Discipleship and Social Media

Even before we had left Asia 4 months ago, I had noticed how the young people in our country were just as plugged in to social media as young people in the States are.  On buses, at school, whether they were at home or at work, the youth of our host country had already become technologically savvy and were now fully intergrated into a rapidly multiplying, online youth subculture.

Here in the States, culture observers have been commenting on the back lash of the amount of time teenagers and even adults are spending "plugged in".  Mostly we're seeing the negative outweighing the positive effects of this instant access to information and to each other.  Social media has encouraged a level of narcissism that's never been seen in America, at least not by so many of us at one time.

But one question that I"ve heard very few people ask in our churches is, how does this ability to be and stay plugged in to the world affect our discipleship efforts?  Obviously, like any other tool, the internet and instant, free, worldwide communications has given us a greater opportunity to reach the nations for Christ than at any other time in the history of the world.

But, I'm afraid that one negative result is that young people don't understand the value of staying in one place for a long period of time.  To plant oneself in one, local context and, as one former supervisor said to me one time, "dig down deep like a tick", is what is needed most in order to truly make disciples.  This is how we see transformation in the communities in which we live.  We want to see disciples who will grow and make more disciples.

Cell phones and 24/7 online access makes it all too easy for cross-cultrual workers to move from place to place, changing jobs, changing schools, while staying connected.  When, what is needed most, is to to persevere in one location, inviting others to share in the stresses and joys of life together.

This is a topic worthy of further discussion with young people who sense a call to work cross-culturally, or even those who would want to remain in their home country and make a lasting impact for Christ in their own culture.