent Observers

Beyond the two criteria above, I believe the real spiritual impact of our work comes through the silent readers of both original posts and those observers of the banter back and forth in the comments section. Often, when I respond to an aggressive or antagonistic individual, or one who is civil but, in my view, not Biblically sound, I am typically not expecting to persuade them to change their opinion. My real audience is not that single individual. It is the group of silent readers whom God has placed on the fence of their theology and, more importantly, their salvation. To write about eternal damnation or to respond to ugly comments with an equal level of vitriol serves no purpose but to confirm the judgments of those “listening” that traditional Christianity is something to be avoided. 

“Biblical Christian Worldview” is a Ministry, not a Trophy 

Finally, we, as Christian bloggers, are not writing about interesting worldly stuff like scientific cutting-edge developments, nor are we playing to the predominantly liberal slant of Medium and Google search algorithms in support of woke culture. This effort is ministry, something He calls all of us to as He brings our skills and abilities in line with His will to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world. Every Christian reading this post has skills and a gift God desires each of us to use to see the eternal lives of those around us changed, for eternity. Pray that He will give you the courage and conviction to apply those talents in His name. For each of us, the time is short. 

Romans 11:29 – For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

When we get to Heaven we will know then if our efforts as Biblical Christians were used by God, in the areas of Social Media and elsewhere. In the mean time….

2 Timothy 4:5 – As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.