#monthforJesus
Hi Kezz
Tell us about #monthofjesus ?
I started it on Instagram as a hashtag on the photos I posted. Essentially, I posted a photo on Instagram every day in May with captions about my testimony and about my faith in God. I’ve only been a Christian for 2 years but in that short time my faith and relationship with God has grown massively so I decided to share my testimony on social media as a way to evangelise but also to answer some questions people wonder but don’t ask. I’m not a particularly social person, so writing the posts was definitely easier for me than speaking to people.
1) What went through your mind as you weighed up whether to go for it?
In all honesty, I was really nervous. I have very bad social anxiety as it is, but I was always afraid of saying the wrong thing, on every single post. I would always pray before I started writing in the hopes that the Holy Spirit would give me words. I knew that I had to do it, more because I knew I would regret putting it off and I really wanted to share my faith with other people, to fully nail my colours to the mast so to speak. I thought it was really important to clear up misconceptions about being a Christian and about God. As soon as I thought logically about it, I knew I had to do it even though I was nervous.
2) What did you hope would come from it?
What I wanted to do was start a conversation. I wanted people to ask me questions, I wanted to share my testimony and show people that God is real and he has worked incredibly in my life. I wanted to open people’s eyes a little bit, especially my friends outside of church and people at school- that’s why I wanted to be really honest about my life instead of sugar coating and making it seem like it’s all good all the time. I really believe that sharing your testimony is the best way of evangelising because then people see that God truly does work, not just in the Bible, but in this day and age.
3) How did it go?
I think it went really well. I got a lot of positive feedback from Christians I already knew and people were commenting on my posts saying that my posts every day were blessing them so that was amazing and very uplifting. I also got to have really interesting conversations with my school friends and I got positive feedback from them as well. It was such a relief to know that they weren’t judging me; none of the people in my friendship group have a faith really so I didn’t know how they would react to it. They were liking my posts and it was great to see that. The whole thing was a great experience and I got in touch with new people because of that.
4) Have you seen any ‘fruit’ or had any conversations through social media or in person with any friends off the back of this?
I did have quite a few, yes. Not as many as I would have liked to but any was the goal! I had a really interesting conversation with one of my friends by text over an issue that I’d talked about in one of my posts and it was great to be able to go into it further with her and kind of overturn some misconceptions she had about faith in God. It was amazing that I also had someone who recommended my posts to a friend of hers who was struggling because she thought that would help. I also think that because of the posts I was doing, I became a lot more steadfast in terms of my faith and it became gradually easier to articulate theology and reference the Bible whilst not being confusing.
5) What do you feel you have learned from the experience?
I learned a lot about myself, in that I’m a lot more social and willing to share my life than I previously realised and it helped me to come out of my shell a lot more. I learned that God is always with me and I can see him in everything if I focus and take my eyes of myself. I learned that I shouldn’t be afraid of being judged by my friends because they like me for the person that I am to them and learning that I’m a strong Christian wouldn’t change that. Finally, I learned that there’s no one kind of mission, that you don’t have to travel across the world to get the word of God out there. I’m not at all saying you shouldn’t do that and I seriously admire the people that do, but that’s not the only way to reach out to people. You can do that simply by sharing your testimony on social media!
Kezz Copping
Kezz is in her first year studying History and Politics at university and enjoys baking, sewing and reading. She is part of the worship team at her church and has been a Christian since 2015. She is (hopefully!) getting married in 2018 and is aiming for a career in journalism.