A few weeks ago up at Calvary Chapel Quakertown I participated in a forum on media and the Christian. I was given the assignment of speaking on Social media. There’s several reasons that’s a little comical (for instance, I’ve never had a personal Facebook page or Twitter feed), but it was a great exercise to prepare for and to think about Social Media for a little bit. While working through some of the issues Christians face in the world of social media, I wrote down a list of questions I’d want to ask of any current or potential social media use. The idea here is not to jump into something without thinking about it in the context of our discipleship to Christ. Here’s the list:
Questions for a Christian to Ask When Assessing Social Media Use
- Does it help me read better? Does it build my ability to sustain thought, follow logical arguments, and reason on my own? (These things are needed for reading scripture, of course.)
- Does it build my interpersonal skills, or make me less comfortable with presence? (That is, with the actual presence of another person.)
- Does it foster my participation in actual groups (the body of Christ) or does it contribute to any unhealthy isolation? (Not that all time alone is bad of course, but there is an unhealthy isolation.)
- Does it make me more, or less, aware of the people who are actually around me? (In many contexts–public, family, church–I must be engaged with those around me in order to have opportunities to love them and share the gospel.)
- Does it provide a space for the Gospel to be preached that actually accords with the Gospel? (Verses like 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 are key here.)
- If I am to seek to redeem my time (Ephesians 5), is this the best use of my time for the kingdom? Does it bear fruit (John 15), and does it bear much fruit?
- Does the Spirit lead me (Romans 8:14) to use my time and resources this way?
- Does this lead me, personally, into sin? (Matthew 5:29)
- Does it lead others into sin? (1 Corinthians 8:9)
- Does it communicate the right things about the Gospel to the next generation? In other words, how does it disciple? (It’s always helpful to remember that we’re not only preaching to the lost, we’re also communicating to Christians)