“the church should not lag behind”

I came across this blog entry on Media\Outreach and, based upon the featured photo ([previously] included below), assumed it viewed the church + Twitter phenomenon with some skepticism. Alas.

Once again, I found articulated the rarely questioned premise of so many arguments as to the urgency of the Church’s adoption of some new technology:

While the technology world is racing to find the latest trend in social networking, the church should not lag behind. It’s about going into the world and meeting people where they are…even if it’s in a virtual community group.

There is some truth to this mindset, but it is a truth that rings fairly hollow when we assess how well the Church has done in meeting people within walking distance of its campuses and the homes of its members, or the people in its local prisons, shelters and hospitals or the children and single parents from broken families. It rings hollow, too, in view of the fact that the Church often lives in a manner barely distinguishable from the broader society, except perhaps in the flavor of sanctimony it displays. (For example, why are divorce statistics no better within the Church?)

I find this “meeting people” rationale pretty lame. I think it is offered as cover for half-assed obedience to the Great Commission (which calls for making disciples, not just FB friends and Twitter followers) from the convenience and safety of our flickering devices (which, by the way, are available and useful to a small and absurdly privileged segment of society.)

[Image removed at the request of, and with apologies to, one of the bloggers at mediaoutreach.com, who felt that directly linking the image here was stealing his bandwidth. The full URL to the entry containing the image--also linked above--is http://mediaoutreach.com/2009/06/twitter-and-the-church/.]