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Seizing Viral Opportunities as a Digital Evangelism Strategy

viral videos for Christ

Recently Miheret Tilahun wrote in the eQuipping for eMinistry blog about the need to seize viral opportunities for Christ. His exhortation was inspired by “The Blessing,” a worship song performed by Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, and Elevation Worship, which was released in March on Elevation Worship’s most recent album, Graves Into Gardens.

The song has been very successful, reaching number two on the US Hot Christian Songs chart and peaking at number 15 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. In its first week alone, the song had more than 1.3 million streams and 12,000 downloads. The song has brought comfort to many people struggling to find hope during the pandemic.

As of this writing, the official video on YouTube has 380,000 likes and 19,383 comments. Those comments include a lot of great discussions about faith. “I even saw some comments from people sharing how they received Jesus Christ,” Miheret says. “People are choosing joy over their suffering. Others are still asking for justice, healing, and even favor from God in a humble spirit. People are sharing their stories with the world.”

How to respond to engagement

While we should celebrate the worship song having such a profound impact and that it has generated so many views and comments, this case study also shows the great challenge and opportunity of digital missions. Miheret puts it well:

Watching the video encouraged me, but left me with more questions. I was frustrated. This video could be a great opportunity for deeper spiritual conversations and for building online communities. How can we seize these opportunities? The people commenting on YouTube matter to God. Many may need a community where they could grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.

Miheret Tilahun

Key questions

To make the greatest impact for God, getting views isn’t enough. We believe that it’s important for everyone to journey in their relationship with God and it is the role of digital strategists to journey with them and to help people move along in that journey. So with viral content like “The Blessing,” how can we take advantage?

If you have good content that is getting engagement, here are some key questions to ask:

  • Can you use it to connect people in community?
  • Can you offer a next step to help move people on a journey with God?
  • Can you determine the spiritual stage of those who engage with the content and then offer them the next piece of relevant content?
  • Is there a way to connect people who are interested with a local church, ministry, or missionary?
  • How can you partner with others in the Church to make sure that no one who is seeking God falls through the cracks?