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I downloaded a browser and had something of an epiphany.
Flock is a browser whose sole purpose, it seems, is to keep the user updated with his or her various web2.0 social networks (facebook, flickr, twitter, etc.) I’ll admit, it’s daunting to see a constantly updating stream of human interaction on the left sidebar of my browser. I’m beginning to realize that, at 29 years old, I am on the trailing edge of technological innovation and am far less a native to social networking than kids still in high school. So it took this browser to wake me up to a big turn in the way people communicate: meet-ups can organize in literally hours or less through a network of computers and mobile devices, people can broadcast up-to-the-moment updates of their thoughts, feelings and happenings to friends and total strangers alike, and reactions to these individual and communal happenings can be executed and observed in real time.
Some examples I’ve seen of how this works in real life:
From GodGirl:
A week ago, when I signed on to my Facebook account and saw that Mark’s best friend had written “I’m sad that Mark died in Iraq today” as his “update” message, I hoped it was a joke. Mark and his best friends — two guys named Dave who were his college-mates and, more recently, his neighbors in Laguna Beach, Calif. — have a wicked sense of humor.
When the other Dave sent me an e-mail saying “it’s no joke,” my heart gained 50 pounds and sank in my chest, where it remains, a painful boulder.
How was it possible that one of the most alive people I’ve ever known was gone?
From a friend’s facebook status update:
just wrecked my car and i’m quite tired and sore.
From a friend of a friend who was recently working on a prayer labryinth:
Labyrinth tonight. Come help me move rocks.
Then there are other stories of friends and peers who have recently lit up my phone with text messages requesting prayer, sending blessings, or sharing news.
The question I’ve been pondering is, with the rise of this kind of instant relational networking, how long can church communities keep leaning on routine weekly gatherings that people have attended for centuries out of a sense of duty or habit? While there is certainly still a place for regularly scheduled programming, it’s simply not how emerging culture seems to be working: we watch TV on demand via TiVo or streaming internet feeds, we listen to customized music playlists instead of pre-programmed CD’s, we arrange gatherings via social networking websites and text messaging instead of by the regularity of the weekly calendar. Where’s the balance going to strike (and when)? And in what way does a community lose out by ignoring this trend (or not)?
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: web2.0, networking, gatherings
Dan Kimball writes (as an aside) in his review of Vintage Faith’s Resurrection Sunday gatherings, about a growing discomfort with multi-site simulcast churches and the practice’s potential effect on one’s ecclesiology.
Some will look at the situation and say, as long as Jesus is being preached, it doesn’t matter what the delivery method is. God is blessing it numerically, so it must be right.
Others will see the same thing and suggest that it’s better to re-invest, or plant communities instead of adding new rings to a large tree.
Can a church community simulcast its’ services and grow in health as it grows in numbers? How does material success change the dynamics that favored a church’s growth in the first place?
First, take a look at this recent ad for a bible college* associated with my denomination:
Then, read this article, in which Michael Spencer writes of the relationship between industry and church:
The church is cool. The hip people are there. The programming is hot. The sermon series is on sex. The disdain of the past is open. The connection to the church historic and catholic is minute and sometimes non-existent.
Read the entire article here.
What do you think of his assessment?
* Please understand, I’m discussing the marketing of the college, not the college itself. I want to be very clear about that, and avoid appearing prejudicial in any way. James River is a phenomenal church by all objective standards. This isn’t about the college, it’s about the ad.
Well, there’s a new project on my hands, one that is very close to my heart: a blog centered on the relationship between the Emergent and Pentecostal movements.
I just posted the second article there, and am hopeful we can attract a variety of bloggers (and non-bloggers who want to toss their two cents into the machine) who can guide a robust conversation about what it means to become Emergent Pentecostals.
Regardless of your ecclesiastical background, I welcome and invite you to participate. My perception is that these two movements, Emergent and Pentecostal (specifically, the Assemblies of God), are broadly reforming the worldwide expression of Christianity. This is a conversation that needs to happen, both online and in real space.
http://agmergent.wordpress.com
Please visit and take some time to let me know what you think – and share any advice you think may be helpful.
