Reaching the Next Generation on YouTube: How to Successfully Engage a New Cultural Context

Seventy percent of people under the age of 35 view YouTube. It is the most successful educational and entertainment platform of all time with over 2.49 billion monthly active users. This is the equivalent to 30% of the earth’s population watching content on YouTube every month. Yet, Christian educators with higher degrees have scarcely a presence on the platform. In 2020, I started the channel Ancient Egypt and the Bible, which has grown rapidly with over 600 videos online, a global reach that covers 112 countries, and cumulative watch time equivalent to eighteen years of full-time academic teaching. However, YouTube is not without its pitfalls and unwritten cultural rules, and it is easy to fail to gain traction when one does not properly engage the culture. In this paper, I will explain how the YouTube paradigm works, how to be successful on the platform for Christ, and how to maintain your presence online. We will also explain the traps and dangers of being an online presence, and why it is not a suitable teaching platform for every educator. With all that said, YouTube presents Christianity with a new global frontier with whom we can share the Gospel, if we are willing to learn how.