by Rick Bonifield
Monday, March 23, 2026
Every year for the past 17 years, my wife and I vacation on the Outer Banks of NC. We love the family-friendly beaches and warm ocean water during the summer. In fact, we sold our home in Maryland and decided to live in the OBX for a year before we relocate to our forever home. Like many Christians on vacation, we search for a local church on the Lord’s Day.
Wherever we vacation, we simply search Google for “Christian Church in [Location].” Google prioritizes what they call a local map pack before search engine results. We read the reviews by members on the Google Business Profile, view the pictures and service times, and eventually click into the website for an in-depth view of the Church (beliefs, staff, children’s programs, etc.)
Did you know that about 85% of people check out a church's website before they ever walk onto the property? Your website is your digital gateway. Sadly, around 62% of church websites don't include obvious information for new visitors. This Resurrection Sunday, the Church has an easy opportunity to evangelize their local community… and it will take a Church member about 5-8 minutes to accomplish.
An Upcoming Surge in Spiritual Curiosity
Every year, right before Resurrection Sunday, Google searches for "church" skyrocket, making it the time of year when Americans search for a church more than any other. People who normally don't think about stepping into a building are suddenly pulling out their phones and looking for a place to go. This is not an isolated phenomenon but a predictable, recurring sociological pattern.
In fact, 90 percent of Protestant ministers say “Easter” is one of their highest-attended services of the year, with over half saying it is their absolute highest. The influx of attendees is largely composed of infrequent visitors, curious neighbors, and nominally affiliated Christians. Digital behavior precedes physical behavior. The search engine is the modern vestibule to the sanctuary. And here is a statistic that should encourage you: 66 percent of Americans actually believe the biblical account of Jesus rising from the dead is completely accurate. They already believe the tomb is empty!
It indicates that two-thirds of the populace possesses a baseline cognitive agreement with the most miraculous and consequential event in human history. The barrier to evangelism is not necessarily a hardened disbelief in the historical event of the resurrection; rather, the barrier often lies in the disconnect between that cognitive belief and active integration into a local body of believers.
The task of the church, therefore, is not always to convince the public that the tomb is empty, but to guide those who already suspect the tomb is empty into a community where the implications of the resurrected Christ are preached, believed, and lived out. Digital discoverability is the bridge between a seeker's solitary search query and their physical presence in the assembly.
Our Mission Before April 5th, 2026
So, how do we make it easy for them to find us? It starts with your Google Business Profile. When someone types "church near me" into their phone, Google shows them a map with local options. If your church isn't optimized there, you're missing out. In the first century, the church grew because ordinary people shared the testimony of their changed lives. Today, that public testimony often occurs through online reviews.
Here are some simple, practical steps to fix that. If you're a Church member, pause on reading and:
This is an easy 5–8 minute evangelistic task that will last for years to come. It’s a living, documented, discoverable testimony that can encourage and persuade others to visit a biblically sound church this coming Resurrection Sunday.
If you’re a Church leader, pause on reading and:
Evangelism is much easier than you think!
The Areopagus of the Twenty-First Century
The fundamental task of the church of Jesus Christ in a fallen world has remained completely unaltered since the first century. The mandate delivered by the risen Christ in Matthew 28:19–20 demands that believers make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all commanded truths. This Great Commission establishes the primary outward-facing function of the local congregation: evangelism.
While the content of the gospel (death, burial, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ) is an immutable, objective truth, the methodologies employed to disseminate this truth must adapt to the prevailing communicative mediums of the age. In the contemporary context, the digital landscape serves as the primary public square, the Areopagus of the twenty-first century.
A rigorous theological approach to modern evangelism requires the recognition that digital tools are not inherently secular or unspiritual. Rather, they are neutral instruments that must be subjected to the lordship of Christ and utilized for the advancement of His kingdom. The historical Restoration Movement has long championed the concept of returning to the pure, unadulterated practices of the New Testament church, guided by the principle of absolute biblical authority.
This desire to restore pure New Testament Christianity does not necessitate an abandonment of modern technology. On the contrary, just as the apostle Paul utilized the Roman road system and the Greek language (Koine) to accelerate the spread of sound doctrine, the modern church must utilize search engines, digital profiles, and optimized web architecture to reach a populace that is desperately seeking answers.
The Stewardship of Talents Entrusted to the Church
The Parable of the Talents, recorded in Matthew 25:14-30, provides a definitive framework for understanding the responsibility of the believer toward the assets entrusted to them by God. In the historical and grammatical context of first-century Judea, a "talent" (talanton) was not a measure of personal skill or natural ability, but rather a substantial unit of currency or weight, often equivalent to twenty years of wages for a common laborer.
In the parable, the master entrusts his property to his servants before departing on a long journey, distributing the talents according to each servant's ability (Matthew 25:15). The theological implication is profoundly clear: God, the Creator and Ruler, entrusts specific resources, opportunities, and spheres of influence to His church during the period between Christ’s ascension and His eventual return for the final judgment.
It is my opinion that these resources encompass financial wealth, physical facilities, temporal opportunities, and the communicative platforms available in any given era. In the twenty-first century, a church’s digital presence (its website, its search engine visibility, and its online reputation) constitutes a highly valuable "talent."
It is an asset with enormous potential for yield, specifically measured in the currency of human souls reached with the gospel. God has entrusted the modern church with these easy-to-use, high-impact tools. Expecting a return on that investment is an inescapable biblical reality.
The Sin of Negligent Omission
The crux of the parable lies in the master's evaluation upon his return. The servants who received five talents and two talents actively invested their resources, doubling their master's investment. They are commended as "good and faithful" and are invited to enter into the joy of their master (Matthew 25:21, 23). However, the servant who received one talent chose a path of fearful self-preservation and negligence. He dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money (Matthew 25:18).
It is a crucial hermeneutical observation that the third servant was not condemned for outright theft, malicious destruction of property, or active rebellion. He was condemned strictly for his failure to act, for his sin of omission. The master rebukes him as a "wicked and slothful servant" (Matthew 25:26) and declares that his lack of use equated to a severe misuse of the entrusted asset. The servant failed to recognize the urgency of the master's business and the expectation of active stewardship.
When local congregations ignore their digital footprint, allowing their online presence to remain hidden, outdated, or invisible to the searching public, they risk mirroring the behavior of the slothful servant. God has provided the modern church with unprecedented, low-cost, high-impact platforms for reaching local communities. To leave a Google Business Profile unmanaged, or to maintain a website that obscures critical information from seekers, is to take the talent of digital discoverability and bury it in the earth.
Conversely, optimizing these digital assets requires minimal financial expenditure but demands intentional, faithful effort. Believers must actively pursue the multiplication of their resources to yield a valuable spiritual crop, lest they face the consequences of neglect.
The Imperative for Active Salvation Pursuit
The broader context of Matthew 25 underscores the necessity of active preparation. Preceding the Parable of the Talents is the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), which emphasizes the necessity of readiness for the Lord's return. Following the Parable of the Talents is the depiction of the Final Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46), where the separation of the sheep and the goats is based entirely upon the active demonstration of faith through practical works of mercy and obedience.
Doctrines of grace do not negate the necessity of human obedience and active stewardship. The assertion that evangelism can be relegated entirely to the sovereign will of God, without the active, strategic participation of the local church, is a theological error. The believer is saved by grace, but that salvation must manifest in the diligent use of every available tool, including digital tools, to propagate the message of redemption.
Share Your Testimony (martyria): Online Reviews as Public Testimony.
The rapid expansion of the early church was fueled not only by the authoritative, apostolic preaching of the word but by the localized, credible witness of ordinary believers sharing the truth of their changed lives. In the modern digital context, this concept of public testimony finds a direct, highly visible parallel in online reviews.
Search engines place immense algorithmic weight on the quantity, quality, and velocity of Google Reviews when determining which organizations to display prominently in local search results. A comprehensive study analyzing local search ranking factors revealed that review signals account for over 15 percent of how Google determines the hierarchy of local results, making it one of the top three most significant ranking factors.
More importantly than the algorithm, prospective visitors rely heavily on the "social proof" provided by these reviews. A church with a multitude of sincere, five-star reviews communicates health, vitality, and a welcoming atmosphere. Conversely, a church with no reviews, a low average rating, or unanswered negative reviews projects an image of apathy, decline, or unfriendliness.
The forthcoming Resurrection Sunday presents an unparalleled, culturally embedded opportunity for such evangelistic outreach. Take advantage of the opportunity!
Philippians 2:8 says of Jesus, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Did you ever give much thought to the statement “He humbled Himself?”
Yet, the love that Jesus commanded is not about “working to make your neighbor happy by affirming their perceived identities or choices.” For one, happiness is not the defining quality of love. Happiness often accompanies the type of love that Jesus commands, but not necessarily in the short run.
Sometimes Christians can get so excited about the redemption Jesus brings that they fail to tell any other part of the
Biblical story. We rightly rejoice that our sins are forgiven; this truly is great news! However, if this is the only
part of the story you know — or if you mistake this part as being the whole story — it is easy to end up with a
fragmented or even reduced view of the gospel.
7133 Central Parke Blvd.,
