Facebook Generation

I a starting a new series this weekend called "The Gospel According to Facebook." I'm so excited to teach on this. I am going to use the phenomenon of facebook as a metaphor for the Christian life. As I have been thinking about facebook and why it is so popular it seems to me that its popularity is driven by the way that it touches so many of the desires and cravings that we hold in common as human beings. For examples; connection with other people, causes to believe in, groups to join, etc...

Anyway, as I was studying, I ran across an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about the "facebook geneeration" and the way that they are changing the way that business is conducted. Here are the 12 main things that they see:

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

It seems to me that the church might do well to take notice of some of these realizations that the business world is coming to. I think that there are a lot of them that are applicable to the way that churches operate. Thought?