Yeah...what are we thinking? How could a bunch of middle-aged guys actually minister through something as "frivolous" as Facebook?I know...some of you older types are asking, "Facebook, what's that?"
Let's go there first. Here's what the Facebook site says about itself:
"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."
Basically, it's a web based meeting place for friends to communicate what their lives are like. It's kinda like an a cyber-coffee shop (without the coffee...bummer).And the important point for us is that this is one of the places where our summer staff go to hang out and communicate. So that's where we decided to go a few months back, just to keep up with the young people that we've had here as a part of our ministry.
Really though, I feel a bit out of place since there are relatively few 40+ year olds on Facebook. But going where you don't necessarily belong in order to do ministry is not a new concept. Paul said it best when he wrote in I Corinthians 9:22 (NIV): "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."
We are in a place that is somewhat unfamiliar to us at times when we minister to this generation and we feel that this sort of "crossing over" into their areas of interest is part of our job in order to minster to them (and with them!).
And it's hard to keep up too! Just this last fall we were looking for some workers for a weekend event and we were having a hard time getting the kids to respond to phone calls (really old method!) or email (what we THOUGHT was more up-to-date). In the end, one of the guys here text-messaged a bunch of people on their mobile phones. We got responses in minutes!
Pray for us "old guys". We need wisdom as we work cross-culturally with this new millennial generation.
~ Jefe
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