The popular game known as “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” goes like this: Try to link any actor or actress to the actor Kevin Bacon in six steps or less based on the movies they have in common. An example might be, Leonardo DiCaprio was in Gangs of New York with Cameron Diaz, who was in Knight and Day with Tom Cruise, who was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon. In this scenario, Leonardo DiCaprio would have a “Bacon Number” (number of steps it takes to get to Kevin Bacon) of 3.

In 1996, Brett Tjaden, a computer scientist at the University of Virginia developed an algorithm to determine the accuracy of the “six degrees” theory. His team’s finding were astounding. Based on databases containing the names of nearly 1.5 million actors and 1.2 million movies and tv shows, Tjaden determined that the average “Bacon Number” was only 2.8. This means any actors or actresses who have ever played any television or movies roles can be linked back to Kevin Bacon in an average of  3 steps or less – thus declaring the game should be renamed, “Three Degrees of Kevin Bacon”!

In the 1960′s, noted social scientist Stanley Milgram was a pioneer of social connectivity research. In his “Small World Experiment” he sought to discover the range of separation between any two individuals in the world. Milgram gave 160 randomly selected individuals in Omaha, Nebraska packages with instructions to send them to one specific person in Boston, Massachusetts. The mitigating factor, however, was that participants were not allowed to mail their package directly to the individual in Boston. They were told to send the package to someone they knew near Boston, or who at least knew someone near Boston, who could then mail it to someone else, who could mail it someone else, who would eventually know the person in Boston and ensure its proper delivery. In the end, this individual in Boston should receive 160 separate packages that all originated from Omaha.

This scenario measured the average number of steps the package would go through before it reached its intended destination in Boston. Again, the findings were astounding. On average it took 5-6 steps. This meant that of the 160 randomly selected individuals in Omaha, less than 6 relational steps separated them from one single stranger in Boston. This is where the phrase “Six Degrees of Separation” originated.

What these studies reveal is the social connectedness of people and the shockingly small degrees of separation between one individual and another. They expose the power social connectivity has to transmit an idea, concept or product with a far reach and broad social scope.

Jesus was a masterful catalyzer of social epidemics. He capitalized on the connectedness of people in calling His initial twelve disciples to follow Him, learn from Him and ultimately be ambassadors for the message He was declaring. After laying the framework for the ministry of the Kingdom of God, Jesus “…called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority…” to cast out evil spirits, heal diseases, raise the dead and proclaim the message of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 10). The work of the ministry that was once exclusively limited to Jesus was strategically transmitted into a small network of rag-tag guys. Jesus has exponentially increased the reach and scope of His movement by this simple act, and charged them with the task of doing the same. They had no idea how far this new movement would travel and to what degree it would be transmitted, but an epidemic of the Gospel began. To this day, everyone who has ever heard the Gospel has a social degree of separation from one source – Jesus. The mission began with Him.

The mission continues with us.

Jesus commissioned His disciples with statements like, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21), and “Go… and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). The mission of the Gospel is continually reproduced through the followers of Jesus. Every one believer represents a powerful social network through which the Gospel can be virally transmitted, and with each additional new believer comes their social degree of connectivity within a different context. Just like a virus spreads through closely interconnected networks of people in alarmingly short amounts of time, so too an epidemic of the Gospel is potentially catalyzed when one individual believer begins to live out the mission of the Gospel, in their context, as Jesus has called them to.

Given the data of social degrees of connectedness and the strategy of Jesus to multiply disciples and maximize the reach and scope of His movement, a simple Gospel conversation or tangible Gospel demonstration has a potential ripple effect far greater than we could ever imagine.

Who in your social context needs to hear the Gospel, so they can take it back to the individuals of their social network, who can then each take it to their individual networks, and so on?

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Tags: acts 29 church, acts 29 network, churches in the woodlands, gospel, gospel centered church, milgram's small world experiment, missional, six degrees of kevin bacon, woodlands point community church

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 at 7:32 am and is filed under Pastor's Blog.