01/08/22: welcome to all my new Facebook friends!

Since my last Facebook post I’ve arrived back in the UK, sorry to leave Uganda but also pleased to be back. Really helpful to have a bit of a gap before starting to work again, corresponding to only a 2 week gap 2 years ago when going to Uganda.

But the thing uppermost in my mind at the moment is Facebook. Partly because I only started using the Internet in adult life, I’ve been very clear that I only post things which I am happy for absolutely anybody to see, I don’t trust any anonymity of any form. And indeed, have had reason when working as a teacher trainer to speak with students who had posted things embarrassing to them, the University and / or their placement school.

The flip side of this is that, for as long as I’ve been using Facebook, I have been very happy to welcome anybody – well, almost anybody – as a Facebook friend. Why not? Everything on my profile I’m happy to be in the public domain, if you want to be my Friend, that’s fine by me.

And this approach has worked well for me for quite some years, until the middle of last week. When suddenly, for no particular reason of which I am aware, the number of people sending me Friend requests has exploded. Watching them come in has been a great geography lesson – East Africa, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi to name but a few. So, to all my new Facebook friends, a very warm welcome!

This explosion has come at a point when I have some time on my minds, which is just as well, Facebook right now could be a full time occupation. Also, I’m actively thinking about how to support ministries across the world which tend to go below the radar of large aid organisations, so I have an opportunity to make contact with many people across the world doing an absolutely amazing job in Christian ministry, particularly with children, often in extremely difficult circumstances.

You’ll appreciate that I am faced with a number of challenges right now. Some are technical. The limit of the number of Facebook friends is 5 000, so I can continue welcoming more people for a while yet. I have also discovered that the limit for the queue of people requesting to be friends is 1 000, after which people are deleted from the bottom of the list. So apologies to anybody whose request has got lost for that reason! Also, I have discovered that if I accept too many too quickly, I get an error message and have to stop for some hours. Although I am checking profiles before saying yes, I’m particularly looking for Christians and / or people working with children, as the numbers are increasing so I’m applying these criteria more rigorously. I have learnt to send messages with the sound on my computer switched off, otherwise, every time a message arrives, there is a pinging sound. Somewhat disconcerting to be getting 3 messages arriving in the time it takes me to answer 1, so better not to know in the short term!

I’m extremely aware that, when I start working again in September, I am not going to be able to spend anything like the amount of time on Facebook that I am at the moment. Haven’t sorted this out yet, it may be that, with considerable regret, I’ll be using Facebook largely as one sided communication, any advice on this point gratefully received!

Three things I would like to say to my new Facebook friends, having been doing this for a few days and having scanned many of your pages. Firstly, please be patient with me, if you send me a message it may take me a few days to get to you. Allied to this, if there’s something you wish to discuss, the more you say upfront the better, greetings are lovely but having exchanged greetings your next message goes to the bottom of the queue for an answer. Please note also that I am only happy to communicate in writing for this purpose, I will not answer any phone or video calls.

Secondly – think carefully about what you put on your Facebook page, assuming that everybody can see what you’ve posted, and that any reposting is of material you are happy to stand by in your own name. It has been disconcerting to see a large number of highly questionable posts on the pages of people with a clearly expressed Christian faith headed things like, “Only view if you’re over 18” or “How can this possibly be allowed?” With great love in my heart I say – if you wish to wage a campaign against pornography, this really isn’t the way to do it!

And thirdly, I’m currently thinking and praying about how to support ministries across the world which go below the radar of large aid organisations, but am a long, long way from implementation. In the meantime, I am already fully committed to a number of giving projects and really not in a position to take on any more. Really, really sorry, understand the need, but I am having to say no to everybody right now.

So, not sure where this is heading but really enjoying reading the messages, seeing photographs and videos of work going on across the world, and praying for some of the needs that come up. I take comfort from Malachi 3:16a: “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.” I love this idea that God listens to the conversations of His servants as they discussed how to honour His holy name and, in effect, treats those discussions as a prayer. Similarly, I ask that our Almighty God accepts my responses to my new Facebook friends as a prayer for them. Realistically, I can’t spend very long on any one message, and like to that that short amount of time is, in effect, a prayer for the work going on.