A couple of weeks ago, our niece (12) and nephew (10), who live about 400 miles away, called to ask us to sponsor them in a charity swim. After they finished their pitch, we kidded them a little and readily signed up, their mother got on the phone and apologized. I told her it actually felt as though we were in their life – if we lived closer, we’d think it perfectly natural for them to come to the house and ask us. But, like lots of aunts, uncles and grandparents, we don’t live close to any of our family, so we use whatever technology we can to connect and we create a form of community.
Recently a newly ordained priest friend announced on Facebook that he was preaching his first sermon this Sunday, named the scripture and asked for help. He received at least sixteen comments. Most looked pretty useful. A friend has just leased some ‘creative space’ in Santa Monica for a project that will last for five months. “What then?”, I asked. “I’m thinking of hanging on to it,” he said. “I’m going to put it out to my FB friends for suggestions about what to do with it.” Was asking for community help ever this easy?
OK, it’s not the kind of community you have when everyone lives in the same town and they come over for Sunday dinner every week. But it’s definitely community and it definitely handles the challenges of far-flung family and friends – the challenges that so many of us face. It’s not surprising that the 55+ crowd is flocking to Facebook to keep up with their kids and grandkids – although the 513% growth in this demographic reported earlier this month is pretty amazing.
Many churches fall into the trap of assuming their older members have a discomfort with computers, the internet, email and all digital media. It’s definitely true in some cases, but becoming less so.
Tip: The big difference with a lot of older parishioners is that they may not check their email, Facebook home page etc. as frequently (or obsessively) as younger people. Try to send email blasts on a regular schedule so it becomes a habit to check for them.