Paper Tiger Coffee, chocolate rain, and church. The three are, or should be connected. We’ve developed this new verbiage in our internet centered world of something “going viral”. The goofy video of Tay Zonday awkwardly singing “Chocolate Rain” on youtube became one of the most watched videos of all time. There was no marketing campaign, there was no advertising, there was no plea to the world around to share his video. Instead, people shared, people linked, people talked and laughed and told their friends about chocolate rain. It spread. Viral. Paper Tiger is a coffee shop that I frequent. They’re not in my direct neighborhood so I have to drive there instead of walk. But they have good great coffee, they have a good feel, they are a hub of community. When I go there I get to know people. I’d prefer to be in a coffee shop in my neighborhood, I’d prefer a coffee shop with a different variety of pastries (sorry), but I find myself coming back because they know what they are, they’re comfortable with who they are, and I like how I connect with those things. Here’s the connection, I don’t just go to Paper Tiger, but I tell my friends about it! I actually talk about their coffee shop in my every day life. I tell people to go there, I tell people about their coffee, I meet people there, I carry the torch for Paper Tiger just like thousands carried the torch (so to speak) for Chocolate Rain.
Church. Churches spend a lot of time and money trying to sell themselves to the world. They send out mass mailers, they advertise on the radio, put up billboards, and they do events that give them name recognition among other things. In other words, they try to carry the torch themselves. Churches have a good enough message, a potentially good enough medium, and a good enough base to “go viral” in our communities.* What would happen if churches clarified what they were all about, what they were not about, and developed a sense of comfort with those things. What if we tried to cultivate a culture that empowered people to carry the torch? I think the word that the Bible uses is “evangelism”.
* “good enough” is kind of a poor term to choose with regard to the message and medium of Christianity. If it is only ”good enough” then I think we’ve got some problems!
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