There’s an App for That – Part 3
This is Part 3 of a 4 Part series titled: “There’s an App for That”. (Part 1:Part 2)
Part 3 – Use of Technology to Reach Others
As you know… I am not a pastor, a theologian, or a spiritual guru. But after working here at Our Saviour’s for over five years I do have the occasional deep thought. Since December… I’ve been writing those thoughts here. I am much more comfortable talking from the keyboard than I am from the stage and I’ve received feedback from people who have been challenged or encouraged by my blog posts. That is always a weird and humbling feeling. To think that God is using me to reach someone in another state or even in another country is both frightening and awesome at the same time. And to think that it wouldn’t have been possible without the use of technology. I’m “twiends” with someone who lives in Cape Town South Africa and I’ve never been there! God is no doubt using technology to expand his kingdom here on earth.
I want to stray a little bit from my message now… I didn’t talk about the following on Sunday night.
A conversation came up in the comment section of a previous post a week or so ago.
Most people that I know on social sites still only friend/follow/whatever people within their realm of interest. Christians tend to follow Christians, etc. So even then, we’re still building sub-cultures and ghettos within the larger mainstream social sites.
So that means we need to start following/friending those outside of our culture/sub-groups. Doesn’t it?
While I’ve made a lot of twiends with people who also work in churches… I haven’t been intentional about becoming twiends with people that aren’t like me.
Question: Are you twiends with people that aren’t like you? How are you using technology and social media to connect with them and spread God’s word?
Look for Part 4 tomorrow!
[Image by: trixi]
Great series Graham. Finally had time to catch up. Can't wait for the last part.
I have to put myself in the camp of only following people who are in my same realm. And to be honest it is something I didn't even think about until just now. I think I shall set it as my goal to follow one additional person each day that is not within my culture of Christianity.
Should be fun.
Thanks Danny!
Yeah… it's hard sometimes to follow people that aren't like us. But at least for me… I feel that's what God is calling me to do. There can be interaction with them or not but usually people will follow you back. And if one of your tweets about a bible verse or a link to your blog or what-have-you helps them find Jesus… you've done your part!
The Christ follower approach in social media should be to use it to reach others. That's why I have no use for Christian 'alternative' sites like GodTube or Christian alternatives to MySpace or Facebook. Jesus didn't just hang around with his disciples all day. He went where others said He shouldn't go. We cannot be effective in spreading the Word if we just stay around each other all day hoping that more people will come into our group.
I said this elsewhere, but we had a man who runs a missionary organization speaking at our church one time. He said Christ followers like to huddle up like a football team to call a play, but never say "Break!". They just want to keep on huddling.
We have to break out of that huddle.
I like this! Good analogy!