How To Share Jesus on Facebook

When you’re on Facebook people post all kinds of things that would be considered waay outside the bounds at work or even among friends. People brag about depraved things they do, push thinly veiled political views, and some talk about their interactions with demons.

Facebook is the Wild West.

So if the only rules are “there are no rules”, if you can do whatever you want and fully get away with it, if you can leave your inhibitions behind, what would you share?

To me the most scandalous topic that can come up ever is Jesus Christ.

I really have no idea how to go about this, but I’ve been telling all the people I can find on Facebook about Jesus and here are some tips to succeed with something I don’t understand and am just starting with.

Focus on the way Jesus shared the Good News.

Believe it or not, a lot of what Jesus was doing early in His public ministry was sharing the Good News. He was very good at this, and his approach would not be accepted by Christian culture today.

He drew people in with stories to give them a new perspective on their options and lifestyle. He asked people questions to see where they were at. He let the light that was in him shine out for all to see. The life of Jesus is overflowing with guidance about how to share the Good News.

People have a sense of their inner longings, and this can be drawn out.

People who are on drugs have big reservations about them. People who are sleeping around feel alienated from themselves. People who worship the government feel like something is left over. People who have given up on themselves feel like someone still believes in them.

They are wrestling with these things, and a few questions or suggestions can cause what can be shaken to shake and what is unshakable to hold firm.

Let your light shine.

The Good News is not a formula, so why should sharing it be? If you focus on a process, you will lose track of the inner life you have and how badly you would want to have it if it was gone.

Fanatics are people who try harder without realizing what their goal means to them. Don’t be a fanatic.

Posts are just text, but you can sneak a little kindness between the lines.

Much of the content on Facebook swings between showing off and panicking. When someone comes along and says, “Hey, I want to take a little break from all that to say I like you and see good qualities in you” it might as well be a message from outer space. If something is not important to you, feel free to let it go and say, “Well, maybe you’re smarter than I am. I only know that I was blind but now I see. I think that’s enough to go on.”

You don’t have to be super philosopher.

When people tell me about how Science is going to explain all the mysteries of the world, I tell them it’s just a fancy way of judging by appearances. When people ask me how I KNOW Jesus rose from the dead, I tell them no one really knows anything and God doesn’t have anything to prove. Sometimes I’ll mention Descartes and Hume basically showed everyone that the external world is a big guess and that the only thing you can be sure of is what is going on inside. People respect the spirituality of Jesus (even the ones who don’t admit it openly) and they will listen to the inspirational message of the gospel.

Beverity appeals to those who understand time is running out.

Those long posts explaining grand theories of everything? Yeah, no one reads that stuff -not even people who agree with them.

I once found a post where a skeptic was saying snakes can’t talk because they don’t have larynges (remember Facebook is the Wild West), and I responded by saying, “Science can tell you a little about snakes and not much about life.”

Fun fact, people would rather hear the words of life than the words of the world. If you draw in the words of Jesus every day as you read the Word, then you have the words of life too.

Simplicity in all things.

As Kierkegaard said, “Simplicity blinds the devil.” People post their first world grievings all over Facebook. You see meme’s like, “That look on your face when you realize Chick Filet doesn’t serve lingonberry milkshakes”. Or something like that.

Then someone comes along and says something like, “If God is real, why do the bags of hotdogs at the groceries have less than the number in the bag of buns, lol!”

The problem of evil has become the problem of minor inconveniences.

When people blurp up whatever weird expectations they have of God, I tell them God doesn’t need to justify His awesome ways to anyone, but people need to have their sins justified by God.

Christianity is seriousness. That word suggests your priorities can be arranged in a series, meaning nothing frivilous until the big deal stuff is addressed. Simplifies a lot.

Say everything the Father gives you to say.

Jesus only said what the Father gave Him to say, and in return the Father honored Jesus by giving him the coolest lines in the entire Bible. And there are some really good lines in the Bible, too!

Faith does not come from sophisticated arguments. It comes from hearing the Word. If you share verses from the Bible often, it will get your audience in places they didn’t know they had, and they may want to know more.

Remember people are in very different places.

One thing I hear people who are in ministry say a lot is that the people they come across are in very different places. This has totally been my experience!

There have been many times I have seen people say terrible, terrible things and I have felt very bad for them because, wow, they are so lost.

Don’t get thrown off by that. Remember you were once lost and how badly you would want to be delivered from that.

Other people seem to be off in some ways or are mixed up in christian culture without understanding who Jesus is. Find a gentle way to challenge them, but don’t feel like you have to make it clear to everyone where the acceptable lines are all the time. Jesus didn’t make it his mission to get the Saducees to agree there is an afterlife (or an afterdeath), but he answered their questions when it got brought up.

Don’t throw your pearls before swine, but also realize people who are very lost (remember Paul killing Christians) make some of the most compelling stories and sometimes are much closer to repentance than it looks.

Make the most of every opportunity.

When someone brings up a controversial issue, it may be a good time to spring something new from a new perspective that gets them to see what an amazing difference the perspective to heaven can make in someone’s life.

There is a lot of contention over politics and social justice on Facebook (and in the world). Words like “war-torn” and “slavery” and “addiction” get tossed around until they have almost no meaning. When I see the word “slavery” I tell people that everyone who does evil is a slave to evil.

This is a provocative claim, and it is extremely divisive. Some people will be inflamed with hatred that I say this and other people want to hear more.

Remember your goal is not to get everyone to like you.

Jesus said he came to set the world on fire and that he wished it was already burning. What he meant by that was he wanted to break apart the bonds of lukewarm mediocrity between people and get the sheep to start following the shepherd and everyone else out of the way.

If someone doesn’t like your message on Facebook, don’t feel like you have to bend over backwards to get them to start liking you. You aren’t going to change anyone’s mind by being the most sensitive person in the universe. If the world killed the master, they aren’t going to treat his disciples any better.

Your example is the most compelling evidence of God’s work.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

There are a ton of discussion groups on Facebook where people toss out questions about God, or Jesus, or sin, and they never get an answer from any believers.

That means there is a big opportunity for those who have the truth.

But before you go headlong into it, ask the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into the field.

So those are my tips, although I am clearly not an expert. Don’t be discouraged or encouraged by the outcome -whether people accept or reject your message- keeping your life hidden in Christ. Remember to hang on to every word of Jesus, and you will rejoice in the knowledge of his Kingdom. You will understand your longing for His rule over you and within you, and people will want to find out more!

Check out my book Mere Devotion available here.