Have you ever wondered what good it does to “like” something you read on social media?

Lutheran CORE mostly posts information, such as newsletter articles, devotions, and prayers, while others may post about their children or pets. We don’t see everything everyone posts and they don’t see everything CORE posts either. It turns out that each social medium platform (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are examples) uses math to decide who sees what.

So how do we reach people, especially our youth, who don’t already know about us? It turns out that each platform uses social signals (likes, comments and shares) in deciding what is popular and important. The mathematical formula tracks the social signals and the people doing the social signaling. It also tracks the posters’ friends and their interests.

Why? Because the platform tries to decide whether each post is of general interest or just of interest to your little corner of the Internet. It also considers whether people in other places are interested in the topic. Like it or not, you won’t see a post unless the platform’s math formula decides that it is right for you. To quote Big Commerce [emphasis added], “Increased social signals indicate good domain authority and demonstrate a URL’s value. When large numbers of users share and like a page, it indicates that the page is genuine and contains substantive or entertaining content.” (BigCommerce)

Most of you are probably aware of Facebook or Twitter at this point, but what about Instagram? Instagram is a social media platform that emphasizes photo and video sharing and, more importantly, lots of young adults and high school students use it.

If we want to combat the secular world by making it possible for our children and grandchildren to read our posts, then we need to use the apps they use, write the way they absorb information, and do all we can to let the various platforms know that our posts are worth reading.

How do we do that? In a nutshell, we start by creating accounts for each of the major social media platforms. We then need to increase the popularity of a page and its posts by liking / following the posts, and by occasionally sharing them or writing substantial comments. We may get flagged as spam if we only write generic comments such as “Awesome post!”

Even better than being a one-man band is to get a small team doing these things regularly! Maybe your bible study or young adult group would accept the challenge. Children and youth may be hesitant to share a post, but they may be very willing to “like” a post.  That helps too.

Lutheran CORE began publishing to Instagram on February 17^th, 2022. We currently have 17 Instagram followers. How many will we have two months from now when our May issue is released? It could literally be hundreds if our dedicated readers create an Instagram account and start to like, share, comment, and follow our posts.

Click here to visit Lutheran CORE’s linktree which includes links to Lutheran CORE’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube pages as well as other posts of interest.

You can also click (or select) on the buttons below to go directly to Lutheran CORE’s accounts. When you visit our YouTube channel, please subscribe to it and enjoy the video book reviews we have posted there.

Jesus said, “Go!” and this is one practical way you may help reach the lost and looking.

The board of Lutheran CORE recognizes Empowered Laity as one discipling resource that Lutheran congregations may wish to try. It has the potential of helping everyone realize their potential to teach, preach, and heal.

Discipling will take place in small huddles via Zoom. A huddle is an ongoing coaching vehicle, meaning the coach guides where the players need to grow. The Empowered Laity coaches are “creating a reproducible discipling culture based on a model that has worked in other more secular Western Culture contexts as well as here in the US.”

The Empowered Laity organization is offering two lengthy huddles in the fall of 2020. In a nutshell: 

• The Empowered Laity huddle will explore the dynamics of ordained/laity and what it means for everyone to engage the ministry Jesus promised in John 14:12.  That is a massive paradigm shift for most congregations as it puts mission into the hands of everyone where they interface with the world, not simply the church as an institution and its mission.
• The Painting with Words huddle teaches “how to convey the Gospel in memes.”

The Empowered Laity huddle will start with an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) so that the coach begins to understand what each disciple needs. The coaches may also lean into conflict management, public and private communication, leading transitions, personal discipleship and reproduction, etc. 

One of the first things explored in the Empowered Laity huddle is the primary discipleship question, “Do I have a life worth imitating?”  The coaches will use a tool called the Character/Competency grid.  From that the coaches will teach the Kairos Circle, learning to hear what God is saying and discerning what to do about it. “Hearing God” is a difficult step as many want to jump right into action.  The coaches may also spend time exploring one’s spiritual gifts as Apostles hear differently than Teachers or Prophets, Pastors, Evangelists, etc.

The second huddle, called Painting with Words, teaches your team how to create a Meme (symbol and statement) that accurately represents a congregation’s gifts as well as speaks contextually into their surrounding community in ways that can be received – missionally.  This huddle will provide enough challenge and information to get them started, but to really explore it will take at least a year and a follow-on huddle where coaches and students would explore things like stance and the hero’s journey as models of story telling.

These huddles were developed and utilized by Pastor Brian Hughes and Pastor Karen Heist at St. John Lutheran Church, Columbia, Maryland.  Both have received extensive training in these models, and have implemented them at St. John over a 6-10 year period.

Click here for other resources that Lutheran CORE recommends or visit our Seminarians page.