Mark Johnson * is an expert on social media and uses his knowledge to share the gospel with the unreached people of the world and educate others in this.
– I am convinced that, through social media, we will be able to reach every country and nation during our or the next generation. I feel very humbled by the fact that I have been given the grace to live in this time, says a noticeably arrested Mark.
Mark is a man who has always had many balls in the air. He has been involved in several church plantations in the United States, been a pastor and worked in marketing. A few years ago, Mark’s family member fell ill with a serious illness, which led him to cut back on work to be able to care for the family member at home full time. Mark describes himself as a great extrovert with an evangelistic gift, and in connection with this began to think about how he could reach out to people from home. A few years earlier, he managed a Facebook page for a Christian film, and began experimenting with different types of strategies to see what had an impact. After a while, the site had grown, without using any ads, to 2.3 million followers. The growth was organic.
– Social media is the biggest thing that has happened to the church since Gutenberg’s art of printing. Then we could start printing Bibles, now we can reach the whole world with simple means. I do not think all Christians must be active on social media, but I believe that we as a body must be there. The gospel must be available in all places where people are.
The gospel must be available in all places where people are
Mark explains that with the help of social media we can create engagement with people, we can get in touch and build relationships even if we have never met before. To exemplify, he shows a chat history with a person who lives in a country where it is forbidden to be a Christian. They met online and Mark started praying for him. The person in the chat one day sends a voice message in which he thanks for Steven’s prayers, and tells that he now loves and follows Jesus. It’s hard not to be touched.
Despite his expertise, however, he is clear.
– Social media should not be seen as a goal in itself, but rather as a tool. Nothing compares to meeting in real life. Social media can serve as a gateway to this.
* Mark Johnson is actually called something else
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