Social Networking and The Church Part 1

I'm working on a proposal for managing Social Networking at my Church... I thought I would just let if fly here while I'm working... Silly me...

Communication is critical to success in life – this is nothing new. If you don’t think so, historians around the world believe that one of the greatest achievements in the last 1000 years is Gutenberg’s printing press in or around 1440. It’s interesting to realize that the one of the first things ever printed in Europe was The Bible. Communication was coming out of the “dark ages”, but no one then would have dreamed where that first book would take us.

Fast forward about 569 years and the world is very different, how we communicate has changed a great deal, but our need to communicate is stronger than ever. If there was anyone in Gutenberg’s time that thought what was happening wasn’t important they have long since been forgotten. One of the reasons that the movable printing press was so important in the course of history was that it allowed information to reach people that had no way of getting it before. Now, more common people had a chance to own a copy of God’s word or some other important communication, to read for on their own. 569 years later we take communication for granted, we don’t just like it – we expect it, we crave it and we live for it.

Gutenberg’s printing press was “bleeding edge technology” – I can only imagine those around him clamoring to find out what was next, how it worked and how they could get in on the action – just like some of us do with technology today. Technology is a word that we throw around a great deal in our society and when we do with often put the technology before the purpose behind it (“form over function”). When we do that we often get into trouble and the message get’s lost and our credibility disappears with it which then affects our effectiveness of spreading God’s word. Christ would want us to be as effective as possible with our marching orders in Matthew 28:19,10

“go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”

using every tool available to us and using those tools in such a way as to allow us to be successful in spreading His “good news”.

Knowing this, we need to be diligent, careful and creative with the communication tools at our disposal in order to be as effective as possible in our mission to tell the world about the good news of Christ.

Incomplete Directions

Imagine with me...if you will...

I'm throwing a BIG BASH for everyone that I know...everyone is invited and the party is going to be awesome I want everyone to be there. This party is really important to me and it will be a uplifting and beneficial to everyone I know.

So...I send out the invitations - hundreds of them. The invitations tell about the party and how great it's gonna be, how much I want them to be there, how they will be glad that they came. It also tells them the date and time, the name of the hall and the directions to the hall...

Wait...

Not exactly I tell them how to get within about half a mile from the hall, but the directions are missing the last bit - it gets them to the vicinity of the hall, but not all the way there. I figure that's good enough - I mean getting them close to the hall is better than them staying home and not going anywhere. Besides, I would confuse them with all those details - I don't want to scare them away!

Here's what happens:

1) Some of my friends read their invitation and realize the missing information, go to the phone book or better yet just hit the Internet and their favorite map site and find the specific directions themselves. They make the party without a hitch.

2) Some of my friends read their invitation and just know they'll figure it out once they get there and they do. They make the party.

3) Others take off for the party, get to the end of the directions and spend a while searching, stopping for directions, asking people on the street and just happen upon the hall by luck (maybe they just see all the cars parked around the hall and recognize my car) or the good-will of passers by. They make the party, but are confused why it was so hard to get there.

4) Others take off for the party and never make it. They wander around aimlessly, some give up - others (really wanting to make the party) spend the entire duration of the party searching... They don't make the party.

5) Others read the instructions and see something fishy and never even leave their house. They don't make the party.

My attempt to keep my potential guests from being confused or bogged down with details means that some never make it, some are smart enough to figure it out for themselves and others just eventually fall into place. Why not just give them the complete directions to start with!

Obviously, this fictional story has a real life connection... Enter the "Sinner's Prayer" (A.K.A. "A Simple Prayer", "Prayer of Repentance").

By itself, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the versions of this prayer I have read. It IS a simple prayer that recognizes Jesus as Savior, asks for forgiveness and repentance. These are all great things and a great start (just like my instructions above), but the prayer itself does not get us all the way. Some who commit themselves to Christ in such a way will read God's book (the Bible) and immediately see the missing piece, others will be shown the piece, others will eventually stumble on to it, others will never get there.

My question is this - why give a lost soul an incomplete road map to salvation when the complete directions are so easy to follow?

This is NOT about EXACTLY when we are "saved" - I realize that my belief on the subject of the exact point a person is saved is extreme to some and I don't force that understanding on others. However, even if you take the whole, "at what point are we really saved", discussion off the table "The Sinner's Prayer" is STILL incomplete. You don't have to look very hard to figure it out, start with the last instructions Christ told his disciples.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:19,20

Otherwise known as "The Great Commission", it was the last set of instructions Christ left with his disciples. Kind of like "don't forget to turn left on Main street and look for the big building with the statue in front of it!".

Another quick message from Jesus himself:

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned..."
Mark 16:15,16

So I just have to know - why give out incomplete directions?