Something I have been thinking about recently is who my impact zone is. Who do I have the ability to influence and partly by my leadership (mostly by the Holy Spirit) bring toward a deeper relationship with Christ?
I think there are a couple key things to consider with this. They are, as my unexciting, all revealing, blog title suggest, QUANTITY VS. QUALITY.
For instance, my influence can be felt most quantitatively through the internet. I can 'rub shoulders' with in theory thousands or even millions who could potentially read this very blog, or engage with me on facebook, email, myspace, etc. So if quantity is my main drive, then I need to shamelessly self-promote this blog (and brainwash you to promote this blog as well. If our powers unite we could have an impact the size of Captain Planet.
However, can a virtual world feed one's soul the way God has orchestrated since the beginning? Can internet discipleship or blog influence really bring about the QUALITY of disciples that God wants and the Church desperately needs? I think that this type of influence comes more frequently through one on one discipleship/mentorship times or through small group interaction with a trusted group of spiritual sojourners or simply having coffee or lunch together and seeing how life is.
The tension between the two is dynamic. If I embrace Quantity and believe that maximum reach with minimum impact serves the purposes of the kingdom, then I choose to lock myself in my blogging dungeon and make a more technologically advanced blog with amazing graphic artistry.
If I choose quality, then I make myself intentionally accessible to people at all times. I spend time over breakfast, lunch and dinner investing in people and spurring them on to become more and more the people God intends them to be.
I think I will settle for somewhere near the fence, believing that this blogworld offers some level of love, community and influence, but never abandoning the world of face to face encounters, because that is often where community happens.
What do you think? Quality or Quantity?
1 comment:
I dont know, Ive rewritten this post five times already, and have had different thoughts each time. Its a good thing this is a discussion and not a term paper topic! Its like saying which church has more influence, Poe Rd UMC with 30 members Wadsworth UMC or the Chapel. IMHO, its about Quality. The hard part is how to get quality discussions & relationships started, where people share feelings and thoughts, and become transparent. That can happen over breakfast between two people, or within a small group, which also can happen as an AOL chat, or small group blog.
I think this blog, other blogs and forums on the net can help feed someones soul. I have been a part of a few forums on music recording and worship leading which have strayed sometimes into personal topics, prayers for people going through tough seasons in life, and some authentic community has been developed. That is good, but cant be our only source of "food", we also need personal interaction with smaller groups of people who can "sharpen us as iron sharpens iron".
Didnt Jesus have both quality (His disciples) and quantity (those who heard his message or saw how he lived) as part of his ministry? I think some balance (not perfect balance, but some swaying left and right) is a good place.
One other thought, and please take this the right way. Does the size of our "impact zone" matter to anyone but us? Does it matter to God? I think He makes that call for us, we need to understand where he is leading. Personally, Im at a place right now where I think (hope is a better word) that I have learned that with my music (though I think that may have made me lazy and complacent, which is completely another discussion). A concern for all of us is whether pride rears its head when we go after quantity.
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