Facebook | Google+ | Church | Millennials

India found independence from Britain on 15 August, 1947. Muslim parties had fought for a separate country all along and so the country was also divided to form the separate nation of Pakistan. When the dividing line was announced, the greatest exodus in human history took place as Muslims moved to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs relocated to India. Over 10 million people relocated during this time.

We are looking in the face of another massive relocation of people. This time they are all headed in one direction and the count is much higher than 10 million people. I am talking about the forming battle between Facebook and Google+. I am not going to go all "geeky" on you about this subject. There are a few parallels between the two and the church's relationship with Millennials. 

People will be drawn from Facebook because people are looking for "smaller, more intimate relationships." I know this seems weird in choosing a social network. Seeing our first attraction to social networking was based on how many people were into it. Facebook has many features that allow smaller groups of people to have closed, secured conversations. The vast majority of people do not use these features in Facebook. They treat Facebook like a large party where everyone has a megaphone.

Google+ has realized that people are tired of the party and we are looking for places to have conversations with smaller groups of people. (If you notice I did say "we" because I am part of this group). "The Circle" concept in Google+ seems to make more sense to most of us. Many teens are admitting fewer and fewer friends to their Facebook accounts, as they have decided they don’t want their lives on full display to a large number of people. Google+ helps solve this issue. It encourages you to admit people and put them in a group.

We all thought it was cool that Facebook brought our groups together. Your church friends, school friends, child hood friends, and etc... were all put into one big room at our party. Our friends began to realize they were connected to each other in many ways and by many different people. Okay, now that we (Millennials) know how we are all connected we are ready to put everyone back in their little "circles" and limit their interaction.

Research shows that Millennials are starting to make a move from large groups (mega churches) to smaller circles (smaller churches). Why? For the same reason you will find Google+ will be accepted by the young generation.

Smaller churches should be aware of this and let the younger generation clearly see the strength they have in helping people be in smaller groups have conversations about their faith. Larger churches have the challenge now of taking their large groups and letting people know they can feel free to meet in smaller groups. This is the same challenge Facebook will have.