Mind Your Platform
When a friend of mine looked into publishing a book, she was told she first needed to establish a platform. This isn’t surprising as publishers need to ensure there’s a market for the books they publish. They can’t stay in business by publishing books that no one intends to read from authors most people have never heard of.
The internet and social media have allowed the average person the opportunity and the audience to communicate their thoughts to thousands of people in the blink of an eye. Marketing sciences have taught us how to leverage these opportunities to cultivate loyal audiences that are insatiable for content.
These technological advances have created incredible opportunities to build platforms that promote invaluable messages. I’m grateful for how churches and every-day believers are harnessing social media for the spread of the gospel.
In 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul declared: “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” While he was primarily speaking about ministering across socio-cultural differences, I can imagine him writing in our day that he might “tweet for those on Twitter.” Thankfully, most twenty-first-century Christians no longer view technological innovation with suspicion.
On the contrary, I fear that we may have begun adopting these tools with little scrutiny. We marvel at the fact that things “can be done” and skip over the question of “should they be done?” How are we to think about our relationship to the platforms available to us? While our engagement with social media and platforms will vary greatly depending on our calling and our context, there are a few patterns I’ve noticed that I think we should be wary of.
One is the temptation of selective storytelling to establish a “brand.” I have a friend who talks about the danger of comparing our deepest cuts with other people’s greatest hits. People often share stories of their greatest achievements without much context. We hear of the successes, but there is no mention of failures. We are given clean endings to stories that likely are still in process. Sometimes I wish we could hear updates from these stories a year later when some of the fruit has withered—not because I delight in others’ pain, but because this is truer to reality. Our God is a God of truth. By cherry-picking which stories we tell we may not be intentionally lying, but we aren’t giving voice to the complete truth, either.
Another temptation that serves platform development is to generalize our experience to others: “You, too, can see this type of fruit if only you do X.” This is the sentiment I most dread from public figures. Whether explicitly or not, these messages infer that we will see the same fruit if we simply follow their particular strategy. Not only does this fail to take into account the contextualized nature of ministry, but it also shifts the spotlight from God’s work to some form of personal brilliance. It emphasizes the listeners and readers own resources to achieve results and ignores the mysterious moves of God’s Spirit. Leaders will shape their ministries around the self-important principles until a different content creator espouses the next can’t-miss strategy.
Perhaps the most tragic pitfall inherent in platforms is losing sight of one’s “offline” vocation. You may be able to encourage thousands of people today with your insightful reflections. But that encouragement will usually be a passing thing. Your family, your roommate, your close friends—they’re the ones with whom you can have the most lasting impact. And if you get lost in your platform, the impact on them could be devastating.
While it can feel much more rewarding to spend our time cultivating social media messages that put us in the best possible light, our “followers” will never see us lose our temper. They buy into an idealized version of us that surpasses their in-person experiences with their own ministry leaders. What we need are people around us who know us for who we truly are. And our loving, embodied presence in their lives can shape others in a way that a viral tweet never could.
Ultimately, getting lost in a platform can be destructive to our character because we get trapped between the extremes of believing our own hype and the shame of knowing we’ve created a mirage. This duplicity cuts us off from real relationships and a healthy, humble concept of self.
Jesus didn’t avoid the crowds. He often taught them and fed them. You could say he had a platform. But he reserved the meat of his ministry for a small group of messy disciples that he knew would be instrumental to carrying on after him. He didn’t get lost in the possibility of reaching every single person through his own voice; he focused most of his time instilling his voice within his closest friends, trusting that they would carry it to others (see the classic The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman).
God can do great things through our platforms. You may be called to establish a platform for the glory of God. But it’s important to remember that we are all susceptible to buying our own hype. Any of us can get addicted to the rush of having fans over the hard work of investing in real, messy relationships. The impact of platforms has been the justification for overlooking many evils.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing you need a large platform to minister effectively to others. Most of us will never have a platform. The truth is that’s probably best for us and for those closest to us.
Even as we collectively reflect on the incredible legacy of Tim Keller, remember that his books didn’t become best-sellers until he was in his late-50s. As I read many Christian leaders reflect on Keller’s life, I’ve been struck that his platform never hindered his ministry to those closest to him.
If you do have a sizeable platform, I pray that you have people around you who will help keep you grounded. Never forget that God cares more about who you are than any content you can produce. Tell the truth even if it hurts your brand. And if your platform ever becomes more about you than about Jesus, run as fast as you can. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).
Adam Salloum has served on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for over ten years and currently serves as the Area Director for South Carolina. He’s a graduate of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. You can follow him on Twitter.