Sunday, September 28, 2008

Church in a facebook world...How can God use it?

How can God use facebook?

This is a question that we all should ask when new technologies are presented. Although there are many things that could potentially be a problem with facebook (an illusion of community, inappropriate behavior & pictures, etc), but for the church we have a great opportunity. Through something like facebook, we can bring information, proclamation about God and the Word in a whole different way than email or even websites.

In my theory, communication on facebook is much different than on email. Facebook builds community online in a more personal way than conventional email. You have pictures, descriptions, friend connections, and an outlook on what the person values. This amount of information is actually more than what we know about most of our friends. Instantly, we are connected with those whom we become friends with on facebook, and a chance to do God-talk. On top of that, people are more willing to ask questions online about faith, due to the fact that there is less judgement and no facial expressions.

This gives the church a chance to do a number of things:
1) Discuss theology in an open forum and to teach what being part of the church means.
2) Invitations to worship has more of a personal touch than email
3) Provide information on theology in a quick and effective manner
4) Strengthen relationships with people already in a congregation with support.

May God Bless this opportunity to bring Christ to the nations

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