How online social networking can help in meeting non-Christians

[James Nored]

Sorry for the delay in posting, guys. In addition to my normal busyness, last week I was working on finishing up a D.Min. paper on how to use online social networking for outreach.

When I get my paper in final form, I'll put it out on the web. There was a lot of interesting research, and of course, different parts of the paper have been implemented with the creation of the Missional Outreach Network. We also have also launched a High Pointe Facebook page. These are just the start of this, however!

Two interesting sites that I found in my research were www.nearbytweets.com and www.meetup.com. At the nearbytweets site, you can find Twitters users who are close to you. You can search this group by keyword, such as "Christian," "Texas Rangers," "spiritual," "lonely," etc. and find people with common interests. By following this person, messaging them, you could invite them for a face-to-face get together for coffee or the like. Could be a great way to meet new people. (I thought church planters might really find this helpful.)

A similar type of concept is the meetup site, except it is not based on Twitter. On this site, you join a group based around an interest, and then schedule face to face meetings. Here are the groups close to the 75070 zip code that use the word "Christian." There is a group that meets to discuss outreach. This type of resource sharing is good--much like the Missional Outreach Network. But this can also be used to meet non-Christians. For instance, there is a McKinney Moms Meetup group, a Collin County Progressive Book Club group--in fact, there are 748 meetup groups in McKinney, covering everything from parenting to health to religion to hobbies to business and more.

One of the best things that we could do for outreach is for 2-3 Christians to find something that they enjoy from these groups and start attending one of these groups. (We are much better at witnessing when we have anothe Christian with us, for people can see our love and community.) The mindset must be to really want to be there, to really enjoy the people and interest--and yes, to find opportunities to share faith as relationships build as a natural part of who we are.

Many Christians do not have any meaningful relationships with non-Christians. This is a way to change that. The possibilities are endless.

How do you see that the nearbytweets and meetup sites can be used in reaching out to non-Christians?

[Gailyn Van Rheenen]

Thanks. This is interesting, informative. Let me integrate some basic assumptions about life in reflecting on what you have written. God has created us for community. Yet our individualistic culture separates us from others. We are now using technology to develop this community.

[Chris Walker]

The dominant North American church model for years has been come to us. Come and see. Event driven, invitation driven, but it's all come and see. But that's changing for a couple of reasons.

1. People are too busy to go to church. If church is not part of their life schedule already, they may often be doing other things. Church is not the "third place" like starbucks tries to be.

2. Thus, we have to get out of the church. Using tools like meetup or twitter is a great way to find groups of common interest and need outside of the church circles, and thus provide a context around a mutual interest or need in which to build a relationship.

Example: I have a passion for hispanic americans. However I also had a need to connect with other stay at home dads. an idea similar to a Meetup group pointed me in the direction of this group. In it was a Dad from Peru. We formed a friendship based on the need to be with people and our common interest in culture. This led to deep conversations about faith, Jesus, grace, parenting, and role models. He still doesn't go to church, but we've had several conversations that are moving him in that direction.

Would never had met, nor experienced a deep friendship with this man if it was for the initiative of using this technology to find an interest based group outside the church.

Chris.

[James Nored]

Gailyn, you hit on a key theological topic, community. There is a bit of debate about:1) whether online community is real community; and 2) whether or not it leads to more in person interaction, or insulates people against this desire. I have some research on this as well in my paper, which I'll share in another post. Obviously, my foray into the online world shows my bias/belief on this. It is, however, something that we need some deep theological reflection upon.

Can technology change us as humans in unhealthy ways? Is it good to constantly be checking for updates and receive the little adrenaline shot from this? Are we souping up our bodies too much, leaving us tired and depleted at other times? I would like more medical research on this. It would be interesting at least.

Gailyn Van Rheenen said:

Thanks. This is interesting, informative. Let me integrate some basic assumptions about life in reflecting on what you have written. God has created us for community. Yet our individualistic culture separates us from others. We are now using technology to develop this community.

[James Nored]

Chris, you give a great illustration as to how this technology can help us connect with others. Great points too about our change in culture. We live in a 24/7 world. We need to find ways to be the church to people 24/7. Thanks for sharing!

Chris Walker said:

The dominant North American church model for years has been come to us. Come and see. Event driven, invitation driven, but it's all come and see. But that's changing for a couple of reasons.

1. People are too busy to go to church. If church is not part of their life schedule already, they may often be doing other things. Church is not the "third place" like starbucks tries to be.

2. Thus, we have to get out of the church. Using tools like meetup or twitter is a great way to find groups of common interest and need outside of the church circles, and thus provide a context around a mutual interest or need in which to build a relationship.

Example: I have a passion for hispanic americans. However I also had a need to connect with other stay at home dads. an idea similar to a Meetup group pointed me in the direction of this group. In it was a Dad from Peru. We formed a friendship based on the need to be with people and our common interest in culture. This led to deep conversations about faith, Jesus, grace, parenting, and role models. He still doesn't go to church, but we've had several conversations that are moving him in that direction.

Would never had met, nor experienced a deep friendship with this man if it was for the initiative of using this technology to find an interest based group outside the church.

Chris.

[John Dobbs]

I like www.tweepsearch.com better than nearbytweets ... I followed many more people from my city that way. They do not always follow back, but you have opportunity to respond when appropriate (prayer requests, needs, etc.) I am now having Twitter conversations with people about movies... local eating places ... etc. I currently have several non christians following me and engaging in conversation. One is an atheist who categorizes all Christians as dumb ... I try to point him to a website here and there ... just to let him know there are other intelligent choices.

If you're in ministry and not on Twitter and FaceBook, you are invisible to a vast majority of your community.

[James Nored]

Great! Thanks for the Twitter resource, John. Yes, if we do not use this technology, we are missing out on many great opportunities.

Have you tried yet asking those you follow and who follow you if they would be interested in meeting for coffe/spiritual discussions?

John Dobbs said:

I like www.tweepsearch.com better than nearbytweets ... I followed many more people from my city that way. They do not always follow back, but you have opportunity to respond when appropriate (prayer requests, needs, etc.) I am now having Twitter conversations with people about movies... local eating places ... etc. I currently have several non christians following me and engaging in conversation. One is an atheist who categorizes all Christians as dumb ... I try to point him to a website here and there ... just to let him know there are other intelligent choices.

If you're in ministry and not on Twitter and FaceBook, you are invisible to a vast majority of your community.

[Mike Ellis]

Why aren't people who you using search.twitter.com and using advanced feature? You can find people locally that way.

James Nored said:

Great! Thanks for the Twitter resource, John. Yes, if we do not use this technology, we are missing out on many great opportunities.

Have you tried yet asking those you follow and who follow you if they would be interested in meeting for coffe/spiritual discussions?

John Dobbs said:

I like www.tweepsearch.com better than nearbytweets ... I followed many more people from my city that way. They do not always follow back, but you have opportunity to respond when appropriate (prayer requests, needs, etc.) I am now having Twitter conversations with people about movies... local eating places ... etc. I currently have several non christians following me and engaging in conversation. One is an atheist who categorizes all Christians as dumb ... I try to point him to a website here and there ... just to let him know there are other intelligent choices.

If you're in ministry and not on Twitter and FaceBook, you are invisible to a vast majority of your community.