“How to Share the Gospel Virtually,” Liahona, July 2022.
How to Share the Gospel Virtually
Sharing our experiences online allows us to promote faith, resilience, and togetherness.
The Togola family learned about the gospel as they were supporting humanitarian efforts online.
Photograph courtesy of the Togola family
While I was serving as president of the Ghana Accra West Mission, I received an email from a Church member in California named Dale Wight. For some time, Brother Wight had been sending Church literature to a man named Ibrahima Togola, who lived in Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa. They had met online, where both of them were supporting humanitarian efforts.
There were no missionaries in Mali yet. However, Ibrahima was willing to travel more than 720 miles (1,160 km) by bus to Accra, Ghana, if I would arrange for missionaries to teach him. In the following weeks, I visited with Ibrahima several times online. He came to Ghana, where I met him and arranged for the missionaries to teach him. He was baptized soon after and returned to Mali. (He is now a member of the Bamako Branch, which is part of the Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East Mission.)
Without the miracle of modern technology, think how difficult it would have been for Ibrahima Togola to learn about the gospel. Instead, he was able to engage in gospel conversations that changed his life.
Natural and Normal Conversations
Members and full-time missionaries who were required to stay in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic found many creative ways to be “virtual missionaries.” Thanks to modern technology, they demonstrated how we can find ways to share the message of the Restoration and help to gather Israel.
“I am not asking that you stand on a street corner with a megaphone and shout out Book of Mormon verses,” said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “What I am asking is that you always look for opportunities to bring up your faith in natural and normal ways with people—both in person as well as online.”1
“People today are skeptical of anyone who seems to have an agenda,” says Cannon Hawkes, who served in the Texas Dallas East Mission. “If something seems forced, most people will be put off, and they may have trouble later on accepting sincere attempts.” On the other hand, natural online conversations can, over time, lead to gospel discussions where “he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:22).
“What we are interested in, like the important additional doctrinal teachings in the restored Church, usually isn’t what others are interested in,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency. “Others typically want the results of the doctrine, not the doctrine.”2
In other words, goodness, strong families, high standards, and helpful service get noticed.
You Can Shine Online
As members of the Church, we are encouraged to participate actively in local, school, and civic organizations. By doing so, we not only give meaningful service but also develop personal connections that enrich our lives.
“As you bless your own families and ward members, look for ways to bless those in your local communities,” said President Bonnie L. Oscarson, former Young Women General President. “Whether you have time for extensive service or can give only a few hours a month, your efforts will bless lives and will also bless you in ways you cannot begin to imagine.”3
Service in our local communities or professional organizations can get noticed and discussed online. As we let our light shine (see Matthew 5:16), it will cause people to ask questions about our background, our experiences, our families, and our beliefs. We can share these experiences with our next-door neighbors as well as our online friends as expressions of who we are and the hopes we have for ourselves and our communities.
Reconnect and Reflect
Recently, a colleague I worked with years ago contacted me online. We have not seen each other in years. Retired now, he was less interested in discussing professional accomplishments and more interested in discussing our personal lives. Since reconnecting, we’ve kept up an online dialogue about friends, family, and life stages. He’s interested in religion now in a way that never seemed to be the case when we worked together.
“Life changes,” he wrote to me. “There are some things you have that seem deeply satisfying and that profoundly affect me. I may never join your church, but I appreciate your perspective.”
Such online contact allows us to reflect and reminisce in ways that might not happen face-to-face. You and I can join online with like-minded people in any number of common causes from civic to community to school to professional endeavors. We can seek out these common groups and share experiences, thoughts, and beliefs in personally satisfying and spiritually uplifting ways.
Kristen Duke (left) writes online about family activities that promote togetherness.
Photographs courtesy of Kristen Duke
Richer Personal Interaction
“The online world is a vibrant social universe where many Internet users enjoy serious and satisfying contact with online communities,” researchers for the Pew Research Center concluded. “These online groups are made up of those who share passions, beliefs, hobbies, or lifestyles. Tens of millions … have joined communities after discovering them online.”4
Message boards allow people to communicate freely with others in a public forum and can include side discussions and offline discussions that allow for even richer personal interaction. For instance, one professional basketball team has a message board with thousands of users who often have conversations about topics that are important to them. Current and former basketball stars who are members of the Church are occasionally featured, and their personal lives—including their Church membership—are highlighted.
Seeing and Believing
As you build relationships with people online, it’s important to recognize the need for transparency, likability, and credibility. Sharing who you are—not just your Church membership—allows your words and actions to reinforce each other.
Videos showing community or family projects can often demonstrate the blessings of the gospel in our lives. For example, when we lived in Houston, Texas, a member of our ward posted a short video about volunteering at the Church’s peanut butter canning project. He commented that one day each month all of the Church-produced peanut butter was donated to the Houston Food Bank.
One of his colleagues from work was looking for ways to volunteer. He saw the online video and realized he knew the ward member. So, he called him and asked if they could go together the next time there was an opportunity to volunteer. They volunteered together several times over the ensuing years, and each time they talked about Church programs and beliefs as they worked side by side.
During casual conversations, share how the gospel helps you.
Inspiration in the Everyday
Many bloggers share their testimonies and their faith on blog sites. While such expressions of belief can lead to gospel conversations with people of other faiths, they typically serve to reinforce the beliefs of other Church members. On the other hand, posts that give details about a family’s interests and activities—and which comment secondarily on matters of faith—can more easily open doors to further gospel conversations.
Kristen Duke of Colorado Springs, Colorado, writes online about family games and activities. As she describes family events, she focuses on what family activities promote togetherness as well as how her family stays close to each other through community and Church events. Because she doesn’t focus on doctrinal principles, it’s much easier for her to engage like-minded readers in offline personal discussions, which may eventually provide an opportunity to share religious beliefs.
While sharing the gospel online may sometimes be perceived as less personal than face-to-face discussions, we can still share the gospel very effectively online when physical limitations, weather, or social distancing make travel or getting together challenging. And even under normal circumstances, sharing our experiences online with like-minded people allows us to connect and communicate in both local and global communities that promote faith, resilience, and togetherness.
The author lives in Utah.