Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

It won't be news to anybody that the way we communicate has changed. In the new on-line medium shaped by social media our stories get heard based on the relationships we have formed. Communications that are based on the blunt force of a public relations machine are no longer going to be as effective as they once were. This is especially true for faith-based organizations. We can no longer assume people will listen to our message just because it comes from the church.

It's not about technology, it's about relationships. In the world of social media, this is how communication happens. And relationships are organic - they happen between humans, not machines. If we want people to pay attention to our message and share it with others, we have to build relationships with them. This is what "going viral" is all about.

Originally posted on Sojourners God's Politics blog.

One of the reasons the St. Francis quip, “Preach the gospel always, if necessary use words,” is so often quoted is because it pokes fun at Christians’ propensity to think sharing our faith is primarily about words. And for good reason. We study the words of the Bible. Our church services are filled with words. Our endless discussions on hot-button issues overflow with words. Even prayer, our most intimate form of communication, is nearly always reduced to mean those prayers we make with words.

But if mere words were enough, perhaps the Word we worship wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Sharing our faith can’t be reduced to rehearsed sound bite, but is something as complex, sensitive, and alive as we are.

Although its worshipping communities are small and it's hardly a household name, few churches have been as influential in the past half-century as Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. Through the years, thousands of leaders from a wide variety of churches have come through Church of the Saviour's doors to be inspired, trained, and transformed for innovative ministry back in their own context, including visitors from The United Church of Canada.

With ministries based in some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Washington, Church of the Saviour was an early (if mostly unrecognized) leader in the "missional" church movement, focusing on local social justice initiatives as the living expression of their faith. Founders Gordon Cosby, Mary Cosby, the late Elizabeth O'Connor, among others, challenged church members to respond to God's call in ways that were both inward (prayer, Bible study, worship) and outward (hands-on participation in social justice ministry), transcending the liberal / conservative characterizations that too often polarize North American religious life.