A Note on Christians and Self-Promotion

An artist's dilemma

One of the blessings of my life is the frequency I get to “rub shoulders” with fellow Christian artists of all types. At their best, artists who are pursing a creative endeavor as an act of worship to the Triune God are some of the most self-aware and humble humans I’ve ever met.

There is a grounded-ness that music, art, writing (etc) tend to lend a person. When that is joined with a spiritual journey of discipleship to He who commands us “pick up your cross and follow me” you get people who are prone to feeling the tension between the kingdom of this world and the already-not-yet Kingdom.

That tension, if we choose to live in it long enough, will be used by God to purify us.

Part of that tension (or perhaps the root of it) is the feeling that there is a need to promote one’s self in order for their created art to find an audience and minister to those who need it.

In the publishing waters I (sort of) swim in, this is all about “author brand”. Instagram reels, Facebook ads, Substack following, newsletter audience count… the whole schtick.

And yet every Jesus-following author I meet (whether aspiring or established) feels the ick of it all. There is this idea that self-promotion is a necessary evil that must be endured in order to pay the bills and reach our intended audience. It isn’t “sin” to put out a TikTok video about your book, so have at it. I mean, if God didn’t want you on social media then He wouldn’t have let the market go this way, right?

The thing is, when we are willing to coerce our conscious to do a thing that (deep down) we aren’t certain Jesus would do, then we are not acting as people who are fit to create the art we believe Jesus would have us create.

Praise the Lord for His redemptive work in us, for I think nearly all of us are guilty of this.

Of course, using social media to talk about the art we make isn’t necessarily sinful. But that, in and of itself, isn’t a reason to talk ourselves into another Instagram reel or to making more TikTok sludge.

The Venn diagram overlap between people who are being formed like Christ and who are able to effectively promote their “brand” is very, very, small — and the answer to our problems isn’t to find a way to grow that overlap or (God-forbid) assume we happen to be in that overlap.

In fact, me and you are (almost certainly) not in that overlap.

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You can see this in the totally accurate and well-researched graph below.

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At the end of the day, there is a real problem here for artists: without a strong enough following or “platform”, even a Christian publisher won’t give your book a serious look. And even if a traditional publisher today did publish your work, it’s unlikely they’ll put time, money, or effort into any marketing. That’s on the author. Heck, publishing with the “Big 5” doesn’t even mean your book will be sold on store shelves.

So what do we say then? Get off social media, cancel your newsletter, and be a poor/struggling artist forever?

Um… maybe. For some, that is surely the calling the Lord has on their life. It may be the way they are asked to suffer for the name of Christ (see Acts 9:16 for God’s words about his servant Paul).

Generally though, I think we just need a community of Christian artists stubbornly refusing to glorify promote themselves and instead to use their efforts to promote other artists.

That’s actually my grand “plan” to solve our problems. I’ll repeat it for clarity.

I believe artists in discipleship to Jesus should stop their efforts to promote their own work and instead devote that effort to the promotion of others.

I’m not saying we can’t make the occasional announcement post. When a couple announces the birth of their child on Facebook, they (usually) aren’t doing it for self-glorification. They’re excited and want you to be as well. The posts vibe different than a “let me sell you something” and more like “I just birthed a book-baby and I’m pretty excited about it!”

But when we do things in community we are more prone to make content that

a) will glorify God more faithfully,

b) will shape us and our audience to be more like Jesus,

c) and won’t ask us to go against our conscious.

Maybe the answer isn’t to find a better way to promote yourself, but to desperately seek out other Christian artists and prayerfully promote what God is doing through them. Perhaps we only need to trust the God who knocked down Jericho’s walls, believing that if we just love one another He will faithfully take care of us.

For what it’s worth, send me a message on Substack with the work you’re doing, and I’d love to pray about promoting it. Don’t feel icky about it because I’m asking to see it.

Praying you find, build, and support the community God is calling you to.

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Starting now, I’ll end my posts by calling out a Christian artists an algorithm and/or ad dollars probably hasn’t shoved in your face.

Artist Feature - Wind Words

A fantastic musical artist with a blend of rock and spoken word. Check him out here.