2 Ways Leaders Can Teach People to Be More Discerning

A social media challenge for parents and pastors alike.

Untangling the hearts and minds of people who are consumed by social media can be an excruciating task. When a Facebook feed is seen as the arbiter of all truth in the life of a church or family member, it can feel like you have no means of getting through to them. Frankly, it can often feel like trying to reason with someone who has been indoctrinated into a cult. In an article titled “I Lost My Mom to Facebook,” Patrick Miller wrote, “Pastors need to be aware that every day of the week their church members are being instructed—and, most likely, their mentor is an algorithm. Is it any surprise that the human shepherds are losing to the digital ones?” How might we foster discernment in the lives of the people for whom we are responsible for leading spiritually?

1. Point to the ministry of Jesus and the centrality of truth in the Christian life.

If we have any hope of fostering discernment among the people we lead and love, we must point to Jesus, His ministry, and the centrality of truth in the Christian life. If we can’t do this, nothing else will matter.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God become flesh. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Then, shortly after that, verses 17 and 18 say, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Jesus is full of grace and truth. While no one has ever seen God, Jesus makes Him known to us. Jesus is our standard-bearer, our North Star, of what is true. In a world that feels increasingly like a hurricane of information, important and unimportant, trustworthy and untrustworthy, God and His Word, Jesus, are the solid ground on which we can stand amid the tumult of the storm. As we lead people in our churches, our homes, or communities, we must point people to Jesus and His role not only as Savior and Lord, but as the Truth. This may be obvious to you as a church leader or disciple maker of some kind, but it is imperative that we not overlook this point or take for granted our shared standard of truth in Jesus.

You may find yourself aghast at the lack of discernment among your church members and wonder, “How on earth have they come to believe that?” Some of the truly outlandish beliefs I have heard church leaders encounter in their churches are totally incompatible with the gospel of Jesus and His standard of truth. If we have any hope of wrestling free the minds of our church members and loved ones from the less than reliable people they listen to on the internet, we must rely on our (theoretically) shared standard of truth in Jesus Christ. If we can’t find common ground in Jesus with the people we lead and disciple, any other attempts to foster discernment will be nonstarters.

2. Create a culture of reading (the Bible and other books) among the people you lead.

The more time one spends online mindlessly scrolling social media the more likely they are to lose their minds. One of the more difficult practical tasks you will face as a spiritual leader in the battle for your loved ones’ minds is figuring out how to lead them to spend their time instead of spending it on social media. A simple way to address this is to create a culture of reading among the people you disciple.

You cannot expect your church or anyone else you’re leading spiritually to pick up their Bibles or other books and read instead of scrolling social media if you aren’t doing it yourself. You cultivate what you celebrate. So create a culture of reading in your church or your home, and don’t just encourage less social media time, but celebrate reading in its place.

Start reading groups in your church not only around the Bible or Christian books but also around other books people find interesting. Reward your children for reading a certain number of books in a month and dissuade them from spending so much time on their phones or other screens.

It isn’t that the practice of reading a book over scrolling social media magically springs forth boundless discernment and wisdom. But by reading books—especially the Bible—rather than drinking from the fire hose of social media content, we aren’t overwhelmed by the barrage of ideas and content that impedes our ability to discern what is right and wrong or true and false.

Not only are books less likely to contain rampant misinformation, but they also take much longer to consume than news headlines on social media, which means we have more time to process ideas and think about whether or not we agree with them.

The real value in creating a culture of reading among the people we lead isn’t just in the actual act of reading—though it is valuable, especially when we’ve created a reading group around Scripture! The real value is in the long game. Reading books instead of scrolling on social media can go a long way toward making social media less appealing and loosening the grip of sensational misinformation on the minds of people we love.

It sounds simple, but starting a book club and otherwise celebrating reading in your church may be an antidote to the poisonous tentacles of social media that are wrapped around the minds of your congregants. If you do this, find ways to welcome new or reluctant readers. Many adults do not read at all, and joining a book club may be intimidating to them. Do whatever you can to make joining such a club as welcoming and accessible as possible.

The social internet and the media that cascades from it have captivated the hearts and minds of billions of people. Our churches and homes are not exempt. Unfortunately, these platforms are designed to massage our minds and keep us scrolling, often at the cost of being able to discern between what is real and what is fiction. If we have any hope of fostering discernment among the people God has entrusted us to lead and disciple, we must rely on Jesus Christ and point to Him as our agreed-upon standard of truth. Without a shared belief in Christ as the arbiter of all that is good and true, we have no hope of fostering discernment in this age or any other.

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This is an excerpt from The Wolf in Their Pockets: 13 Ways Social Media Threatens the People You Lead which you can order by clicking this sentence. :-)