Jesus As Lord Online
If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media, you will know that the experience could be likened to walking the streets of {insert densely populated Asian city here}. There is a sense of chaos among the intricately structured web. Personal bloggers and small organizations find difficulty even in connecting with those who have explicitly expressed a social interest in them. While much talk is had of providing value and of being present online, the medium itself often discourages this very thing. Rather than promoting significant and meaningful conversation, algorithms tend to direct users to content that might be commercially harnessed for someone else’s financial benefit (as evidenced by the Facebook post below). We are quickly and effectively being made into stuporous consumers of clickbait and trendy trivial novelties. That is, there is great opportunity for the church to mobilize and speak truth into the digital realm.
One Hour • Three Views
As manager of World Mission Prayer League‘s online presence, I have long wondered what benefit we might best provide to our fellowship of praying members and to those who have chosen to follow the mission online. What part have we to play in Kingdom work online and how are we to undertake this task? The answer has proved to be quite elusive.
With these challenges in mind and to the end of encouraging Christians everywhere in the global task of knowing Christ, praying for His kingdom come, and sharing truth with those who are too familiar with lies, we invite you to join us in online fellowship and Gospel proclamation. Our handbook states …
If Jesus our Lord is sovereign, we may expect to find him at work wherever and however he pleases. He is not bound by human formulations of spiritual and secular, heavenly and earthly, eternal and temporal, sacred and mundane, and the like. If Jesus is sovereign, he is Sovereign over all.
– Mission Handbook, ¶154
I am sometimes tempted to relegate online missionary service to second-tier status, but there is Gospel work to be done among the masses who congregate online day by day. If Jesus is sovereign, He is not bound by our formulations of off-line or online communication. We may find Him at work wherever and however He pleases.
Let Us Join Our Voices
Every Monday at 232 Clifton in Minneapolis, we gather for prayer. After listening to the story behind the writing of some specific hymn, we then sing it and reflect. And now, in an effort to mirror this habitual discipline adopted by our staff, we are taking this gathering online. You can now join us in revisiting, resurrecting, and reflecting on the rich text that is found in so many great hymns of old (and of late). We will periodically be posting a lyrical excerpt from the hymnody. Please, carry on the conversation with some form of reply. Here are a few ideas:
- additional lyrics from the hymn
- reflections on how the hymn may have found a home in your heart
- thoughts on the theology in song
- links to a favorite arrangement
- personal words of prayer and praise
- or, if you’re really feeling it, a photo or video response
It is our hope that together, in fellowship, we may be provoked to prayer and praise of the Triune God.
So come, #HymnAlong with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.