Dear friends

How strange. Why on earth would one want to strengthen the majority? Doesn’t the majority have the power and shouldn’t it be much better shared with the minority?

That is what you would generally think. But you have probably also experienced that physical encounters have become rarer in today’s world and many now take place via social media. But they have a different dynamic.

With this, another change has taken place. It is not so much about the good argument, but about appearance and belonging to the right group. It is about collecting “likes” and not about interaction.

In the social media, which strongly influence public discourse, the loud and vocal minorities call the shots. The silent majority is not only silent because they have nothing to say, but they also have a lot to lose when a social media storm hits them. The members of this group fear for their reputation, while the loud minority can live well with a damaged reputation.

But how can we give the silent majority back their voice? That is a question we must constantly wrestle with.

One of EEA’s contribution in this endeavour is to listen to you, assess your needs and observing how you respond in your situation. Then we process and repackage this information and try to pass it on to all of you in a helpful format. A format which helps you and your constituency to enter the public arena well equipped with inputs which further hope and strengthen Christlike encounters.

This is how the content of this socio-political newsletter has come about. We hope and pray that it will strengthen and encourage the people who are connected to you. We pray that it will give them the tools and courage to stand up and speak out as ambassadors of Christ, but even more, that it will connect them with others to constructively wrestle together for answers.

Thomas Bucher

General Secretary EEA

PS In writing this editorial I have been inspired by the YouTube clip Bridge Builders and by Tim Keller’s Article Social Media, Identity, and the Church, as he reviews Chris Bail’s book, Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms

PPS Don’t forget to look for resources on EEA’s website and tell others about them. New this month is an election time resource pack to help Christians think, pray and vote wisely.

Find the articles of the newsletter here: