In celebration of Internet Evangelism Month, this is the fourth in a 15-part blog project discussing the book, @stickyJesus: how to live out your faith online.
I go to the beach every day and marvel at God’s creation. Here’s the funny thing. I don’t live near the beach. Not only that, but I can listen to a sermon from a pastor in Atlanta or Nashville or Los Angeles, whenever I want. What’s even better is that I am able to share these things with my friends and family, and, if you can believe it, followers! Who am I to have followers?
In my work life, I am a jack of all trades with technology and multimedia for training. Somewhere along the way, I noticed there were Christian bloggers tweeting. I started to follow. And I started to wonder, what kind of impact could this have locally for my church. One weekend, I uploaded a website, opened a Facebook and Twitter account for our church. Then I saw @StickyJesus on one of my Twitter feeds. The digital dialogue I had created merely as an information dump for the congregation had the potential for community development and outreach.
you are my light
Chapter 1’s sub-title is the land is shiny, but you are my light. Who doesn’t like shiny, new things? I am an admitted geek. But it’s not the technology, but the light that drives the technology. And here’s the real news, we are that light! And we can be powered up by the Holy Spirit to open a conversation with the world about Jesus in ways that are personal and compelling.
We have instantaneous access to information on any topic. I have the Bible on my phone! And people are searching. Google is the tool of choice for answers to life’s questions instead of God. God is the One who has set us on this quest.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the human heart;
yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Today’s NIV ©2005)
And so the desperate search rages on, but the answers the world provides does not give comfort or lasting results. But as Christians, we have the access to the answers and can reach a larger audience than ever before.
People are hungering for human connection, and that is why social networks are exploding. And that is why Jesus needs to be on Facebook and Twitter. He has the answers. He has given us the answers and now we are to go out into the wide open mission fields and harvest.
Discussion
The final paragraph in Chapter 1 of @StickyJesus asks some important questions.
- How do you follow Jesus in a web-based world and lead others to do the same?
- How do you deliver the only message that matters?
We are mandated by Jesus to be a light and spread the gospel. I can do that on my porch or my living room to reach people across the street and across the world. What an exciting time to be alive!
@StickyJesus project –> @StickyJesus 2) Jesus: the stickiest story ever told" href="https://www.ourchurch.com/blog/2011/05/06/stickyjesus-2-jesus-the-stickiest-story-ever-told/" rel="bookmark">2) Jesus: the stickiest story ever told
33 Comments
Hi Wanda,
Great post! I've read it a couple of times today (I'm a process thinker and I chew on things), and it was this statement that stuck with me today:
"And so the desperate search rages on, but the answers the world provides does not give comfort or lasting results. But as Christians, we have the access to the answers and can reach a larger audience than ever before."
It is so true; there is a desperate search for answers. I find if you listen carefully to what a person says, you can hear their heart. This seems to be true online too; only online, the heart speaks through a FB status or a tweet.
So, I had to ask myself, am I sharing with people in my social network the answer? Yes, I believe that I am. However, there is such a fine line between sharing the answer and being perceived as someone who has it all together; and I so do NOT! I appreciated Seiji and Toni's exchange about being genuine. This WALK has valley experiences and mountain top experiences. It can be a turnoff and even difficult to relate to ppl who only share the mountain top experiences. Sometimes I wonder if I could be more transparent?
Thank you Wanda and everyone. I enjoyed reading the posts! 🙂
Kawanzaa, you are right. We can appear to be perfect online because we can craft and edit our posts until they are perfect. If we can show our brokeness to the world, we are more real and approachable. I want to be able to cry with people who are crying and laugh with people who are laughing. That is what Jesus did and I think that we can do that online as well.
There is a world desperate for answers and desperate to feel like they belong! My little corner of the internet brings broken, hurting women into the light of Jesus. I hope 🙂 God told me to write, so I do. What He does with it is up to Him but I'll do what He asks until He closes the door. People want to feel like they are not the only one, that we're not perfect either. Seeing your friends at church on Sunday, when we all put on our plastic mask can leave some feeling like they'll never measure up. We need to be real, honest, and transparent with our stories and lives while glorifying God. It can be done!
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
I see this desparation at home, at work and at church and that's why Ecclesiates 3:11 speaks so loudly to me. God has put this desparation, this longing for relationship with Him in our hearts, but the world tries to distract with the shiny things to fill that longing. And it is never enough. We each have a responsibility to bring hope to our corner of the world. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mel,
You made it 🙂
I love that you have claimed your territory: "My little corner of the internet." Watch out, that corner can grow into city blocks, a state, a continent! It's limitless!
When you talk about the need to be real, hones,t and transparent, I hear, RELATIONSHIPS. In chapter 2 of the book, the authors talk about connecting vs relationships: Connection is about joining and fastening things together. Relationships is about creating a sense of belonging.
I agree,it can be done, and you are doing it! I stopped by your website 😉
Hope you to hear from you again.
Blessings!
Great post, Wanda. I love that you go to the beach every day. I have coffee with my friends every morning. About three hundred of them. I have been doing this most mornings for about five months now. Some of us politely acknowledge each other, some of us completely ignore each other, but we're all ok with that. Some of us have wonderful conversations. We fill each other in on our work, families, vacations, hobbies, and drama. Some of us have silly conversations. Teasing each other about typos, making plans of how we are going to celebrate Star Wars Day, or sharing links to happy songs and fun videos to make each other smile. For about five months now, I have been building relationships with these people I have never actually met. Silly conversations have changed into calls to prayer and questions about my faith. It is really exciting that through something as easy 3,000 tweets, I just might have shown someone Jesus. Oh! Look! SHHHHHIIINYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!………………..
3,000 tweets! It's amazing what resources we have to be able to reach out to people and I believe this is only the beginning. Technology gets more affordable and accessible, video and audio will make the connection even more personal. God provides man with the ability to create things and it is up to us to use these things to glorify Him and grow His church.
I love it Chrisite! I'll have to drop by and share a cup of joe w/ ya. I'm a French Vanilla gal myself 🙂 Well said.
Thanks for the post, it is encouraging.
I've been thinking about how this mission can be subverted by distraction with the numbers. It is easy for me to loose sight of the fact that we are called to be witnesses, not attract large followings. I think that if we are shining with God's light, many will be drawn to it, but it is too easy to be focused on results and not focused on God.
Mark, I agree. To some, it is all about the numbers. Number of followers, number of comments, number of likes. It should always be the message, not the messenger and we should always check ourselves against our role model, Jesus. That's why I laugh at having followers. I can't imagine anyone would care about what I have to say, but if the message is God-inspired it will resonate with those who need the message most. It is always good to check yourself and remember that we are the clay.
It just boggles my mind that we have been brought to the land of the lost–the Land of Shiny Things–for such a time as this.
I wanted to be a missionary when I grew up. In my mind, that involved moving to a faraway place. I never imagined that I could go to those faraway places in real time and connect with real people from within my walls.
No shots required.
Nor could I imagine what an impact many of these would have on my everyday life and relationships.
Or that I could ultimately meet them face-to-face.
Unless I'm connected to Him, hit my knees before I hit the keys, I'll only be another noisy gong in the land instead of a "holy whisper." It's the only way I can reflect His light.
And I pray that any followers follow not me, but the Him in me.
I hear ya Snadra. But should you decide to plan that missions trip, please let me know; I'm ready.
Oh, and I just want to let you know that I must borrow this "Hit my knees before I hit the keys" 🙂
That's an @stickyJesus directive. 🙂
Can we go get our shots together? I'm much better at giving than getting.
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