I go hiking online to discover new communities of people who do not know Christ. When I find a new community, I look for evidence of spiritual conversations. Spiritual conversations may be evidence of a Person of Peace. If I can find and engage that person, I can impact the whole community.
Here is my online hiking routine: (Always consult your doctor before engaging in strenuous activity. Don’t forget to warm up and drink plenty of liquids – I prefer coffee.)
- Begin with an online social media tool that allows you to bounce from person to person. Plurk and Twitter are my favorites.
- Pull up whatever tool they have that allows you to search within their service for particular key words. For Twitter, I use http://www.summize.com. For Plurk, I use their built-in search feature.
- Type in a key-word that interests you. Since I like writing, I generally type ‘writing.’ Sometimes I’ll type in a different hobby or interest. Pick something you can talk about.
- Start clicking on people’s profiles.
- Read their profiles to identify common interests. Read their conversations.
- Click on the people who talk with them. Are they talking because they share common interests? Are there patterns of behavior that indicate community?
Using the method above, I found a rather large community of people who knit. They were typically women between the ages of 22 and 46. They lived throughout the US and UK. Most of the group work outside the home. Many are married or engaged. Through Plurk, they interact constantly and talk about everything. The community is pretty large and I haven’t found evidence of spiritual conversations yet. They tolerate my presence because I write and several of them are writers. I’m praying that God will open the door for spiritual conversation.
As I explored this knitting community, I found another online community. This one was a 4H style club for women who farm. They paid dues and were organized into chapters throughout the US. They talked on plurk, but each chapter had its own blog. This community is completely closed to me because I’m not 1. a woman and 2. I don’t live on a farm. The only way I can reach this community is by finding a person of peace in a different community who is also a member of this one. That person will carry the Gospel where I can’t.
My hikes this week highlight the importance of prayer. There is no way for me to find Persons of Peace among the millions of people online if we aren’t praying for God to reveal them. We have to pray for God to move in these communities and bring Persons of Peace to the forefront.
Will you pray with me for the communities within the Online Generation?
