First let me say....this email is for those passionate about reaching people 18-30 for Christ. Whether we like it or not, the ministry landscape of how to reach people in this age group has changed. They won't come to church just because the church it is there, they won't respond to the 'If you die tonight....' message, they won't stand for people barking doctrine at them, however, they do want is authentic relationships with real people.
Almost 70% of people 18-30 DO NOT go to church. Many feel church is irrelevant although they believe in God. Another view is that almost 60% of these same people say all they want in life is 1 or 2 good friends. They are screaming for us to become their friends and THEN share the gospel with them. They are challenging us and begging us to be their friends...their true friends.
We can all say there may have been a period in our lives where we turned away from the church and even God, but we came back. This may lead us to believe that people 18-30 are just doing what we once did...but in today's information happy society where everything is at the fingertips of the average 8 year old (my daughter can't pass the 3rd grade without knowing how to create a Power point presentation, a Podcast and a web site) people 18-30 have too many options other than church. Whereas a few years ago, all we had was church.
My point is this...we have a real problem and we can't use yesterday's ministry methods to reach today's generations...it just wont work.
So I'm not emailing you to complain...but to share a possible answer with you. A friend of mine has recently written a free e-book 'Facebook for Pastors. Facebook (www.facebook.com) is a free online community where people connect with others, its called Social Networking. As pastors we may say this is a worldly forum and we should not be involved but I will challenge that with...aren't we to use ALL forms to reach those who are lost and isn't TV a secular medium....so why do you watch preachers on TV. Facebook is a medium we pastors and ministry leaders can use to connect to 1. with our membership on a personal level and 2. build a network of 'friends' who we can build meaningful relationships with.
Let me put it this way, a good friend of mine started a group and invited 70 people to join and its purpose was to see if he could get 100,000 people to join the group in a week. After 1 week 300,000 people joined the group. He can now communicate with 300,000 people all at once and it only took a week. His story is covered in the book I attached.
Social Networking is not going away. Its only hitting the tip of the iceberg, but thats another email. We as church leaders need to understand how to leverage this technology for the kingdom.
When you create your facebook page, pls add me as a friend and I'll introduce you to other pastors around the country who are making a huge impact. Facebook has allowed me to meet and chat with several pastors of mega churches as well as church planters and we all get together and pray for each other, its powerful.
I'd love your feedback on these points and even the book. You can respond to the email or I will post this email on my blog and you can comment there as well (www.AtibadeSouza.com).
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