Social Media Driven Theology | The Branch

"What's clever, what's catchy, what is well-branded does not necessarily mean it's true. And again, that's the danger of it." - Pastor Anthony Lombardi

Social media has changed the way people access almost everything - including theology. Short clips, viral reels, and algorithm-driven feeds have made it easier than ever to encounter Christian content. But easier access does not always mean better formation. In a recent episode of The Branch Podcast, Pastors Anthony Lombardi, Matthew Johnson, and Chris Reed sat down to talk honestly about what social media is doing to the way people receive and adopt theology - and what genuine spiritual growth actually requires.

The conversation opened with a straightforward but important observation. When someone has a large following, there is a natural tendency to assume they know what they are talking about. Pastor Anthony pointed out that this assumption is one of the first things people need to examine.

Pastor Chris Reed framed it this way - every piece of content deserves a critical eye, not out of distrust toward everyone, but because none of us gets everything right. The healthier posture is to take what you hear back to people you know, people you have history with, and weigh it against other sources. That is the academic approach to learning, and it is not something most people are doing when they scroll through a feed.

Pastor Matthew added a layer to that by identifying a deeper problem. Many people are so spiritually and biblically underprepared that they do not even know what questions to ask. When that is the case, skepticism alone is not enough. If you cannot recognize a problem with what you are hearing, you cannot protect yourself from it. That is what makes unchecked access to theological content genuinely dangerous - not just inconvenient.

Pastor Matthew shared a personal example that brought the concern into focus. Over the course of a week, a TikTok video from a young influencer kept appearing in his feed. The theology was immature. The tone was manipulative. And yet the audience was fully engaged, affirming everything being said. What struck Pastor Matthew most was not the content itself but the response to it. The people watching did not know it was bad theology. They had no framework to evaluate it. And whatever that influencer was teaching was now shaping how they thought about God and how they treated other people.

He also described two specific examples of influencers who appear credible on the surface but hold beliefs that most of their followers would strongly disagree with if they knew. One operates from a foundation that rejects the inspiration of the Bible as Christians understand it. Another holds views about women and about the relationship between Christianity and nationalism that many of the same people sharing his content would find troubling. The point was not to call anyone out by name but to illustrate how easy it is to engage with a piece of content that feels true without knowing anything about the larger theological framework behind it.

One of the most practical stretches of the conversation focused on the format itself. Pastor Anthony noted that short-form video has a way of flattening theological ideas that are not actually simple. When a complex issue gets reduced to thirty seconds with music behind it and confident delivery, it communicates a sense of finality that the topic may not deserve. It presents the what without the why, the conclusion without the process.

Pastor Matthew put it plainly. When he teaches a Sunday message, he is walking people through a text, engaging with ideas, raising the questions people already have, and then showing how scripture speaks into them. That is a very different experience from hearing someone deliver a polished one-liner with no scripture reference and no traceable reasoning. If you hear something on TikTok that genuinely connects with you and there is no passage attached to it, where do you go when you need that truth again? Do you go back to TikTok to find the clip, or do you go to your Bible?

Pastor Chris noted that truly gifted communicators can take a short clip and make it count. But those people are the exception. And the fact that a video is well-produced and widely shared does not tell you anything about whether the theology is sound.

The conversation moved into the mechanics of how social media feeds work - and what that means spiritually. Pastor Matthew described a podcast he and Pastor Chris had listened to years ago in which YouTube admitted that its primary goal was simply to keep people on the platform as long as possible. Not to inform them. Not to give them a balanced perspective. Just to keep them watching.

That design has consequences. If you watch a video that leans in a particular theological direction and you watch the whole thing, the algorithm reads that as a signal to send you more of the same. It does not offer a counterpoint. It does not check whether what you are watching is healthy. It feeds the direction you are already moving. Pastor Matthew described this as the exact opposite of how genuine learning works. Real study requires engaging with multiple perspectives, sitting with questions, and being willing to have what you think challenged.

Pastor Chris went further and named the underlying dynamic. It is not just an algorithm making these decisions - it is companies whose business model depends on your attention. You are not a person to them. You are a commodity. And that is the complete opposite of what pastoral care looks like. A pastor knows your name. A pastor knows your marriage, your struggles, your history. A pastor is accountable to God for how they lead you. An algorithm has no accountability to anyone.

Running through the entire conversation was a consistent theological conviction. Theology is not primarily about accumulating correct information. It is about transformation. And transformation does not happen in isolation. It happens in community, over time, through relationship.

Pastor Matthew put it directly - there is no model of individual Christianity anywhere in scripture. From the beginning, God formed a people. Jesus built community around himself. The early church gathered, ate together, and devoted themselves to teaching in relationship with one another. Every stage of the biblical story assumes that growth happens together.

That is why consuming theology privately from a screen, even good theology, is not the same thing as being formed by it. It does not put you in the room with people who will notice when you are struggling. It does not hold you accountable to actually live out what you are learning. It does not give you the friction of loving people you did not choose, which is where much of the actual work of discipleship takes place.

The episode closed with straightforward guidance. Pastor Chris encouraged people to start by finding a good local church and engaging with it - not just attending, but becoming part of the community. From there, begin reading scripture regularly. Let that exposure generate questions, and then bring those questions to people you trust - pastors, connect group leaders, or others who are further along in their study of the Word.

Pastor Matthew emphasized that there is no shortcut to any of this. Just as physical health requires consistent discipline over time, so does spiritual health. He pointed to his own journey - decades of reading, studying, asking questions, and sitting under good teachers. That kind of depth does not come from a highlight reel. It comes from doing the slow, steady work of being a student.

Pastor Anthony closed with a word for those who are already further along. If you have been given a solid foundation in scripture and theology, that is not just for you. Look for the people around you who are asking questions, who are listening to things online that concern you, and be willing to have honest, loving conversations with them. The model in Acts of Priscilla and Aquilla pulling Apollos aside and helping him understand the gospel more accurately is not just a historical footnote. It is a picture of how the church is supposed to work.

The Tree Church meets every Sunday at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM at two Ohio locations - one in Lancaster and one in Logan. If you are looking for a church in Lancaster, Ohio or a church in Logan, Ohio where you can ask real questions, study scripture together, and grow in genuine community, we would love to have you join us.

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