The digital world is the driving force we have at hand to tell the gospel with ease through the help of digital evangelism. However, you may have reasons not to use this opportunity for the gospel.
In a world where technology has become an integral part of our daily lives, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunities it presents. Digital evangelism, the use of digital media to share the gospel and spread the message of Jesus Christ, is a powerful tool for reaching a wider audience.
The mandate of evangelism was given to our fathers in faith but was limited by many things, geographical boundary is one of the reasons. With the use of digital devices, we have overcome these challenges
You now have the opportunity to preach to thousands from the comfort of your home, even in your bedroom. The digital world (the internet and social media) opened the way for us. Glory to God.
Though there may still be doubts about engaging in digital evangelism even with the glaring shreds of evidence that surrounds us, here are eleven reasons why you should consider engaging in digital evangelism
1. The world is digital and the Gospel must go digital
The digital age is here. The biggest shift is in communication. Facebook has become the most popular country in the world. People live on the internet day and night.
- Thousands of tweets are sent at the last minute
- Thousands of statuses are uploaded at the last minute
- Thousands of images are shared across all social media platforms at the last minute
People are getting connected without leaving the boundaries of their houses. This is an indication that we must change our strategy for evangelism.
2. It is the fastest way to reach people without stress
A message is sent on a messenger platform within a millisecond. Think about that.
Before Paul could take the gospel to some places in the Bible, he had to spend some days, even weeks, traveling from one location to another. But, these days, I can share the message of the gospel with the people in Pakistan while I am here in Nigeria.
That is the power of the internet, and it is the new normal.
3. People are desperate for online communities
This era also brought about some changes. The way we think, and the way we behave influences our attitude toward a change in perspectives.
One behavioral change that accompanied this era is a sense of belonging in the digital world. People are desperate to belong to a community online and hear the message of the gospel.
Many people join the Sexual Purity community so that they can express their views on the subject. some to political communities, and many more.
To reach the younger generations, believers and churches must create communities centered on people’s needs with a focus on Christ.
4. People find online interactions safer
Shame, guilt, and distrust, among others, are feelings that hold people back whenever they want to talk to somebody about their problems.
A prevailing problem among young people today is masturbation and pornography. You see pornography websites ranked among the top 100 most visited websites in the world, especially in Nigeria and other African countries.
The young ones do not have the boldness to talk about these problems with the elderly but resort to Google to find solutions and solace.
If we can target these people through social media and Christian blogs, it will be easier to communicate the mind of God to them
They prefer to give confidential information about themselves online than physically
5. Online engagement facilitates long-term engagement
When you start a conversation online, you can pick up from wherever you left off if the chat history is still available.
Unlike traditional evangelism you may not be able to trace the previous discussions about a person, in digital evangelism, you can easily check back on the previous discussion or even refer to it
This facilitates long-term evangelical engagement between people
6. There are no graphical boundaries
Not at all. There are some places in Nigeria where you can’t preach the gospel.
I found myself in a state in Nigeria in 2019. I discovered that there are some places where you cannot go and preach the gospel because of persecution. Not that the law of Nigeria forbids it, but the cultural law rejects Christianity as a religion. This made it difficult to share the gospel,
But now that there is a back door, which is the digital world, you can get the message of our Lord Jesus Christ anywhere that is accessible to internet connectivity.
7. There is a societal change and we must embrace it
The body of Christ must adapt to the new innovations in the world.
We are celebrating many innovations now, and we will celebrate more as we age. The internet world paved the way for digital ministry. The future of ministry is digital ministry.
As society is changing, we must adapt to the new technological normal and pray to God to give us the wisdom to use them for His will
8. We need to raise a new generation of digital ministers
We have a new mission field; we need recruitment. God will never lack personnel for His work, but we must fulfill our responsibility to make disciples of men.
Digital evangelism will breed new generations of Christian ministers in the digital world.
Paul said “Imitate me as I imitate Christ”
When you engage in digital evangelism, those you engage in the process with will be initiated into the idea. They will imitate you, and one will become one thousand.
9. None Christians are searching for Christ online
Christian Today, in their article “Coronavirus Searches Lead Millions to Hear About Jesus,” noted that “Three of the largest online evangelism ministries—GMO, BGEA, and Cru—account cumulatively for at least 200 million gospel presentations on the internet each year.” All three say the number of people seeking online information about knowing Jesus has increased since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic in early March.
The coronavirus has opened us to different digital opportunities for sharing the gospel. People are searching for Christ online more than before, therefore we must take our missionary work to the digital world
10. It is cheap and affordable.
Digital evangelism costs little or nothing. If we convert the amount we use to print evangelism flyers to running an evangelical ad on social media, we will have more people giving their lives to Christ.
You can reach thousands and millions with a little amount of money.
11. It is easier
You only need your mobile phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. An internet connection is also important.
Just as easy as that. You can try it with Facebook evangelism. All you need to do is download my workbook on Facebook evangelism. Follow all procedures; you can also reach out to me if there is anything that you don’t understand.
That is how simple it is to start your journey as a digital missionary or digital evangelist.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why we need to fix our gaze on the digital world as a new field for missionary and evangelical work.
The internet is a vast space for evangelical work; any contrary opinion is a device of the devil to distract you from the assignment God has given us.
When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 1 Cor. 9:22
Paul said he always finds common ground with everyone so that he may preach the gospel to the unsaved. This is an opportunity for you to do the same
