Elder Neil L. Andersen said:
“There are new ways to invite others to ‘come and see.’ Let’s make sharing our faith online more a part of our daily life.”
Technology allows us to share the gospel easier and in far more effective ways than before. Members are responding by using social media and blogs to share in a variety of inspired ways.
We offer four very simple but highly effective ways to help you start sharing the gospel online:
- 'Like', by clicking the 'Like' button on social media messages
- 'Share’, by sending on other people's posts
- 'Comment', by adding uplifting, positive comments on other peoples’ posts
- 'Create', by using your own abilities to create gospel-related content and messages.
By carrying out one or more of these very simple actions, you help spread gospel messages to many more people. This does not replace traditional ways of sharing the gospel but opens up new and more far-reaching ways.
Elder David A. Bednar has given us this challenge:
“Brothers and sisters, what has been accomplished thus far in this dispensation communicating gospel messages through social media channels is a good beginning—but only a small trickle. I now extend to you the invitation to help transform the trickle into a flood….I exhort you to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth—messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy—and literally to sweep the earth as with a flood.”
Consider watching, with your family or friends, To Sweep the Earth as With a Flood (43min) by Elder Bednar.
One member had this to say about their experience:
“As I committed myself to regularly like & share gospel related messages, I soon noticed friends started to ask me questions about conference, Word of Wisdom, women, first vision, etc. One day I shared a short gospel-related video clip to only my non-member friends. After a few days, I noticed it had been watched by 10 of them.
Then the thought came to me 'When was the last time I had to opportunity to share a gospel message to 10 of friends using more traditional ways?', and yet here I had just done it so easily. The experience was also different as they were coming to me for questions rather than me going to them.”
Discuss your thoughts, feelings, experiences and promptings on the above with others.
While we can commit ourselves to ‘like’, ‘share’ and ‘comment’ on inspired messages, we can extend ourselves by considering what we might ‘create’.
Prayerfully consider what you could and should do, to ‘create’ and so share the gospel using the technology.
You share by using your vocational, musical, artistic, craft, technical and other skills to convey gospel messages, or simply help others do this.
The messages and content you ‘create’ are likely to be unique, and the outcome of prayerful consideration.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf encouraged us:
“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. You might say, “I’m not the creative type. If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters of the most creative.”
View his short address (2min):
We plan to provide four more articles to help you ‘share’ the gospel.
- In the first, we will guide you on how to create your own family mission plan.
- In the second, to prompt your own ideas we will provide examples of how others have shared the gospel.
- In the third, we will point you to useful resources that you can include in your ‘sharing’.
- In the last article, we will provide examples of how missionaries have come up with innovative ideas to reach out to others using technology.
This article is part of the 'Gospel Technology' series which focus on the use of technology in our gospel-oriented lives. For more articles click here.
