Thursday, February 11, 2010
Church, Kids, Social Networks
A couple of posts appeared looking at the subjects inthe title for this post. One at MMI and the other at Ed Stetzer. Neither was terribly informative, both more questioning than answering.
Well, as the "leader" (that term applies loosely with this age group) of a small group that fits precisely in the "Facebook" demographic, I thought I'd throw in some comments.
Frankly, it's just like anything else, good people use this tool wisely and troubled people have problems with it.
Facebook can be a marvelous communication tool. During last fall's horrendous wildfires in our neighborhood, it was the means by which the church pulled together - to a point. Eventually evacuees had to go somewhere - there had to be personal face-to-face interaction.
The problems arise when it becomes a substitute for genuine human contact, or when it becomes an idol. (Look how many "friends" I have!)
The bottom line is simple here. Relationship with Christ is about intimacy. Facebook and its ilk can either be an aid to intimacy or it can prevent it. We need to train our kinds how to use it to build intimacy.
But that will require us to learn intimacy ourselves, and that is intimidating. Just another thing to lay at God's feet.
Well, as the "leader" (that term applies loosely with this age group) of a small group that fits precisely in the "Facebook" demographic, I thought I'd throw in some comments.
Frankly, it's just like anything else, good people use this tool wisely and troubled people have problems with it.
Facebook can be a marvelous communication tool. During last fall's horrendous wildfires in our neighborhood, it was the means by which the church pulled together - to a point. Eventually evacuees had to go somewhere - there had to be personal face-to-face interaction.
The problems arise when it becomes a substitute for genuine human contact, or when it becomes an idol. (Look how many "friends" I have!)
The bottom line is simple here. Relationship with Christ is about intimacy. Facebook and its ilk can either be an aid to intimacy or it can prevent it. We need to train our kinds how to use it to build intimacy.
But that will require us to learn intimacy ourselves, and that is intimidating. Just another thing to lay at God's feet.
Technorati Tags:facebook, intimacy
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
