Insta Disciples

In case you haven’t read my articles before, I am a campus minister at Commonwealth University, a small liberal arts college in Central Pennsylvania. Here is a smattering of comments I’ve heard from some of our students over the past year. 

“Bro, I think Joe Rogan is going Christian. Did you see his episode with Wes Huff?” 

“Voddie Baucham is my dude. He tells it like it is.” 

“One doesn’t just watch Cliff Knechtle. It changes you.” 

“What do you think of Paul Washer?” 

“You are the next Tim Mackie.” 

Okay, so maybe I made that last one up, but the rest of them are real! If you aren’t familiar with these names, no worries. I just want you to know who is discipling my generation online. Each of the individuals mentioned above is a Christian with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media (Joe Rogan has nearly twenty million). 

The average twenty-something Christian spends around forty minutes a week learning about Jesus in church (if they are one of those zealots who attend every Sunday). That same person spends an average of three hours a day on social media. i For those of us who went to Bible college and struggle with math, that means they spend nearly thirty-two times as much of their lives bouncing around Instagram and YouTube as they spend listening to live sermons. 

I’m not here to bash social media. I love spying on my friends’ lives and catching up on sports highlights, but I do think that the Christian Education game has changed. While far too many of those twenty-one hours a week are spent on mindless cat videos, some of them are spent listening to Christian influencers. As much as I love preaching (almost as much as I love Oreos), in the world of TikTok, I’m only one voice among thousands of soundbites. Eventually, the soundbites become the main course. We must acknowledge (even if we don’t fully embrace) this new reality. 

Here are a few practical tips as we learn to disciple young adults in a world of microwaved, online theology. 

First off, if you are in ministry, pay attention to which voices are discipling you. A steady diet of cynical podcasts and snarky YouTube clips won’t give you the same results as spending time with Brother Lawrence or C.S. Lewis. If you enjoy learning from other individuals online, I encourage you to listen to whole sermons or lessons instead of scrolling through clickbait shorts and reels. There’s a reason we call it doom-scrolling. 

Next, it’s important to pay attention to the voices that are shepherding your people online from Monday to Saturday. Have you noticed that some of the most popular Christian streams nowadays are famous for making other people look stupid? Controversy sells. If we aren’t aware of these trends, we can’t name them and call them out. By the same token, we can multiply our effectiveness by recommending high-quality influencers. If you haven’t discovered the gift that John Mark Comer is to the Church yet, Google him when you finish reading this. I also recommend all his books. 

Finally, I think it’s more important than ever that wise, mature believers have a dignified online presence. My generation wants so badly to be shepherded by people who know what they’re talking about and carry themselves with grace and humility. Be that weird person who makes videos of yourself reading the Bible and talking about it. Post something besides political vitriol on Facebook. We don’t need you to be clever or cute; just be honest and kind. You may not get hundreds of subscribers, but you will edify the twelve young folks who are looking at your life already. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ii 

I could (and might) spend another article explaining how to invade this space well, but for now, know that this is a space that needs to be invaded. Instagram is going to shape our young disciples whether we like it or not. As wise leaders, let’s meet them on the road.