Google is Searching for Jesus
Google is up to its old tricks again. This time its Google Insights for Search, a nifty tool that reveals who is searching for what, where. I typed in “Jesus” and here are the results:
(click to expand the image if its too small)
El Salvador nabs the number 1 spot for Jesus, making them the nation God will bless…Ahem. This kinda gives you a shift in thinking to know that the United States didn’t even make the top ten list in regional interest! FYI, when I searched for “Jesus Christ” the top country was Eritrea in East Africa. America is not the hub of the Christian faith, the global south is.
Just for fun, I searched by city, and Chicago came up as #10 worldwide - way to go you spiritual seekers (or searchers) you! In a city where there is the lowest proportions of evangelical Christians of any US city and a church attendance of just 11% county-wide, (the city is only 8%), there is a lot of interest in the man Jesus! What might these people be like? How can we befriend them, and in a natural way, present to them this Jesus in their own context and language?
It was also interesting to see WHEN people search for Jesus - as predicted, its always around December and April. Why then do some churches down play the Christian calendar, when it is obviously the time when most people are “searching for Christ?”
Just thinking…
Last 5 posts by Mark
- God is Wholly - October 2nd, 2008
- The Great Moderation - September 30th, 2008
August 7th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
This is great, Mark. I’ve been tinkering around on this site all morning. One thought on your “Jesus” search analysis…
Could the fact that 9 out of 10 of the top “Jesus” search countries are Spanish-speaking suggest that folks are searching for the common Spanish name “Jesús,” not our Lord and Savior? In the States, it’d be like searching for the name “Mark” or “Jim.” Just a thought…
=)
August 7th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
steve, that’s a good point. i just searched cities for “jesus christ” and salt lake city was top of the list (mostly US cities). when i searched for “jesus the christ” i got mostly african cities. interesting stuff…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
what about “jesus christo” or “jesu christo”?
interesting stuff. i like that you guys are thinking about ways the results might be skewed.
peace
August 8th, 2008 at 7:29 am
interestingly, when i search for “emerging church” one of the highest results in the US is the state of illinois, when i search for “organic church” the heavy hitters are NY and CA. Innnnteresting. So maybe another question in all of this is - how much should a church planter/discipler, interested in incarnational ministry, take this stuff into account when inviting people into community?
BTW - my instinct is that the church God is planting (which we are a part of) here in Chicago is both emerging and organic, and neither of these terms.
August 8th, 2008 at 7:33 am
my instinct is that the church God is planting (which we are a part of) here in Chicago is both emerging and organic, and neither of these terms.
you’re so postmodern…
August 8th, 2008 at 7:39 am
better than post-MORTEM! wait…maybe those terms aren’t so different after all…