Surrounded by a cloud of Christians
I have been a casual observer of some movements, on the internet in particular, that at first seemed to be powerful in potential to impact irreligious people for the Kingdom.
Then…nothing.
*crickets*
At first it was really exciting. 3000 people read that guys blog. 10,000 people tuned into that churches live stream. 40,000 people follow that pastor on Twitter. The common theme here is that almost all of the people showing up are Christians.
I think that this is all cool and everything, but it does beg the question; why can’t we create the same movement and energy in an evangelistic direction?
There are Christian ghettos all over the world, and the biggest ones are now on the web.
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This phenomenon is in no way limited to the web. Books, movies, music… any media that there is and that is Christian is primarily noticed by Christians. To put it bluntly, we aren't very good at using the popular media to evangelize. There are occasional successes: A Christian band gets a mainstream hit. A Christian movie is noticed outside the flock. But, in general, Christian media tends to hit every negative connotation that people can have about it. It tends to be condescending, shallow and not very thought-provoking.
Of course, I have no answers for this. I have not a creative bone in my body, so I wouldn't know how to go about making the message that we are trying to get out more approachable. All I know is that somehow our methods need to be fixed.
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I completely agree. I’ve always wondered why it’s so hard to go from Christian conversation to sharing that with just people in general.
It’s still early though, still getting worked out.
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@Stephen // I have to be honest, i've posed this question because we are working on some answers here at Gateway.
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Great insight. It's very true. I think a large part of this is individual nature of using the internet. We interract on here of course, but we do it alone, on our couch, in our office, whatever. I believe that most people who are going to begin to ask questions about God are going to do that with their friends, acquaintances, or family. People who attend a revival or a church service or a small group where they accept the Lord usually are not doing so because they stepped into the door by themselves. They were invited by, or are curious enough to beg an invitation from their friends or family.
On the internet, there is a bridge in some ways to those same friends; my Facebook friend list is uber-populated with old High School friends that I "used" to know and we interract, but I wonder if I am just interracting with the 18 year old dude I remember from class, and not the unemployed, divorcee with two kids that he is now. It is easy for us to disconnect our communication from an actual person to the avatar.
I think that community does happen here, but evangelism is a much more difficult for this medium because it is so easy to hide.
I don't think I am making much sense, but these were my thoughts…I was just going to say: Great insight…very true.
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The thing is that the Church — Christ's Bride — the representation of who He is left here on earth — should do things like He did.
He built into a small number of people, who built into a small number of people, and the effect multiplied from there.
Our pastor challenged us to do this very thing. Having recently become a small group leader, I had assumed my followers (for lack of a better word) would come from that group. Interestingly, after I prayed for God to bring me people He wanted me to lead spiritually, I now am shepherding three other people: one in Australia, one in Pennsylvania and one in Georgia. One of them is someone I know only through blogs and twitter; one I know primarily through World of Warcraft, and one I met first in real life before a move took her out of Austin. I now keep up with all three via email, IM, twitter, texts, phone calls, you name it.
Life works in funny ways, and so does the internet. But any way you slice it, it's about RELATIONSHIPS. Nothing is going to change that. Technology is a great tool, but investing time and love in people is what bears fruit.
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Good stuff Lisa!
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thanks for sharing. I do agree with you.
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