Jesus and Facebook

About two years ago, a good friend of mine told me that I needed to be on Facebook. Now if you don't know what Facebook is, it's a social networking sight on the Internet that connects people together. My first response to my friend's suggestion was a chuckle and a polite, "Yeah, that'll be the day." I never went for the whole MySpace fad when that was popular, and I figured this was just another thing that would be good for nothing except wasting my time.

My friend was persistent, however, telling me that Facebook had allowed him to reconnect with people that he hadn't seen in years (even decades). He said I'd be surprised how many old friends and acquaintances I would catch up on if I'd only become a member. So, reluctantly, I filled out the electronic registration form and became a Facebook member (feeling embarrassed as I typed in my information).

Initially, I didn't use Facebook much. I did indeed reconnect with many old friends, and it was kind of cool to find out what so many people were up to these days. But other than that, I didn't see much use for Facebook.

About six months ago, however, all of that changed. I was on the Internet one evening, and I started seeing where people were talking about our church in a positive way, and using this medium to invite their friends. A light bulb went on in my head, and I began to see the incredible potential in this social networking thing. Since that day, I've been using Facebook more and more as a tool for ministry. Let's face it, folks, this is the way today's younger generation interacts!

I say all of that to say this: We don't need to be afraid of embracing new ideas and technologies in the work of the church. There have been a lot of changes in the way church is done in the past 200 years, and not all of them have been bad. I mean, really, who wants to go back to the days when there was no air conditioning? I'm glad someone, at some point, made the decision to put air conditioning in at EFBC. There may have even been some opposition to it, thinking that, "We've never done it this way before." But now, with the benefit of hindsight, I don't know of anyone who thinks it's a bad idea.

Yes, it's true that any tool can be used for harm as well as for good. And I know that Facebook is no exception to that rule. In fact, I think there are some folks whose life has begun to revolve around it. But that doesn't mean that we can't use Facebook, and many other new and exciting inventions in our world today, to reach people with the Gospel. Let's dare to do whatever it takes, short of sin, to see people come to new life in Christ. It may not be the way our parents or our grandparents did it, but if people are getting saved, that's all that matters!