The Avenue Church

by Danielle

I'll never forget the way that I learned of the crisis in Haiti a few months ago. I was checking Facebook and trying to understand why so many of my friends were praying for Haiti that day. It only took me one click to CNN.com to learn of the news. But the Haiti crisis isn't alone. I've also learned that MU beat KU, how awesome the movie Avatar is, or that it's Free Pastry day at Starbucks all through Facebook.

Websites like Facebook (or Twitter, and even The City) offer a unique privilege to those of us living in the days of social media. We receive not only instant news, but instant opinions. In a matter of seconds we can communicate a thought that would have taken us five minutes to say person-to-person. It's quick, easy, and connects us in a way never seen before.

As I've experienced the Facebook phenomenon, I've seen many advantages and disadvantages come from this website. I feel it's awesome to see people encouraging one another, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, or even "liking" that someone just bought pretty new pink socks.

But I've also been discouraged as I've seen status updates cut down others, our leaders, and become a unique form of passive aggressiveness. As one of my friend's clever statuses put it, "If you don't have anything nice to say, say it on Facebook."

I encourage us all to see our Facebook status updates as anything else in our life, and especially as missional opportunities. The filter that we use when speaking face-to-face needs to stay on as we type over email and Facebook. The temptation to make a negative comment directed at someone else is overwhelming sometimes - I've been there myself. But we must remember that we have hundreds of other friends reading the same message - and many that don't know Jesus. Regardless of what we think about KU losing or the health care bill, our first responsibility is to share the Gospel and be ambassadors of Christ. And as Christians using social media, we've got an awesome opportunity to be missional with our Facebook, Twitter and other status updates.

Just think what a cool story it would be if someone came to know Jesus as a result of a conversation started by your Facebook status. Now, that's a story that blows learning of the Haiti crisis or any other news through Facebook out of the water.