"All welcome" is often written on the signs outside our churches.
While it is wonderfully true that God welcomes anyone, I wonder whether these words fail to be heard?
Social observers tell us that the way communities gather has changed. It is worth thinking through whether we need to consider this observation as we present Christ to our lost world.
What would Google do?
Jeff Jarvis wrote a very interesting book called What Would Google Do?
He examines Google because he claims it understands the new age of relationships. It is a key example in a new breed of companies that has exploited the way people now relate.
Jarvis says Google has the following rules for how it operates:
"¢ customers, not businesses are now in charge.
"¢ people can find each other anywhere and coalesce around you, or against you.
"¢ the mass market is dead, replaced by a “mass of niches”
"¢ "markets are conversations". The key skill in any organisation today is no longer marketing but conversing.
"¢ we have moved from being based on scarcity to abundance. The control of products or distribution is no longer a guarantee of power.
"¢ allowing customers to collaborate with you creates a premium in today's market.
"¢ the most successful enterprises today are networks, and the platforms on which the networks are built.
"¢ Openness is the key to success.
There is much for us to consider here, but I want to start the discussion by highlighting a couple of things I think are important.
1. 'Mass niches' is worth considering.
Our society is homogenous in that it is lost, ignoring and running away from the saviour. But it does not perceive itself as such. Everyone has an identity which I think is comprised of the cultural 'tribes' they choose to be part of, and our cities are comprised of many tribes. To appeal to mass culture is not easily heard.
2. Networks are the way people relate.
There are so many examples in our world that validate this claim. We no longer give ourselves to hierarchies but rather unite as a network to achieve a common vision.
If, under God, we desire to change the world, or at least our part of it, our structures and systems will not accomplish this. It will be through a network of people committed to achieve a common goal. Because of Christian truths, this network will also share a common theological position. But the way that each member of the network interacts with others will be much more flexible than our historical structures have permitted.
