Interactive & Online

Sometimes I wonder if the energy I spend trying to connect to people online is a good use of my time. I design and update our website. I am on Facebook (including a Bikers’ Church group). I do this blog. I have the daily email devotional. And yet, we have heard from many who tell me how much the online stuff has helped them in their own journey.

It encourages me when I read an article like this one from Digital & Leadership Network.

Is Your Church Leadership Interactive?

One of the most predominant characteristics of the New Media is it’s interactivity.  Regardless of what specific application you’re using, web-based media, in general, provide more user-to-user interactivity than any other form of mediated communication in history.  Additionally, interactivity between user and information is what marks the shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.  The “one-to-many” model of traditional mass communication is being replaced with a “many-to-many” web of interactive communication. 

Since the New Media alters traditional models of mass communication, we must radically review the ways we interact and communicate with others.  The Church, as a primary vehicle for communicating theGood News, stands to amplify it’s voice by using the interactive attributes found in the new media.

The image below represents a New Media mindset rather than a string of specific apps.  Whether youblog or podcast, whether you facebook or MySpace, whether you Twitter or Jaiku, the significance of your web presence (whether individual or corporate) is greatly diminished if you are not providing ways for your users to easily hear and access you.

Let’s remember, the congregation is not just listening.  They’re also talking.

Image attribution: Wayne Sutton

– Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary

 

Stuff Christians Like

The more I get into this blogging stuff, the more cool sites I find. I really like this one: Stuff Christians Like.

Here’s a great post from today:

#138. Saying “I grew up in the church.” Whenever people asked me if I were a Christian, I would say, “Yeah, my dad is a pastor.” That’s not really an answer to that question and neither is “I grew up in the church.” That’s a funny phrase, but it’s the most popular thing I hear in testimonies. I used to say it a lot too until I realized it wasn’t true. If I grew up in submarine for instance I would probably have really intimate knowledge of the ocean and it’s mechanics. But I had just sort of passed through the church experience. Eli grew up in the church. I went a few hours a week. I think it’s more accurate for me to say, “I grew out of the church.” Somewhere in college I got really tired of going through the motions and mentally/spiritually/emotionally I checked out. It wasn’t the church’s fault, it was mine. Today’s different though. In the last three years a lot has changed. And I have a new phrase I want to propose. I’m a huge fan of “retiring” old ideas like “I grew up in the church.” So like a gun for money trade in program I’m suggesting you lay down that phrase and walk away with a new one. Instead, let’s start saying, “I grew into the church.” I think that’s what God’s about. Helping us not grow up in a location, but more grow to embody a destination. Let’s become the church. Let’s be the church.