Missions Reviewed

Do you ever look around the church when you have lost your place in the hymn, or when the preacher is droning on and on?  Do you just ever look around and think, “why do we come here every Sunday morning and sit in these pews, and watch this guy go on and on.”  If your like me, you don’t even know the names of more than half the people in the church.  That is unless you are  a member of a church with 100 people, all of whom you grew up with.   We always go where the activity is, right? That very idea is what made me think of the theme song from Cheers.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

After premiering on September 30, 1982, it was nearly canceled during its first season when it ranked dead last in ratings. (This goes to dis-prove my theory of how Christian communities need to me more like Cheers, right?  Wrong.)  Cheers eventually became a highly rated television show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons, including one season at #1. Why?

Think of the Cast: Sam, Diane, Norm, Cliff, Frasier… there was some one that you could identify with.

What if your Christian community were more like Cheers, where every one realizes they have issues and they just don’t want people to point fingers in judgment.  Rather, point a finger and say, “Man I have been there, and  dealt with that issue.”

The problem with most Christian communities has to do with the simple fact people are trying to be so perfect they simply can’t be friends, and talk for fear of some one realizing we are all sinners.

So how do we develop a community where every one knows your name, where people always wana go, casue they know we are all the same.

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

Facebook is now the largest social network in the world,—with 132 million unique visitors in June—it is also the fastest growing social network. 1

Facebook’s growth is different among regions:

• North America is still growing at a healthy 38 %
• Europe (with 35 million visitors a month) is growing nearly ten times as fast.
• Middle East and Africa 403% growth in the
• Asia Pacific 458% growth
• Latin America 10,555% growth

Much of these huge growth numbers come from the fact that Facebook had hardly no presence in many of these regions until recently when it started its major push to translate the site to other languages. One year ago, there were only one million monthly visits in all of Latin America, three million in the Middle East and Africa, and four million in all of Asia Pacific. 2

Facebook has adapted one of the key elements every missionary team needs to remember the language of the people. When people are seeking community they want what is comfortable for them. I have recently heard people say they speak a broken English well enough to understand me. Yes, but what language do they use when they tell jokes to their children.

When missionaries share the gospel in English, im not saying a seed isn’t planted. What I know to be true is when the gospel is shared in the persons heart language they understand and the % of response increases drastically.