Going Viral With the Gospel
Click here to see an example of how one church created a video message that went viral. It is a great message of gratitude, but it is not the gospel. If you find any examples of gospel messages that went viral, please provide links in the comments below.
When a message goes viral, it multiplies and spreads rapidly from one source to the next until it saturates a region with its contents. In Fishing On The Other Side, I talk about taking the gospel viral. As the body of Christ, we have the tools and resources to spread the salvation message of Jesus to every person on the planet in a very short period time.
Viral messages are spread through social media when people who perceive the value of a particular message share it with their friends who share it with their friends who share it with their friends.... Sometimes that perceived value is humor. It works like this: I watch a video of a cute baby making silly sounds with her mouth that appear to sound like real words and I share it on my Facebook page. I share it because I want you to watch it because I think that you'll think it is cute and that it will make you smile the way that it made me smile. There is nothing profound in that video. No information is shared that is going to change the world or anyone's life, but in 24 hours it reaches 100,000 people. In 48 hours, it reaches 1.5 million and in 72 hours, it has surpassed 10 million viewers.
The gospel message is profound and life-changing. It not only has perceived value, but it has real tangible value. It is the power of God that brings salvation:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith."
Romans 1: 16-17
The gospel has the power to make blind people see and make dead people alive. If any message deserved to go viral, it should be the gospel. Not only is the message powerful, but those who have already heard and accepted the gospel are commanded by Jesus to take the gospel to every group of people on earth and to every creature. Not only did Jesus command us to take the gospel to every person, He also empowered us with His Spirit to do so.
So, we have the most compelling, most powerful, most life-changing, most eternal message that we have been commanded by the most amazing person to share with everyone. Why not pass it on? Post it, tweet it, YouTube it, Instagram it, text it, like it, share it and watch it go viral!
Mark Weible serves as the Strategic Director of Renovation National Church Revitalization Conference, Director of Church Planting for Greater Orlando Baptist Association and Directional Leader for ReproducingChurches.com. Mark is an experienced Search Engine Optimizer and Google Advertising Professional.