There is a case of a sister who works in a clothing company. By asking people to follow and provide thumbs-up on its activity pages, the company which often holds activities can achieve the effect of “popularity explosion”. Therefore, employees are required to ask their relatives and friends to view the pages and follow, to create a scene of a “grand event”.
This sister immediately thought of her church circle of friends and posted information about the mall’s activities to the WeChat group, asking our congregation to help. As a result, within a day, the number of followers of the company’s activities (not only the followers of the church, but also the circle of friends of other employees) shot up, and the unsuspecting netizens followed suit, thus improving the company’s performance for the month.
This made this sister receive praise and a generous bonus, which she was very satisfied with. So every now and then, she would share all kinds of activities in the church's WeChat group and ask believers to follow and give thumbs-up. In addition to the company’s activities, there are also her boss's family affairs. For example, when her boss’s daughter participated in the activity of “most beautiful baby”, she (our aforementioned sister in Christ) also asked our sisters and brothers to help forward it. And a relative of the boss, in order to support a star, also asked this sister to help, because they found out that this sister has a lot of connections and can do a lot of things.
The practice of this sister naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction among members of the group, who thought that the main function of the group is Bible reading, communication, and intercession, rather than a place for some people to sell their products. This is to use the church relationship for their own benefit or the benefit of the company. But this sister did not listen to anyone’s persuasion, and eventually fell out with many members. Eventually, she had to leave the WeChat group, and no longer goes to the church meeting.
This sister’s approach is indeed way too much. If in the beginning she occasionally asked Christians to help her out with work needs, the help would have been given out of love, and she would have kept her job. But then she went even further by posting more information to the group, thereby worsening the relationship between her and her brethren. It also reminds us not to use church groups as a place for sales.
According to the Bible, Jesus became very angry when he saw the Jews doing business in the temple and defrauding devout people of their money. He drove the people out and cleaned the temple. This is a reminder to us that we must make a distinction between God’s things and Mammon’s things. We should not confuse these two. It is better not to do sales work in the church.
Of course, some believers are forced to forward commercial messages for reasons of livelihood. Faced with this situation, we can help them as appropriate, because this is a way to show love. It is also appropriate to help brothers and sisters since the economy has not yet fully recovered from the pandemic. However, you have to make it clear to the body that you are forwarding to; if you do not really need it that urgently, you should not send it out. And for the forwarding person, he or she also cannot use this to show off, to avoid making people feel like they are being used; constantly asking people to forward more information gives them the impression that they are caught in a dilemma.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
有位姐妹在一家服装公司上班，这家公司经常举行活动，主要是通过关注、点赞其活动页面，以达到“人气爆棚”的效果。因而要求员工，多拉亲朋好友关注，制造“网红活动”的场景。
这位姐妹立刻想到了教会的好友圈，她把商场活动的信息发到群里，让主内的弟兄姐妹帮助助力。结果在一天时间里，公司活动的粉丝量（不只是这个教会肢体的关注，也有其他员工的朋友圈）迅速上升，不明就里的网友也随之跟风，公司当月的业绩也因此得到了提高。
这种做法让这位姐妹得到表扬，又获得了丰厚的奖金，这让她非常满意。于是隔三差五都把各种活动信息发到主内群，让弟兄姐妹关注、点赞。其中除了公司的活动，也有老板的家事。比如老板的女儿参加“最美宝宝”活动，也让姐妹帮助转发。而老板的一位亲戚为了给某明星助力，同样请这位姐妹帮忙。因为他们发现，姐妹人脉很广，可以做很多事。
姐妹的做法自然引起了群里肢体的强烈不满，他们认为这个群主要功能是读经、交通、代祷，而不是某些人推销产品的场所。这种做法是在利用弟兄姐妹的关系，来为自己或者某公司谋利。可姐妹不听大家的劝导，最终与不少肢体闹翻，最终只好离开了微信群，也不再到这个教堂聚会了。
这位姐妹的做法确实过了，如果一开始为了工作需要，偶尔请弟兄姐妹帮助，大家出于对肢体的爱关注点赞，让姐妹得以保住工作是无可厚非的。可是姐妹之后却变本加厉，把更多的信息发到群里，从而恶化了弟兄姐妹之间的关系。这件事也提醒我们，千万不要把教会群当成了推销、拉票的场所。
《圣经》中记载，耶稣看到犹太人在圣殿里做生意，骗取虔诚信徒的钱，于是非常愤怒，将这些人赶了出去，洁净圣殿。这件事是对我们的提醒，务必分清神的物与玛门的物，两者不能混淆，最好不要在教会里做推销的事。
当然有的肢体出于生计的原因，被迫转发各种商业信息。面对这种情况，弟兄姐妹可以酌情帮助下他们，因为这是爱人的一种方式，在受疫情影响、经济尚未完全复苏的环境下，帮助主内肢体也是合宜的。只是要把握好界限，不能让这种风气蔓延。因此必须跟转发的肢体讲清楚，如果不是特别需要，不能把东西发出来。而对于转发者来说，也不可借此炫耀，以免导致被人利用，让转发更多的信息，从而使自己陷入两难境地。
基督徒当注意：不可利用主内微信群拉票点赞
There is a case of a sister who works in a clothing company. By asking people to follow and provide thumbs-up on its activity pages, the company which often holds activities can achieve the effect of “popularity explosion”. Therefore, employees are required to ask their relatives and friends to view the pages and follow, to create a scene of a “grand event”.
This sister immediately thought of her church circle of friends and posted information about the mall’s activities to the WeChat group, asking our congregation to help. As a result, within a day, the number of followers of the company’s activities (not only the followers of the church, but also the circle of friends of other employees) shot up, and the unsuspecting netizens followed suit, thus improving the company’s performance for the month.
This made this sister receive praise and a generous bonus, which she was very satisfied with. So every now and then, she would share all kinds of activities in the church's WeChat group and ask believers to follow and give thumbs-up. In addition to the company’s activities, there are also her boss's family affairs. For example, when her boss’s daughter participated in the activity of “most beautiful baby”, she (our aforementioned sister in Christ) also asked our sisters and brothers to help forward it. And a relative of the boss, in order to support a star, also asked this sister to help, because they found out that this sister has a lot of connections and can do a lot of things.
The practice of this sister naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction among members of the group, who thought that the main function of the group is Bible reading, communication, and intercession, rather than a place for some people to sell their products. This is to use the church relationship for their own benefit or the benefit of the company. But this sister did not listen to anyone’s persuasion, and eventually fell out with many members. Eventually, she had to leave the WeChat group, and no longer goes to the church meeting.
This sister’s approach is indeed way too much. If in the beginning she occasionally asked Christians to help her out with work needs, the help would have been given out of love, and she would have kept her job. But then she went even further by posting more information to the group, thereby worsening the relationship between her and her brethren. It also reminds us not to use church groups as a place for sales.
According to the Bible, Jesus became very angry when he saw the Jews doing business in the temple and defrauding devout people of their money. He drove the people out and cleaned the temple. This is a reminder to us that we must make a distinction between God’s things and Mammon’s things. We should not confuse these two. It is better not to do sales work in the church.
Of course, some believers are forced to forward commercial messages for reasons of livelihood. Faced with this situation, we can help them as appropriate, because this is a way to show love. It is also appropriate to help brothers and sisters since the economy has not yet fully recovered from the pandemic. However, you have to make it clear to the body that you are forwarding to; if you do not really need it that urgently, you should not send it out. And for the forwarding person, he or she also cannot use this to show off, to avoid making people feel like they are being used; constantly asking people to forward more information gives them the impression that they are caught in a dilemma.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Christians Should Not Use WeChat Groups for Votes or Thumbs-up
