When world events are unfolding before us on the news, we have a choice when it comes to posting about it on social media: do we freeze, react, or respond?

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When Russia invaded Ukraine and war broke out, the first on mainland Europe since World War Two, a number of things happened:

-We couldn’t believe it was happening in the year 2022
-We were indignant at the injustice of it
-We kept looking at the news, horrified by the atrocities
-We started scrolling on social media to get on the ground information
-We sometimes struggled to work out what was real and what was fake news
-We wanted to do something to make a difference
-We prayed

But there was also a curious sense, especially in the first few days, of an internal pressure that grew within us, to say something on social media.

In part this was because we needed to understand the situation and didn’t just want to dive in and say something wrong. Partly because we felt such an injustice was occurring that we needed to say something, and partly, do you think, because everyone else was saying something and we didn’t want to appear indifferent?

It’s a strange mix and something that often occurs on social media. On one end of the spectrum, we freeze and the longer nothing is said the more pressure can be felt, while on the other end of the spectrum, we react and end up saying something that may not actually be appropriate, accurate, or helpful. 

When posting on social media is a bad idea

I would say we should probably hold back from posting on social media about a current event when:

1.We feel we should post out of obligation or pressure to say something
2.We haven’t fact checked things first
3.We’re not ready to combine words with action
4.We want to post on socials about it way more than we want to talk to God about it in prayer

What I suppose I have been reflecting on is how we can invite God into our communication in moments like these. Not freezing, not reacting, but responding to the Holy Spirit of God.

Why posting on social media is a good idea

It was great to see how many people were posting on social media about the crisis and there are lots of good reasons for people to post, each of them to be celebrated. Social media is a powerful tool that can be used to:

-Raise awareness
-Inspire prayer
-Voice an opinion.
-Engage in conversation
-Call out the injustice
-Point to the facts
-Sound the alarm,
-Show support and solidarity

Sometimes saying something is the action. Social media is the global public square in which we can show up and speak out and make a difference, but we should be on the look-out to go further still. Remember James’ words to us in James 4, that faith expresses itself in action.

Pray, Post, Act

The Archbishop of Canterbury said this about the situation: ‘What you don’t want to do is sit there like a rabbit in the headlights. It’s easy to do, a lot of us can feel like that…just because you can’t do everything, doesn’t mean you should do nothing at all’.

And we have seen this haven’t we, those who were not just content with saying something only but got going with doing something too. We have seen protests, petitions, prayers, donations, and people opening up their homes to Ukranian refugees. It has been inspiring to see how people have come together, united in their response.

It has been amazing to follow the activities of my friend Krish Kandiah (one of the speakers at Stronger 2022) during the last month. He set up Sanctuary Foundation in a matter of days after the war broke out and he has been working hard with a team of people to respond to the humanitarian crisis.

Coming back to the Archbishop again, he said this: ‘As Christians, our response to a crisis must always be rooted in prayer’. What a brilliant first principle in this situation and other events and crises that will surely come our way. 

Don’t post about it first, pray about it first. See how God wants to direct your words, your actions, your posts on social media. And then of course …. don’t hold back, because God goes before you.