Of Malls and Evangelization

There's a Mega Mall in Sharjah, UAE! This is of course, not a branch of Shoe Mart (SM) from the Philippines -- which too has its own Mega Mall.  Every time Filipinos in the vicinity point at the establishment, it reminds them of home.

Speaking of malls, Dubai had recently announced to build the "Mall of the World"; aimed to be the biggest mall---you guessed it---in the world! I surmise that if any country wants to build the next big thing it will then be the 'Mall of the Universe'.

 Malls accommodate interested businesses who are willing to rent space to sell merchandise or render services to the droves of people that it attracts.  More people come if the malls have something interesting to offer -- like a free concert or a big sale, creating "buzz".

Dubai's Mall of the World. Photo from businessinsider.com

Connecting this to the work of evangelization: are we still aiming for a "mega" evangelization and relentlessly pursuing a "world" evangelization? Are we innovating---using new expressions, new methods, and new ardor---to "attract" people to our evangelization programs or activities? Are they "interesting" enough? Are we witnessing enough? Does our evangelization approach create "buzz"?

We learn to evangelize by the example of Jesus' first disciples who could not stop talking about the Resurrection: "It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20) What is this fact---that they have seen and heard--- that emboldened the first Christian community? Benedict XVI gives us a powerful perspective in his book, The God of Jesus Christ: "The Resurrection teaches us something that now possesses eternal validity: he (Jesus Christ) is man. He remains man forever ... This is the hope of man, the Christian joy, the Good News: even to this day, he is man." Further, Benedict XVI stresses: "God loves us in such a way that his Word became flesh and remains flesh. This joy ought to be the strongest impulse and the strongest force in us, leading us to communicate it to others...".  Through the Resurrection---the Good News---we can now enter Heaven and partake in the life of love exchange of the Holy Trinity!

We can formulate many "evangelization strategies", but if we miss the point of the Resurrection -- and how it is truly Good News, then the initial hype will die down.  The exciting message of the Resurrection---that He is risen---should be felt in our speech and in our deeds.  The effective "evangelization package" so to speak, then naturally flows and realized.

We continue to depend and surrender to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit to lead us to share about the resurrection in a "new evangelizing way" that attracts droves of people to the Lord.  Then, can we genuinely have "mega" and "world" evangelization happening; through the confidence of our obedience to Christ's great commission: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit ...  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Matthew 28: 19-20)

Mobile Evangelization

The mobile lifestlye is changing the world and our behavior. Now, you don't really have to sit down and open your laptop to get online or to submit your report. It will just be a matter of preference. Once you get used to type comfortably on the touch screen or qwerty keypads, then you are an "office to go." You can post your facebook and twitter status via mobile phone, even post blogs and send/receive emails through your phone.

This mobile concept truly is changing things. I noticed three highlight elements to it:
1. Handy
2. Free
3. Internet ready

Handy, since it fits in a pocket and can do all our communication needs.  The idea of being able to reach in your pocket and get things done is very empowering.

Free. I'm referring to the reverting migration from text messaging which costs a peso, to the free chats and emails. As soon as people are on board in the free messaging platforms like BBM, Vibr, gchat, skype, and the like, things will be practically free. This spells a lot.

Being Internet ready.  Knowledge in our hands and the capability to connect and share your thoughts and needs...as it happens, real time.  The reality and relevance of being internet ready, is changing much of our behavior. We want fresh news, from the horse's mouth. Thus, the twitter phenom.

What does this mean for Christians?  I can think of three

1. Pocket Gospel
2. Low cost mission
3. Real-time evangelization

Pocket Gospel. This means you can be spreading God's message for you, by reaching in your pocket and sharing it. Yes, it's convenient and fast. But the challenge is how many people can you think of and reach?  Books can also be uploaded in the phone, so we can have a mobile bible or a daily gospel alert.

Low-cost mission. As I said, the free communication platform is set. We need only explore and connect.  We can promote as much material, as graphically creative as we can get and as video savvy as possible...for free. You will be surprised how much evangelization work you can accomplish without spending a cent.

Real-time evangelization. I have experienced how some twits and fb statuses inspired me.  Here's one that I just saw in my friend's fb status. "When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart." Lamar Boschman. In real time he was able to share what inspired him that might inspire others to be closer to God, and that is evangelization.

The world is fast changing. And sometimes we think that we have already reached the advanced phase of technology. But we "ain't seen nothin' yet."  The Internet is only 43 years old (reference).  There is still much to see. Every year we get blown away by companies like Apple, revolutionizing technology and our lifestlye. We have to get into the pace, and be quick to adapt in a constantly changing world.  Amidst all the technological advances and social changes, one thing remains constant, we are to "Go...and make disciples of all nations...(Matthew 28:19)."  The world has become smaller because of our interconnectivity. It's a grand time to evangelize.

Why People Like Jeremy Lin

Everybody (well, the men) is talking about this NBA phenom from Harvard, Jeremy Lin.  This guy comes out of the bench of the New York Knicks and suddenly does wonders for the team. In one of his games, he scored 38 points against the Lakers bagging them the win. Not only that, he is excellent in giving assists, making his other team mates even better.  What I like about him is that he is a religious person. In one interview, He openly expressed his faith and said, "...this whole journey is a blessing from God."

Most people today will attribute their success solely on their hardwork, intelligence, and talent.  In this modern age, God is being put out of the picture.  In 2010, the Pope formed the Pontifical Council on New Evangelization because of the problem of secularization in the first world.  He mentions, "The process of secularization has produced a serious crisis of the sense of the Christian faith and role of the Church", and the new pontifical council would "promote a renewed evangelization" in countries where the Church has long existed "but which are living a progressive secularization of society and a sort of 'eclipse of the sense of God'."


It's good to know that famous people like Jeremy Lin, is bringing God back into the picture.  Truly, a new evangelization is needed.  Let us then take every opportunity to proclaim the greatness of the Lord (Luke 1:46) by being Christ's witnesses in this fast-paced and success-driven modern society.

Mending The Net

We had an inspiring discussion on evangelization and one of our leaders shared his reflection. It goes...

If we are fishers of men, then there are three things that we ought to do:
We Cast the net. We throw our net into the "sea" and invite people to know God.
We Pull the Net.  When people respond to the invitation, we pull them into the community and engage them in a deeper formation and the practice of Christian lifestyle.
We Mend the Net. Mending our nets mean that along the way we have to adjust and see that relationships are restored, our systems improved, and our evaluations get carried.  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break (Luke 5:6). This is what we often forget. If we don't mend the net, the "fish" will get away.  This is when a fall out of membership happens.  We reflect on our batchmates who joined community with us, and we realize that there are only a number of us who continued.  As aggressive we are to cast our nets, so must we mend it.

Image from http://www.philcusumanoart.com/mending.html

One with Christ in a "Multi" World

The new generation has the orientation of being multi-functional, multi-optional, and multi-informational.

We now live in a digitized world with a multi-functional mindset.  With the arrival of the "apps" technology, almost anything is imaginable with our gadgets. We have not yet seen the full potential of these devices. 20 years ago, the only gadget that people carried is the watch, which tells two things (dual function), the time and date.  Now with our cellphones and tablets, you will be overwhelmed with what it can offer.  You can even strum a guitar chord with it or find your way through a GPS mapping system.  We are not anymore content, and we want more things to discover, to download, to play with, to use at work and more.  We become function addicts.

On being multi-optional, we see that the world now offers so many things. We are overwhelmed with the choices that we have to make in a day.  Even just buying coffee seems complicated. Just go to a grocery store and see the variety of soap or shampoo that you have to choose from.  Even buying medicine, we have to take time in choosing.  With cable TV, we endlessly surf channels and sometimes we don't really get to finish one program. There are just so many options.  This can be good in a sense that we can pick the best quality from among a bunch or it can be bad since it delays us in decision making or even worse, leads us not to decide at all because of being confused which is the better one.

With Google and all the other search engines online, we are now in a multi-informational world.  Just type your question in the search box and Viola! You now have the answer.  Do you need to know something about your classmates in high school? Just go to facebook and see how many kids they have and their last vacation pics and etc. Try opening your email and you'll receive lots of "info emails" about products and other junk.  The challenge is to manage information and not anymore to seek it.

So, how do we become evangelistic in a "Multi" world?  How can we introduce Christ, with all the other options and information that are being bombarded upon us daily?  Three truths come to mind:

1. Christ saves. There is only one Savior in the entire universe.  With our multi-functional orientation, only Christ has the function to save our souls.  This is what stands out and puts the other life "apps" to shame.

2. Christ is the best choice.  We have to disabuse our minds from the worldly things that distract us from choosing Christ.  Yes, career, family, friends are important, but Christ is the first choice we should make.  In a multi-optional environment, we have to be single-minded for the Lord.

2. Chirst is the Answer. In a multi-informational era, with all the questions in man's mind, only Christ brings the truth, the answer to everything.  "I am the way the truth and the life... (John 14:6)"

These truths puts our "multi" world into order and in priority. We need just to show others that Christ stands out and He is not to here to sell us something but to offer us eternal life with Him in heaven.  The song, "One Way" by Hillsong strikes a great relevance to our confusing environment. "One way, Jesus, You're the only one that I could live for."

Fishers of Men in the Internet Age

So I was with my wife doing groceries. We came upon the frozen section and saw fish for sale. Some alive, some frozen, some chopped, some processed. I was reflecting on being fishers of men.

Before, in the time of Jesus on earth, fishermen simply had boats and nets to catch fish. When I visited a wharf in San Diego, they have a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) attached to some fish so they can easily find where the rest of the school of fish are located.
2,000 years ago the disciples just traveled by foot or by animal and they preached without a sound system. Today, we have air travel, telecommunications, internet, media and etc. We might say that it is easier to "fish" these days. But then again along with progress and technological advances, is also the challenge of an even more rapid spread of evil. Temptations are just a click away and so are nuclear wars.
So how do we become fishers of men in today's rapidly changing world? Here are some ideas:
1. Upgrade: Ride the tide of change with Christ
There are now millions of people in facebook alone. If we were to fish, we cast our nets there. What are we innovating in our evangelization approach so we can reach the millions on-line? When Jesse James was asked why he robbed banks, he said, "That's where the money is." Well, definitely the internet is where the people are. If you think of it, the globe is reduced to the size of your screen when you go online. Let's upgrade and be students once more. It is after all an indicator of humility when one is open to learn new things.
2. Witness: Be Firm with your Christ-centered principles.
It is easy to compromise, specially when 'everyone else is doing it.' The secularized mind set can even justify corruption as, "I'm doing it for my family." When faced with peer pressure, we can be tempted to say, "We now live in a modern age." When we compromise our values and principles, we actually lose "fish." When we fail to be a true witnesses of God in school or in the workplace, we turn them off and they get away. The availability of worldly temptations today is stagerring. We have to learn to tighten God's belt of truth around our waste and stand firm in our faith. The "fish" will come if we have integrity and love in us.
3. Commune: Don't lose your touch.
I read in a news column the other day that "We are the most connected and most disconnected generation." While it's faster, easier, and free to communicate on-line or mobile, we also bypass a lot of personal connectivity. We might be digitally messaging our friends often, but it will also mean a lot to hand-write a personal note to them specially in important occasions. While it is convenient to text how people are, nothing will still replace paying them a visit. Let us still be a real community amidst a virtual orientation of the new generation. Being fishers of men, the personal touch still holds great value and power. Don't lose it.
As fishers of men, we pray, "Lord give me strength to bring someone to you today." They say, when men don't fish, they fight. Let us get busy catching men and women for the Lord, specially in this technologically advanced era.

Cyberspace: The New Mission Area

"There are 8 million Filipinos using facebook." This was what I heard yesterday in Fr. Jayboy Gonzales' workshop on Social Media. It's amazing how the internet has become part of our lives already. Just one click and the whole world knows. I wonder how it was during the time of Christ, 2,000 years ago. No TV, no radio, no facebook, only pure word of mouth and scroll writing. Yet, His disciples were very passionate in spreading His word, to the point of Christianizing Rome. I think with that kind of drive and with today's technology, more and more people will come to know Christ. I also heard in the workshop that the Pope said that "the new mission area of the Church is cyberspace." To reach out to people for them to know Christ through the internet, I believe we need to possess these qualities:

Humility
It takes a lot of dying to ourselves when we write about God. He is to be glorified. With this comes the humility to write about Him through our lives. The temptation of 'false humility' will set in once we try to testify. Thoughts like, "I'm not good enough to write" or "I have nothing much to say." This might lead us to be suppressed in sharing the goodness of God in our lives.

Boldness
We cannot be selfish of God's message for us. Good news is to be spread, not only to be kept in our journals and stacked in our cabinets. We need to be bold and share so more people may know Christ.

Diligence
This is the hard part. To be consistent. It is really a challenge to regularly write online. Apart from writing, we have a lot to do in our day's work. But I believe diligence has its benefits. By writing consistently we become more attuned to God because we are brought into a situation to seek Him. We come to ask "Lord, what shall I write today?" Diligence leads us to surrender before God and let Him take over our writing.

Millions of people are out there floating in cyberspace, needing to hear about God. Let us reach out and share our lives to glorify Him. And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Mark 16:15"