Alexei Romanov: “Unbelievers are not interesting Instagram of the Church. People follow real-life stories”

Youth pastor of the Moscow Church “Word of life” Alexei Romanov in a Small Cathedral Roshi shared the report on “the Pastor always online”. The Minister gave practical advice on how Christians lead Instagram to be interesting not only for the churched audience.

Below is the full text of the report published on the website Roshi:

“First and foremost I want to note that pastor and online Church is much different things, and please do not confuse them.

I am the pastor who spends a lot of time online, but this is very important: it is important to was not only online, but also had a real picture, talking to people in real time. There should be a balance between that, and if it is not, then after a while you become a theorist.

Opening my social network, you will see that I am accompanied by a lot of people from Russia, CIS, Europe and Asia:

Instagram: 87 600

VK: 10,000 friends and 9,000 followers

Telegram-channel: 7 800

Twitter: 4 300

At first glance it may seem strange that I still use Twitter, because it is an outdated social network. But did you know that Pope Francis should be 17 800 000 people, and he writes these posts that many charismatic pastors don’t even think about it.

We educated people who know and rightly understand the Scriptures, and if we’re not in social networks, we will not be affecting the younger generation, there will affect different people, those from which the Scripture says to stay away.

For example, there is a popular phrase: “where it ends with true, ends with trust.” Is not fortified people do retweet and say, “Amen,” but we all remember the words of Mother Teresa: “If you are betrayed, still continue to trust people,” and the fact that someone needs to tell them this phrase.

We often say: “It is the youth, the adults for all can not keep up,” but here’s some statistics:

Instagram journalist Vladimir Pozner: 411 000

Twitter musician Peter Mamonov – 38 400

The first thing we must understand people in social networks are live and real people for whom Christ died. Ten years ago the offline life was more real and not real. But today everything changes after a certain time will not offline life at all. One day, my daughter at 5 years old asked, why does not YouTube, and I told her that there was no wi-fi network, and she replied, saying how it is. How could it not be? This suggests that today’s children, adolescents and young people can not imagine the existence of life itself separately from the Internet.

The importance of social networks is invaluable.

Often we don’t remember phone numbers, but we remember the nicknames. Each of the social networks. If you remove 1% of people who do not use social networks, all the rest of them one way or another affected.

Today people make decisions online, and we need to understand that the Internet is not a toy, but a tool.

  • To go to the movies, you watch the teaser (trailer)
  • To go to a restaurant, you read reviews
  • To buy a car, you read the forums

First read on the Internet and then make conclusions.

The absence of the person in social networks, more terrible than his presence there.

Today people make decisions to become believers via the Internet. And the INTERNET is one of the most effective ways to preach

REJOICE if you followed a non-believer. For each account sits a real person in need of salvation.

Today less and less in our lives are cash, and, increasingly, they take cards, with a card in paypall. Wallet is no longer needed, you should have a mobile phone, with which we give each other money without money.

EACH SERMON includes some biblical hero. Today we talk a lot about the apostles, iterate through all characters of the Bible, we interest in their personal life, experiences, what they felt, thought what came across, we grains collected their stories.

Today many pages of people already there, but their statements are looking for, their stories retold.

Both believers and not believers, important personal life of a man, he is taking something.

PEOPLE IMPORTANT IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE. It is interesting, im wondering what you are feeling, experiencing and how you live. They aren’t going to follow a robot.

GOD KNEW ABOUT IT. That is why he took people and wrote the Bible. God wrote the Scriptures by the hands of the apostles, of the prophets. God used their traditions and experiences. God used the private lives of the apostles and through them wrote the Bible, in fact, He used their Instagram.

PERHAPS YOU are the ONLY BIBLE that people read. Today you’re following, and through you God speaks to people.

Let’s imagine a social network of biblical characters:

  • MOSES – he led an account in Twitter and would write there: “How I got these people,” or would the reality show “Forty years in the wilderness.”
  • GEDEON – posted быInstagramStoriesиз oak would be removed.
  • SAMSON — one hand with the jaws beat the Philistines, the other to be selfies.
  • PETER – would conduct a motivational account.
  • ANDREW wrote one phrase on Twitter and have forgotten the password of your account.
  • THOMAS – “While the screenshot did not send, I will not believe”
  • JOHN postil would be sunsets and sunrises, and I would write about the love of God.
  • JUDAS – clocked to subscribers.

If you don’t go in the social network, then they will go the other. And after a time you will not have influence…. Can’t hear you.

DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGY? You must have a strategy.

If you’re going to preach, and people will not listen, get frustrated, do you? Of course!

To preach we are prepared and we don’t listen to a lot of people at the same time, and when we post a photo and writing a post, don’t even think receiving a weak response, don’t worry. But they do not realize that we’re not interesting, and uninteresting to follow will not.

If I get in the pulpit and say that it is not prepared and I don’t care what you think of me, will you come tomorrow?

1 Corinthians 9:23-27

  • And this I do for the gospel to be his accomplice.(social networking – I do it for the gospel)
  • Know ye not that they which run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain.(the victory, I want better, I want people to admire my God)
  • Every athlete exercises self-control in all they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an incorruptible.
  • I therefore so run, not as wrong, the fight is not to beat the air;
  • but I discipline my body and enslave it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be a castaway. (not just a pretty phrase-PP and what you’re experiencing)
  • We sometimes do not realize how many things we have that could enrich of people: family, friends, places visited, love life. In our case our social network need for the gospel

    We use social networks in order to:

    • the sermons right now
    • sermon on long-term basis

    SOME PRACTICAL STEPS:

    Unbelievers are not interesting Instagramцеркви. He is not interesting, people follow real-life stories.

    Question: do people follow you? If you are a servant and they follow you and why? Because you have good content, or simply because you need?

    • Write five things, I wonder why people follow you? (except that they are required)

    Do you have your rubric? Let’s come up with and to meet the needs of people through social networks, answering the question of what is important today?

    The point is to first attract people, because we are fighting today for each subscriber, for every subscriber.

    And finally I will say that I always reply to everyone, because there are real people. I had a story associated with a guy whose son was in the hospital, and I said in Instagram, and one of our pastors visited him, anointed with oil and the boy was healed.”

    Recall that from 5 to 11 November in Moscow will host a conference YUS is one of the largest youth conferences in Russia.

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