Paris Originals
OK, I admit it. When it comes to technology, I am always a day
late and a dollar short. When I update my computer or cell phone I think I am
on the cutting edge only to discover my stuff is already passé. I got on Facebook a few years ago only because a friend, whom I
see once a year at the Stetson Pastor’s School, encouraged me to sign up. I
checked it once a week, at most, but thought it was a colossal waste of time.
Why should I care what somebody I don’t even know ate for breakfast? But then I read Elizabeth’s Drescher’s book Tweet If You Jesus. Drescher
helped me to see that Facebook, Twitter, and other digital media resources are
revolutionizing the way we communicate, as well as how we receive and digest
information. As I read the book I could not help thinking about John Dalton and
Rich Jacobs. Almost every Saturday night and Sunday morning, one of them, or
both, posts on Facebook an invitation to join them for worship at FCC. Several
of the folks in our last new members’ class said they visited our church, at
least in part, because of a Dalton/Jacobs Facebook invitation. Now that I have begun using Facebook on a regular basis I have seen a few other FCC folks following John’s and Rich’s lead. So I thought, what if ten more FCC folks regularly practiced digital hospitality? How about twenty? Thirty? Forty? Who knows how many lives will be touched? And nobody is suggesting you hang out at the Metra station and hand out tracts. You are just extending a simple invitation. As we have already seen, people do pay attention. |
For the more techno-savvy FCC folks, how about posting a link to
our church website, or going to the YouTube video of our latest Sunday
service, click the “share” button, then copy and paste the link into your
Facebook page? Most of our new members over the past few years came to us via
our web page, and Kevin Jocius now has a mobile website for us that is very
user-friendly on a smart phone. All I am suggesting is that we are connected nowadays in ways we
could not have dreamed just a few years ago, so why not use those connections
in Christ’s service for this church we love so dearly? What could be more natural
than friends sharing what’s important with other friends, and those friends
passing the word along to other friends, and… Of course, it will mean letting go of the mindset that says,
“That’s the Pastor’s job.” It will mean admitting that when Jesus said, “Go and
make disciples” he was not addressing a pastor’s conference. So how about it, Facebook friends? Any takers? Who knows? I might even get interested in what you had for breakfast. |
The United Church of Christ.