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Sharing Your Faith on Facebook – BE BOLD

Recently I have been in contact with Roger Van who will be leading a seminar on internet evangelism at Agape’s Fire Seed Conference for Students held in Nottingham. Facebook is going to be a large focus as many students will hold existing relationships on that social network. Facebook is like a mirror for every day activity, why not faith sharing too? While in New Zealand I came across a great acronym for sharing your faith relationally “BOLD”. I adapted it slightly to “BE BOLD” and shared it with Roger to use in the seminar. I thought I would post it on this blog too.

1. Be who God made you to be – so many young Christians feel overbearing pressure to share their faith. So what is a noble deed tends to be born out of frustration and legalism. Rather you need to be able to share your faith under the knowledge of God’s lavish grace. Understanding that he is for you, that he called you and has given you his power to share His Story. Ephesians 2:6-10

2. Edify – If we are to be who God made us to be then we were made to spend time with God in the Spirit, enjoy being with him, read your Bible and listen to what He is saying. Enjoy His love, peace and joy. Philippians 4:4-9

3. Be on the lookout – (for the right situation) Get to know people through common passions and hobbies. Luke 19:5 is a great example of Jesus being on the lookout and basically inviting himself round to Zacchaeus’ house to chill out.

4. Ordinary conversation – Again don’t put yourself under pressure to share Christ 5 people a day, God is not interested in that. Also listen, do a lot of listening. How can you expect someone to listen to you if you don’t listen to them? Eventually you will be able to…

5. Leap in with the Gospel – Share who Jesus is and what has done and why he is significant to you personally. This is a great opportunity to also demonstrate your faith by praying for people to be healed and leading them in a prayer them selves or to receive the Holy Spirit.

6. Don’t give up – keep speaking to them, keep answering questions, keep serving them, keep listening and finally keep praying for them when your alone with God.

Zondervan Aquires Mars Hill’s Home Grown Church Social Network

Mars Hill recently sold their web based social network known as “The City” to publisher Zondervan. It’s a strategic move that will enable many other churches around the world to use the same features that the Seattle based church provides their members in connecting with each other online. Essentially it is Facebook for your church community but with a bias towards doing mission, as their website explains.

“The City is an online meeting place where Gospel transformation can take place. It ties together your existing local communities into a social fabric that undergirds your ministries and greatly enables connection…”

The inventor Zack Hubert a former Amazon employee and current Mars Hill elder was thinking on Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Wondering how technology might serve to help God’s people live as “a city on a hill” he then set up The City for Mars Hill Church to enhance existing relationships in the church and the various missions which people were involved in. Within two months of the tool’s launch more than 85% of the church’s members had signed up and more than 75% visit the site every single day.

Kiosk Mode from OnTheCity on Vimeo.

Though no one but Mars Hill and the Acts 29 Church network have been using the tool, it is possible that some potential users may have concerns about the Zondervan acquisition. I know that those involved in Christian literature distribution are a little uneasy toward Zondervan as it is an imprint of Harper Collins who publish the Satanic Bible. Harper Collins is also owned by Newscorp (Rupert Murdoch). However Harper Collins have stated in the past that Zondervan “operates with complete autonomy out of a separate headquarters”.

This being said the leaders at Mars Hill spent a lot of time thinking about how the tool could be used for Jesus’ fame outside of their own church, but the work required more than they were capable of on their own. An opportunity presented itself when Zondervan made an offer to purchase. Hubert has moved with the acquisition and will now be heading up a development team for the social network in Seattle at a new office for Zondervan.

Personally I think a tool like this has a lot of potential in connecting many different Church plants, but maybe more importantly this tool is super for large churches who want to get their members doing mission and reaching out to those who don’t know Jesus. Watch the below video on how it works. Other videos can be found on The City blog.

List your Skills from OnTheCity on Vimeo.