The Social Media. RCCG Sunday School Teachers.

OPENING PRAYER
Lord, please help me to walk in wisdom with You and with human technologies.

PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE
I. Teacher should welcome the youths and young adults to another edition of the special quarter dedicated to them.

ii. Teacher should also lead the class to appreciate God for the great impacts youths and young adults are making in the body of Christ.

Bible Passage: Col. 4:5-6.

Memory Verse: “But thou, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”– Daniel 12:4 (NKJV).

LESSON INTRODUCTION

Hundreds of millions of people are becoming increasingly interested in social networking sites to enjoy and maximise the relational opportunities of these sites. Are these networking sites the next big mission field or an enormous waste of time? Should a Christian participate in social networking? The answer to these questions should be determined by whether we can honestly ask God to bless and use our actions for His own good purposes (1 Cor. 10:31).

LESSON AIM

To Teach the youths and young adults the correct application of social media.

TEACHING OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

a. Understand the concept of social media.

b. Discover the benefits and dangers embedded in the usage of social media.

TEACHING PLAN: To achieve the above-stated objectives, teachers should:

a. Allow the students to recite the memory verse, read the bible passage, contribute to the discussion, and do class activities and assignments.

b. Allow the Assistant Teacher to see to the well-being of the clas and mark attendance.

c. Teach the outlines, summarise, conclude, evaluate the lesson and give assignments to the students.

TEXT REVIEWS: Col. 4:5-6.

In this passage, Apostle Paul admonished believers to:

I. Walk in wisdom toward them that are outside (non-believers) V5a.

ii. Redeem the time v5b.

iii………………………………………….v6a.

iv…………………………………………v6b.

v. …………………………………………….v6c.

TEACHING METHOD: Discussion method.

TIME MANAGEMENT: The teacher should apply two-lesson outlines of teaching time.

LESSON OUTLINE 1: SOCIAL MEDIA DESCRIBED

A. The Teacher should ask the students to share their knowledge on the concept of social media. He/she should then highlight some concepts or social media as follows:

I. Social media are web-based technologies that facilitate the sharing of ideas, thoughts and information through the building of virtual networks and communities.

ii. Social media is internet-based and gives users quick electronic communication of content i.e user-generated content.

iii. Social media websites and applications are such that enable users to create and share content to participate in social networking.

iv. A social networking service is an online platform which people use to build social networks on social relationships with other people who share similar personal, business or career interests, activities backgrounds or real-life connections.

B. Teachers should allow students to mention some social media handles they know. The following commonly used social media sites/handles should be mentioned.

I. Youtube ii. Facebook. iii. Instagram iv. Quora v. TikTok vi. Facebook Messanger vii. Pinterest viii. Viber ix. Discord x. Twitter xi. WhatsApp xii. LinkedIn xiii. Google+ xiv. Telegram xv. Skype xvi. QQ xvii. Tumblr xviii. Reddit xix. Snapchat xx. Zoom. and other professional/business platforms.

CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Students should mention the social media platform they use most and the purpose for usage.

LESSON 2: IMPACT OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA

It is important to understand the impact our status, photo, comments or blog posts may have in the future (Prov. 11:27-28). It should be remembered that social networking sites involve publishing on the internet mostly for public views which include friends, family, church members, current and future employers, school admission personnel etc. Social media has both positive and negative impacts on users.

Some of the positive impacts are:

Teachers should allow students to express their views on the advantages and disadvantages of using social media.

Some of the advantages are:

I. Propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ: The potentials of social media can be harnessed for the propagation, expansion and growth of the gospel (Is. 11:9; Hab. 2:14).

ii. Corporate engagement: Social media can help improve an individual’s sense of reasoning with real or online communities and be entrepreneurs, profits and non-profit making organisations, advocacy groups, political parties, government sectors, etc.

iii. Building of relationships: Families, friends, associates etc. can easily connect and reconnect for meaningful relationships (Prov. 18:24).

iv. Social Media Influencers: These are social users who have established credibility and audience, who can persuade others by virtue of their trust-0worthiness and authenticity. You can become a great Influencer for God through social media (1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:1-2; Titus 2:7). Souls can be won and discipled through you as you showcase Christ and the kingdom’s virtues to the world.

v. Ease of doing business: Products and services can be advertised or marketed in real-time. It gives the opportunity to create a sales funnel whereby a new contact becomes a potential/serious customer (Proverbs 22:29).

Some of the negative impacts are:

I. Uncontrolled/untamed posts (pictures, videos, captions etc)- Proverbs 18:2; Col. 4:6. The consequence of any statements, both now and in the future, should be considered. It should be assumed that everything written or said is permanent and viewable by everyone (Prov. 21:23).

ii. Treating the Bible as irrelevant or archaic in relation to modern trends and techniques. Spreading of heretical teachings and half-truths.

iii. Playing down the God-factor as a social media influencer for the sake of retaining followers from all walks of life (Romans 1:28).

iv. Self-Isolation. Avoid physical meetings or interactions while using social media as a disguise to engage in some unethical activities/behaviour.

v. Social media addictions (Galatian 5:1): Limiting the amount of time( except for business purposes) we devote to these social networking sites is both healthy and wise.

vi. Attention deficiency syndrome i.e inability to concentrate on a task or programme for a specific period without diverting to social media.

vii. Physical disconnection among close relatives. Family members living together can even become familiar strangers.

viii. Vanity metrics. Relying on the response from others through likes, and comments to your posts in judging your self-worth or importance.

ix. Activities of scammers and fraudsters.

x. Narcissism. Excessive self-love or self-importance emerges when we rely on social media sites primarily to promote ourselves or draw attention to ourselves.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Students should recall how social media has been helpful or harmful to them.

SUMMARY: Social media is a great tool for both self-development and propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, caution should be taken to avoid addiction.

CONCLUSION: Be disciplined in the use of social media. It is also wise to have accountability partners; encourage your spouse, family members and Christian brothers/sisters to view your social networking activity and hold you accountable (Prov. 27:17).

EVALUATION: Mention some of the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

CLOSING PRAYER: Father, please help me to influence people into the kingdom through the use of social media.

Action Point
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I know you might agree with some of the points raised in this article. You might disagree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We would appreciate it if you can drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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