Everything is changing at warp speed. The days of beepers and big cellular phones are gone. Emails are things of the past. Everybody is now googling, tweeting and facebooking. I never thought I would see the day that my 4-year-old daughter while watching youtube quipped, “ Dad the video stopped because it is downloading!” Seth Godin said in his book that the rules of the world have changed which means if we don’t change we will be left behind.
Yes, LEFT BEHIND, a term commonly used by the church to refer us to the coming ANTI-CHRIST and the 666 and the people who choose not to worship Jesus will be left behind.
The Bible clearly says that nobody knows when Christ will return and it is not our business to predict the date of His return.
Acts 1:7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
I think the question the church needs to ask is how do we spread the good news to a world that needs Jesus’ love, forgiveness and redemption. If there is one thing I am sure of about Christ’s return is that he declared:
Matt. 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED IN THE WHOLE WORLD…. A daunting task to say the least. Do you know that half of the world’s population has not heard the name Jesus? In spite of the rise of social media and the influence of Internet, the church has failed to capitalize and leverage social media to spread the good news – an idea worth spreading.
To say it plainly – the church has been LEFT BEHIND. The church, specifically in our country, Philippines, has not used the Internet to spread a very important message. Instead of being the early adopters and sneezers the church has played it safe when it comes to social media.
The statistics have proved that the people are moving in this new direction. 8 billion hits for google, Facebook’s 500 million members. In the Philippines 30% of the population have access to the internet. Out of the 6.8 billion people in this planet, 1.96 billion are online. Need I say more?
So how can the church leverage on the rise and influence of social media?
- Create an online presence – church website, pastor’s blogsite, preaching podcast, sermon archives. Have your pastoral team register and use twitter, facebook and the likes.
- Gather people in church who are actively involved in social media and in the Internet. You will be surprised by how many of your members are into social networking. The best advertisement is not billboards or the church bulletin – the most effective advertisement and marketing tool a church possesses are its members in social networking sites.
- Blog. Pastors preach every week. The amount of knowledge and wisdom that we gather every week are immeasurable. Use those knowledge, ideas and biblical wisdom that we learn and pass it on through personal blogs, twitter or facebook. Once again you will be surprised that people would start following you because of the value you add in people’s lives. The Bible is called the good news for a reason.
- Network. The best place to meet new people, fellow pastors, people you are trying to reach is through the Internet. Use the social network platform to engage with your community.
Social Media, technology, and the Internet are here to stay. Let’s not get left behind.
