Honestly, I do not understand why most pastors and church leaders do not leverage technology for the Glory of God. Pastors, church leaders, and faithful church attendees who see social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and LinkedIn as evil are missing a great opportunity to reach people far from God.

Are you sitting?

Here’s something that’ll blow your mind…

Christianity was, in a very real sense, the first technologically driven religion.

Intrigued? Angry? Frustrated?  Read on…

Christians Used Technology

Galilee, Bethlehem and the rest of Palestine were part of a Roman world whose technological underpinnings had reached a level by Jesus’ day that was not to be surpassed until the 19th Century.  Those roads that The Apostle Paul and his associates traveled to spread the faith were unprecedented marvels of engineering. Without the ingeniously constructed roads that led from the streets where Jesus had walked to the cities of Syria and Greece, Christianity might have remained another obscure Judean sect like those that fill the pages in accounts by Jewish historian Josephus.

The roads were technological marvels – the ORIGINAL information super-highway!

What’s The Point?

If Jesus, His Disciples, or The Apostle Paul were here today, they’d all use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites to reach people for God!  I can imagine The Apostle Paul with his iPad Air 2 updating his Facebook status with these words:

¹⁹ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.  1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV)

Why Am I Online?

That’s where the people I want to reach are.  The average teenager spends 44.5 hours per week in front of a screen.

Let’s just let that sink in for a minute: chances are high that you work a full-time job.  Most full-time jobs are 8am to 5pm.  With an hour for lunch, that’s 36-40 hour work-weeks. The average teenager spends more time on a screen than you do at your job.

• 96% of Millennials are on Facebook (although, many of them are limiting Facebook usage in favor of more “private” networks).
• 81% of Millennials are on Facebook every day.  This is nearly twice the number of those who watch TV or read newspapers.
• 68% of Millennials have an internet-capable phone – This does not account for tablets, and I assume this number goes up when factored in.
• 43% of Millennials are on Twitter – I assume this number has gone higher in recent claims of the horrible privacy settings on Facebook.
• Millennials are using Google+ – but not for the profiles.  They’re using Google Hangouts to do multi-person video calls with their friends.
• The average teenager sends over 3300 texts per month.

Again, why am I online?  Because that’s where the people I want to reach are.

If you’re not using Facebook, Twitter or any other form of social media, you’re missing a God-sized & ordained opportunity reach people for God.