Why All My Friends Going To Church Is A Bad Thing
February 11, 2012 
6 Comments
I am currently reading Malcolm Gladwell’s great book The Tipping Point. In Chapter Two, he discusses a group of people called Connectors.
Here is what we learn from and about these incredibly gifted people:
- “Proximity overpowered similarity.”
- “We’re friends with the people we do things with, as much as we are with the people we resemble.”
- “Connectors (are) people with a special gift for bringing the world together.”
- “Connectors know lots of people.”
- “Sprinkled among every walk of life…are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances.”
- “(Connectors) see value and pleasure in a casual meeting.”
- “Their importance is also a function of the kinds of people they know.”
- “Rod Steiger is the best connected actor in history because he has managed to move up and down and back and forth among all the different worlds and subcultures and niches and levels that the acting profession has to offer.”
- ”Their ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy.”
- “The point about Connectors is that by having a foot in so many different worlds, they have the effect of bringing them all together.”
- Connectors don’t have ”snobbery”.
- “The point is that Lois (a Connector) found him interesting, because, in some way, she finds everyone interesting.”
- “They don’t see the same world that the rest of us see. They see possibility, and while most of us are busily choosing whom we would like to know, and rejecting the people who don’t look right.”
After reading the section on Connectors, I realized my world is very homogeneous and does not span many environments. I am a Christian. I work for a Christian company that helps churches. I volunteer my time for Christian causes. And I may be missing out on more blessings than I can imagine.
I am not “connected” with enough people who are different than I am. I need more flavor in my life. I need to walk a mile in another man’s shoes.
The ability to move up and down and be connected in a variety of worlds is something I currently do not possess. But fortunately this book has brought that to light in my life.
Can you relate?
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I agree to an extent Brian. Don’t ever compromise your values or faith, but its OK to dip your toe into a different pool every once in a while…
Thank you Joe. You are such a blessing in my life. I hope you’re having a great weekend!
Big fan of Gladwell’s writing, especially Blink. Unless we are expanding our horizons as Christians to walk within the world, how can we be salt or light? Thanks for sharing this. I hope more will realize we are called to go into the world and share Christ, not huddle only with our fellow believers.
Kelly,
Thank you for your comments. Interestingly, you are the 2nd person to recommend Blink. I going to order it and can’t wait to read it.
Thanks again,
Brian
Not sure I totally understand your point. Are you expanding for the sake of spreading the gospel or merely for personal reasons? You don’t seem to give a strong “why” in your post. Gladwell isn’t even writing for a Christian perspective.
Matt, thanks for your comments. For the sake of the expansion of the gospel and fulfill my role in it, I must get out of my homogenized circles. And I agree with you, Gladwell is not writing from a Christian perspective. However, there are certainly Christian applications. All truth comes from God. Sometimes you find it just stumbling around in the dark.
Once again, thanks for commenting and I hope to hear from you again in the future.
Brian