July 5, 2026

If you are even remotely familiar with the bible or Christianity you have come across the notion of Baptism. Most have a general idea that it involves water of some kind and that it’s connected to becoming a Christian and or the forgiveness of sins. Most people can grasp the obvious symbolic link between water and cleansing. 

I have been very interested to notice that baptism has become a major subject of discussion on various social media outlets. What is especially noteworthy is that when social media personalities present discussions they are often interacting with non-specialists or laymen. In a number of recent interactions I have noticed something rather interesting. Members of the crowd invited to ask questions repeatedly ask the same thing. “Baptism is for forgiveness of sins right?” To which the video creator responds “no” to the clearly questioning faces of the original questioner and the crowd of onlookers. 

There are two things that seem significant about this. First, is that despite the pervasiveness of faith alone in the “Christian world” it seems many have not been fully indoctrinated with the “anything I do is a work of merit” reasoning. This is hopeful and should encourage those of us who believe in and promote a biblical understanding of the plan of salvation. 

The second phenomenon, this likely points to is somewhat less encouraging although not a total negative by any means. Using social media two groups have been experiencing a considerable bump in popularity. Both are surprising. There are a significant number of Catholic influencers. Long form content creators like Mat Walsh, Michael Knolls, Trent Horn and Pints with Aquinas to name a few, as well as a significant number producing short form content for TikTok. Similarly, another highly traditional group; the Eastern Orthodox are seeing a similar level of success. Both teach that baptism is necessary for salvation and speak to this in many short videos often with millions of views. I would suggest that this explains a greater awareness of baptism and more discussion of it in public forums. 

There is much more that could be said about the influence of social media some good and some bad. My question is this, in what way can we take advantage of this phenomena congregationally and individually? Paul often focused his efforts in places where the most people could be reached. Today that place is most especially social media which we all have access to and which in many ways is overshadowing mainstream media. 

I would challenge each of us to consider what we can do to better leverage our social media reach to point people to the gospel. Perhaps given the changing landscape we could find the fields white unto harvest if we just have the right implement. 

~ Kevin Cleary