If Facebook asked for your relationship status with social media, how would you answer? Probably: It’s complicated.
For leaders, complicated may be an understatement. Leaders have to be concerned about their relationship with social media and the relationship of people in their care with the social internet. Leaders need help to understand what social media does to us and how to help those we lead not get devoured by it.
Chris Martin has written a helpful book for Christian leaders on this topic: The Wolf in Their Pockets: 13 Ways The Social Internet Threatens the People You Lead. Martin traces the variety of challenges the social internet (a term he uses interchangeably with social media) creates for Christian discipleship.
Wolf in Their Pockets
Chris Martin
Chris Martin has written a helpful book for Christian leaders on this topic: The Wolf in Their Pockets: 13 Ways The Social Internet Threatens the People You Lead. Martin traces the variety of challenges the social internet (a term he uses interchangeably with social media) creates for Christian discipleship.
Every chapter has a similar structure: Introduce a characteristic of discipleship (friendship, worship, purpose, etc.) or a threat against it (entertainment idolatry), identify the ways social media amplifies the threat or distorts the virtue, and suggestions for how Christian leaders can cultivate a Biblical understanding and applications around each theme. This structure is not the greatest when you read multiple chapters in one sitting. But it makes it a great book to read one chapter at a time with a leadership team.
Martin sounds a strong warning without falling into doomsday despair. He aims to help Christian leaders to lead well in the age of social media. “We shouldn’t treat social media lightly. It is not child’s play. It is no longer some new technology that ‘teens are addicted to.’ Social media is no longer a ‘student ministry issue.”’ It is an all-of-us issue. Social media can easily lead us to worship ourselves or the wider world that God created. It does not easily lead us into a more intimate relationship with God, though it can be used to do that if used intentionally.”
As I’ve reflected on The Wolf in Their Pockets, it has challenged me to grow as a leader in three ways.
Be an Intentional Learner
A shepherd who shrugs off the wolves they know are lurking around their flock is a fool. One of the greatest dangers to churches is a pastor who is indifferent to wolves. Pastors and Christian leaders cannot afford to be indifferent about social media. “If we hope to be wise as we engage with social media and avoid as much sin as possible, either as an onlooker or an average user, we must be intentional. Because of our temptation to sin, flippantly using social media can be dangerous. We ought to be thoughtful and careful about how we handle such a powerful tool.”
Being intentional and engaged doesn’t mean you need to be constantly on social media. You can be a good pastor without Facebook or podcasts. “What does this look like practically? It looks like asking questions such as, “What is the purpose of Instagram in my life?” or “In what ways does Twitter shape the way I think about current events?” Leaders must be intentional students. Learn how Tic-Tok works and what it values and ask people in your church why and how they use it.
The discipleship reach of social media is too great for Christian leaders to plug their ears and hope it goes away. Martin says, “Social media is not a fad. It’s not going away. And it’s arguably the most pervasive discipleship force in the world right now.” Pastors especially need to be intentional and engaged with the kinds of social media that are discipling the people in our church.
One chapter that hit this point home for me was the chapter on discernment. Conspiracy theories and fabricated news stories used to be a joke among my friends. But now, I’ve seen too many “solid” people fail to discern between truth and error to laugh it off.
The gospel is more beautiful, more transformative, more refreshing, and more captivating than anything social media sells.
Discernment is a key to Christian discipleship which social media opposes. “Because we are overwhelmed with so much content—whether informative, entertaining, or otherwise—our ability to discern the truth and moral value of content is hindered.” We can’t keep up with all the content and don’t have time or energy to fact-check every story so we default to truth, believing without ever discerning. “Careful reading gives way to mindless consumption when our primary form of communication is designed to deliver massive amounts of content to us in as little time as possible.”
To disciple people well, we need to help them grow in discernment. Paul and John both expect maturing churches to test various teachings and discern between truth and error. “Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil” (1 Thess 5:20–22; c.f., 1 John 4:1). When we don’t understand how the minds of people in our churches are trained to absorb information through social media, we are under-equipped to help them test all things and hold to what is good. To lead well we need to be intentional learners.
Plant Roots in Old Truths
Christian leaders remind people of old truths. The tried, tested, and still-standing truth of God. Jeremiah says:
Stand by the roadways and look.
Ask about the ancient paths,
“Which is the way to what is good?”
Then take it
and find rest for yourselves. (Jer 6:16)
Ask about the ancient path and walk in it. Martin says, “If we want to cultivate a biblical understanding among the people we lead and love, we must revisit the old truths, reminding people of our purpose and our mission.” He is not commending an unhelpful nostalgia about the 1950s, but calling Christian leaders to remind people of the eternal truths of God. The beauty of the ancient truths of Christianity shines even brighter beside the looming clouds of the dark web.
The gospel is more beautiful, more transformative, more refreshing, and more captivating than anything social media sells. As a leader, help people see and savour these ancient truths. Read old books with people, preach compelling Biblical sermons, and go on walk-and-talks in the park. Help people slow down to see and feel the wonder of God.
Disciple Towards Character
Some people assume there is a disconnect between their online life and their embodied life so they do and say things online they never would in person. This disconnect is imaginary because “our online lives are our real lives. Who we are online is who we really are.” Far from being disconnected, and beyond simply influencing us, our online lives shape the loves and desires of our hearts.
Social media creates people whose values mirror the values of social media — values that cut against the grain of Christian virtue. “When we spend two-and-a-half hours a day engaging with a form of communications technology that values entertainment and attention above integrity or humility or patience or kindness, our values will begin to reflect the values of the social internet. We will come to think something that is entertaining or viral or otherwise popular is inherently more valuable than that which is gentle and lowly and unknown.”
Some people assume there is a disconnect between their online life and their embodied life so they do and say things online they never would in person.
As a Christian leader, how do you combat this? Prioritize character in discipleship. Paul shows us how to do this in Colossians 3. To prioritize character, “put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry” and “put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth” (Col 3:5, 8). These are vices in the Christian life but click-baited virtues for content creators. They are not the stories Christian leaders ought to celebrate and obsess over.
Rather, “as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Col 3:12–14). The priority of Christ-likeness is a priority of character in discipleship.
How can Christian leaders lead well in the age of social media? How can we fight the wolf in their pockets? By working hard to see Christ formed in our lives.
