An honest and personal evaluation has led me to believe that I’m far too inclined to speak in public through social media for reasons that are less than noble and sometimes excessively rash born out of pride, frustration, or anger.
In the middle of that evaluation is the reality that God has given me a charge and that charge is first a covenant fellowship and then second a city and state that is being transformed through and because of our fellowship and then a world that has members of that fellowship working for the Kingdom of God. Any place my words/voice lands outside of that charge is really not mine to determine. By “charge”, I mean Three Rivers Church, our people, and our work.
There are issues that we must speak to when God’s standards are broken in the world at large, and I’m convinced that it’s far less effective to do so on social media than to do so in person with a real person where real transformation can actually happen.
It takes a personal investment in the public square to have those relationships in the first place, and social media can give the false impression that “friendship” and “following” equates to influential relationships.
This is not to say that some folks don’t have an influence on social media, nor is it to say they should stop what they are doing. But for many of us, we need to put our heads down, use social media for its best purposes, and get in front of more flesh and blood humans we have an actual influence with and work through hard issues together. Making statements on social media is more virtue signaling for many people than anything really productive.
Perhaps it’s an issue of humility. Social media can inflate a sense of influence, so we act on it, and in reality, we are taking time to invest in vain labor in a truly empty space.
I should not think that because I may find myself at the front of some pioneering work that I don’t have massive blind spots and weak places in my armor. The fact is, I have many blind spots, and I need real people who love me and care about me to point those out and hold me accountable to growth, and I need real public square relationships with people who don’t share my thoughts who also love me and care about me to help me learn and grow. Those kinds of interactions simply don’t happen on social media.
I need to fear, be humble, and likely speak less and listen more in the social media world, and put some of that energy toward writing more, sitting in front of a real human, and working through real city, state, and national issues as a Christian in the public square of real humanity.
That’s just my two cents, a little public confession, and perhaps something that may help you out on this journey of navigating a digital world that is full of real people.
Theology in the Dirt 