The Church’s Counter-Narrative

In Part 1 of this series, we examined the deeper messages that social media communicates to teenagers—messages about worth measured by metrics, identity constructed through image, and life centered on self. We saw that Instagram’s move to PG-13 content restrictions, while potentially helpful, does nothing to address the worldview that social media platforms promote through their very design.

The question now is: What alternative does the gospel offer? And how can the church help teenagers be formed by gospel truth rather than social media’s lies?

The Gospel’s Counter-Narrative

The gospel offers a radically different vision of human worth, identity, and flourishing—one that stands in stark contrast to social media’s messages. Where social media offers metrics and performance, the gospel offers grace and inherent worth. Where social media centers on the self, the gospel points to God.

Worth Is Inherent, Not Earned

Scripture teaches that human worth comes from being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). This worth is not something that must be achieved or maintained through performance. It cannot be increased by likes or decreased by criticism. Every person—regardless of appearance, ability, popularity, or productivity—bears the image of God and therefore possesses infinite value.

The gospel further affirms this inherent worth by revealing what God was willing to pay for humanity’s redemption: the life of His own Son. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Worth is established by God’s love, not by human metrics.

This is revolutionary for teenagers drowning in social media’s metric-based validation. They don’t need more likes to be valuable; they don’t need more followers to matter. Their worth was established before they ever posted anything, before they ever received a single comment. It is grounded in something that cannot be taken away.

Identity Is Received, Not Constructed

Social media tells teenagers they must create and curate their identity. The gospel says identity is a gift to be received. In Christ, believers are adopted as children of God (Romans 8:15), made new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), and given a permanent, unshakeable identity that does not depend on appearance or performance.

Paul makes this clear: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). The categories and hierarchies that dominate social media—popularity, beauty, status—are rendered meaningless in light of this new identity.

Teenagers don’t have to construct an identity through careful curation and constant performance. Their identity is given—stable, secure, and rooted in Christ rather than in the shifting opinions of their peers.

Value Comes from Being Known, Not Seen

Social media equates significance with visibility. The gospel offers something entirely different: the assurance of being fully known by God. The psalmist writes, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar” (Psalm 139:1-2).

This knowledge is not the superficial “knowing” of social media profiles but an intimate understanding of every thought, feeling, struggle, and desire. And unlike the fickle attention of online followers, God’s knowledge is accompanied by steadfast love: “The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9).

Teenagers don’t need millions of followers to be significant. They are already fully known by the One who matters most—and that knowledge doesn’t depend on maintaining a perfect image or generating engaging content.

Imperfection Is Acknowledged

Social media demands the projection of perfection. The gospel begins with the acknowledgment of brokenness. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There is freedom in this honesty—freedom from the exhausting work of maintaining an illusion, freedom to admit struggle and weakness.

Moreover, the gospel reveals that God works through imperfection. Paul’s famous declaration—”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)—stands in direct opposition to social media’s insistence on strength and success. In the kingdom of God, it is often the weak, the broken, and the humble whom God uses most powerfully.

Teenagers don’t have to hide their struggles or pretend everything is fine. The gospel creates space for honesty about failure, doubt, and pain—and promises that God meets us in those places rather than abandoning us for not being perfect enough.

Contentment Is Possible

Social media feeds on dissatisfaction—always presenting something better, something more, something else to desire. The gospel offers contentment rooted not in circumstances but in Christ. Paul writes, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

This contentment doesn’t come from having everything but from knowing the One who is sufficient for all things. It frees teenagers from the endless cycle of comparison and acquisition that social media perpetuates. They can look at someone else’s vacation photos or achievement posts without despair because their joy is not tied to having what others have.

Community Is Covenant

Social media relationships are often shallow and performance-based. The gospel establishes community founded on covenant commitment. Believers are called to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), and to “love one another with brotherly affection” (Romans 12:10).

This is community that goes beyond liking posts and sending emojis. It involves presence, sacrifice, honesty, and long-term commitment—the very things social media cannot provide. In gospel-centered community, teenagers can be known rather than merely seen, loved for who they are rather than what they project.

God Is the Center

Finally, where social media makes the self the center of all things, the gospel dethrones the self and places God at the center. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever” (Romans 11:36). Life finds meaning not in self-expression or self-fulfillment but in knowing, loving, and glorifying God.

This is not oppressive but liberating. When God is at the center, the self is freed from the impossible burden of being the center. Teenagers no longer need to construct meaning, generate worth, or validate their existence through likes and followers. They are part of something infinitely larger and more meaningful than themselves.

The Church’s Responsibility

Instagram’s PG-13 restrictions may help limit some harmful content, but they do nothing to address the fundamental worldview that social media promotes. That task falls to the church—and specifically to parents, youth workers, and pastors who are called to disciple the next generation.

The church must do several things:

First, Name the Lies

Too often, the church addresses symptoms (screen time, explicit content) without confronting the deeper messages. Teenagers need help identifying and rejecting the false narratives that social media promotes. They need to hear, repeatedly and clearly, that their worth is not measured in likes, their identity is not their image, and their lives have meaning beyond what can be captured in a feed.

This naming must be specific and regular. It’s not enough to give a single sermon or youth group lesson on social media. The lies are repeated constantly; the truth must be proclaimed just as consistently.

Second, Embody the Alternative

It’s not enough to critique social media; the church must demonstrate what gospel-centered community looks like. This means creating spaces where teenagers are known rather than merely seen, where imperfection is acknowledged rather than hidden, where worth is affirmed rather than earned, and where relationships go deeper than performance.

If church youth groups function like social media—rewarding performance, emphasizing image, and celebrating popularity—then teenagers will see no real alternative to the world they already inhabit. The church must be demonstrably different in how it forms community and affirms value.

Third, Teach Discernment

The goal is not to demonize technology or insist on complete abstinence from social media. Many teenagers will use these platforms, and some may use them well. The church’s role is to equip young people with the discernment to recognize what these platforms are doing to their minds and hearts.

This requires ongoing conversation about how social media shapes desires, affects relationships, and forms identity. It means asking questions like: “How does scrolling make you feel about yourself?” “What do you believe you need to be valuable?” “Where are you seeking validation?” These conversations help teenagers develop the self-awareness necessary to resist social media’s formative power.

Discernment also means helping teenagers understand the commercial nature of social media. They need to know that every aspect of these platforms is designed to maximize engagement and profit, not to serve their genuine good. When teenagers understand that they are not social media’s customers but its product, they can engage more critically.

Fourth, Provide Counter-Formation

If social media forms teenagers through constant repetition of certain messages, the church must offer equally consistent counter-formation. This happens through regular immersion in Scripture, consistent participation in worship, and ongoing engagement with Christian community.

Formation is not an event but a process. It requires sustained attention and repeated practice. Teenagers need to hear the gospel’s truths—about their worth, identity, and purpose—so frequently and consistently that these truths become more real than social media’s lies.

This means that youth ministry cannot be primarily entertainment-focused or event-driven. It must be formational, with regular rhythms of Scripture engagement, prayer, worship, and theological reflection that shape how teenagers understand themselves and the world.

Fifth, Model Healthy Engagement

Adults in the church—parents, pastors, youth workers—must model what healthy engagement with technology looks like. If adults are constantly on their phones, curating their own images, and seeking validation through social media, teenagers will learn that the problem isn’t really a problem at all.

Modeling doesn’t mean perfection, but it does mean intentionality. It means being able to put devices away, engage in face-to-face conversation, practice contentment, and find identity in Christ rather than online affirmation. Adults must be able to articulate why they make certain choices about technology and demonstrate that a fulfilling life is possible without constant connectivity.

This also means adults must be honest about their own struggles with social media. When parents or youth workers can admit that they too find it difficult to resist the pull of metrics and comparison, it creates space for honest conversation and mutual accountability.

Practical Steps for Parents and Churches

Beyond these broader principles, there are practical steps that parents and churches can take:

Create phone-free spaces and times. Whether in the home or at church gatherings, designate times when everyone (adults included) puts devices away and engages face-to-face. This models that genuine connection doesn’t require screens.

Practice regular digital sabbaths. Encourage teenagers to take (and model yourself taking) full days away from social media. This breaks the habit of constant connectivity and creates space to notice how much mental and emotional energy social media consumes.

Engage in regular Scripture memory and meditation. Help teenagers fill their minds with gospel truth that can counter social media’s messages in real time. When the temptation to measure worth by likes arises, Scripture about inherent value should immediately come to mind.

Foster intergenerational relationships. Social media creates echo chambers of peers. Churches can intentionally create spaces where teenagers interact meaningfully with older believers who can offer perspective and wisdom about identity, worth, and purpose that isn’t tied to digital culture.

Celebrate ordinary faithfulness. In a culture that celebrates viral moments and influencer status, churches must consistently honor quiet faithfulness, humble service, and ordinary obedience. This reinforces that kingdom significance looks different from social media significance.

Provide opportunities for genuine service. Get teenagers off their phones and into situations where they can serve others without documenting it for social media. Service that isn’t performed for an audience teaches that worth comes from loving God and neighbor, not from being seen.

A Call to Vigilance

The move to PG-13 content on Instagram is a reminder that the broader culture recognizes social media’s potential harm to teenagers. But the church must recognize something deeper: social media is not merely a tool but a discipleship program, teaching teenagers what to value, how to think about themselves, and what makes life meaningful.

The question facing Christian parents and churches is this: Will the church’s discipleship be more formative than social media’s, or will teenagers graduate into adulthood having learned to measure their worth in likes, construct their identity around image, and find meaning in being seen?

The stakes are high. A generation is being formed—either by the messages of the feed or by the truth of the gospel. The church cannot afford to be naive about social media’s power or passive in offering an alternative.

Teenagers need more than content filters and screen time limits. They need a compelling vision of human flourishing rooted in the gospel. They need communities that embody this vision. And they need adults who will walk with them through the challenges of growing up in a world where everyone is performing and no one feels known.

The gospel offers what social media never can: worth that cannot be taken away, identity that doesn’t depend on appearance, community rooted in covenant, and a life centered on something greater than the self. This is the message the church must proclaim—not just in words but in the substance of its common life together.

May the church rise to this moment, recognizing the battle for hearts and minds that is waged every time a teenager opens their phone. And may the truth of the gospel prove more compelling, more beautiful, and more satisfying than anything the feed has to offer.

For Reflection:

• How is your church community providing an alternative vision of human flourishing to social media’s messages?

• In what ways might you be reinforcing social media’s lies rather than countering them?

• What specific steps can you take this week to help a teenager in your life embrace gospel truth about their worth and identity?

• How are you modeling healthy engagement with technology and social media?

• What would it look like for your church to take teenage discipleship as seriously as social media companies take teenage engagement?

Prayer Points

• Pray for discernment and wisdom for parents, youth workers, and pastors as they seek to recognize the formative power of social media in teenagers’ lives and develop effective strategies to counter its false messages with gospel truth.

• Pray that churches would embody authentic gospel-centered community where teenagers experience being truly known rather than merely seen, where imperfection can be acknowledged without shame, and where worth is affirmed apart from performance or appearance.

• Pray for teenagers themselves – that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes to the lies social media teaches about worth, identity, and purpose; that they would find their identity secure in Christ rather than in metrics and validation; and that they would experience the freedom and contentment that comes from being rooted in the gospel rather than the feed.

• Pray for courage and consistency in the church to prioritize formational discipleship over entertainment, to speak truth about the spiritual dangers of social media, and to model healthy engagement with technology even when it’s counte