February 2007

Tony Whittaker, a faithful online UK ministry partner, has been consistently communicating with The Digital Sanctuary providing reminders that Internet Evangelism Day is coming.  These helpful reminders keep IE Day on my calendar and encourage me to recommend this site as a significant resource for both the Church at large, as well as individuals who intend to use the Internet for the sake of the Gospel.  It explains different types of online evangelism, such as outreach websites, video clips, blogging and podcasts.

It's always encouraging to see the their newest releases, the most recent of which enables churches to develop and improve their websites.  

"Does your church's website communicate to outsiders as well as to it's members?" they ask. A church site is the congregation's 'shop window' to its community. To fulfill this function well, it must be enticing, people-centered and easily understood by outsiders. Unfortunately, many churches are unsure how to achieve this vital mix.

So the Internet Evangelism Day team has produced a new, online, self-assessment tool. It leads a church through a series of questions, to highlight areas of their website which may need development.   And thankfully, states not to be discouraged by a low checklist score.  Additionally, they encourage us to:

Mark our calendars now because …

… over 1 billion people use the Web
  … the Internet is changing the world
… God is using the Web to transform lives
        …“We’d love to use the Web for outreach; teach us”

Internet Evangelism Day can tell you about …

• what God is doing on the Web
• outreach strategies that work online
• how you, your church or Christian group can use the Web for outreach / how to make effective church websites reach the community
• planning an Internet Evangelism focus day for your church, Bible college or Christian group

The date for your calendar: April 29, 2007

In other words, this site works at two levels. It demonstrates that the coming years are the ‘day’ of digital outreach. And it provides free downloads to enable you to create your own web evangelism awareness slot for your church or Christian group, on April 29, 2007, or any day you choose.

How they can help you: learn more.

Internet Evangelism Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of major interdenominational Christian groups involved in Web ministry.  Their link is also available on my sidebar.

God's Spirit is doing something new that is springing up now; will we perceive it?  He is making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  Isaiah 43:19

Some thoughts about the synergy between the Emergent Church and online technology that I posted at Jason Clark's site….

I have considered this passage from scripture many times in the last few years and cannot help but be struck by the times in which we live. The technological transformation of our society is taking place now on almost every level. Most social institutions are poised on the cusp of dramatic change. From science & medicine to business & agriculture, from politics & economics to education & the family, technology is redefining our world.

There is no doubt our faith communities will take new shape in the digital age. The tents & tabernacles of tomorrow will be different than in previous generations. As we become an increasingly media-centric, global community, the Church of Jesus Christ will be transformed in ways that are just now springing up. Not because Jesus changes, rather the opposite; His constancy gets translated into every tongue (and tribe), through every medium that can express it and to every generation who will declare it.

Whether we consider Emergent a church, a conversation, a meme or a movement, whether we agree with its leaders, can identify its hotspots or define its theology, the significance of an emergent mindset, broadly speaking, may lay not so much in its buzz factor nor in exactly how we define it. The Emerging Church is important rather for what it heralds. The notable thing about Emergent is that it may signal a next wave.

The same way punk music challenged the traditional music industry hegemony, causing a revolution within a revolution, the emergent mindset challenges a top-down command and control approach to church, and instead emphasizes a decentralized, cooperative approach to sharing/expressing faith. Emergent values a participatory Christianity rather than a proprietary one and welcomes the priesthood of every believer in a way we may not have seen since Luther had a few challenging observations and set off a Reformation.

Furthermore, it embraces conversation to the point of prioritizing it. And therein lies the dynamic that Marshall McLuhan expressed as the ‘medium is the message’ – an expression of synergy that occurs when a particular message is amplified by the medium used to deliver it. Interactive conversation is not only an Emergent value – it is becoming one of the key attributes of what may be a dramatic move of God. For the Internet in all its ubiquity, allows for a globally, interactive (come let us reason together) conversation. New media technologies will soon press traditional institutions (the Church) like never before.

The rapid diffusion of Web 2.0 including blogs, social networking sites, wikis, etc., all operating in an interactive/organic/constantly changing/open dialog of ideas/inspirations/revisions/etc. is spurring change. The new media, as our electronic extensions, are enabling us to organize collective action in new ways, in places and on scales we have not seen before. Multimedia enabled, powerful wireless, devices that billions of people will soon possess will foster new social, cultural, economic, and political forms of collective action. It has been said that when communication technologies enable people to organize collective action on this kind of scale, civilizations change. This means the Church.

Quite obviously, the Internet has the power to extend social networks and create common experiences, like we’re doing here. Additionally, it can foster new and sustain existing communities. The group formations enabled by the new media make it possible for people who are located in different parts of the world to connect with each other instantly and this facilitates new options for viral communication about Christ.

So, I guess my question, to steal a phrase, is: "The new media, what's the big idea?"

Is the Emergent Church an expression of the Spirit of God manifested as a response to the global, technological transformation that is sweeping our world?

Do we have specific examples of indicators that we are moving towards, for lack of a better analogy, an open source flow of our faith?

And what changes will citizen Christianity usher into the Church?

Does a democratization of the Church threaten or empower our theology?

Does Emergent add a new measure of animation where Church has become static? 

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Here's the permalink for original comments and to view Jason's new site theme.

       Tim Berners Lee, World Wide Web inventor, delivers keynote speech at 3GSM.

Open Gardens (which you can access here regularly on my blog roll) has posted excerpts from the keynote speech given yesterday by Tim Berners Lee at the 3GSM - the world's premier mobile event.  Berners Lee (who is credited with inventing the WWW) summarizes the next evolutionary step in the convergence of new media technologies by saying, "we are at an epic point in telecommunications history, when the mobile platforms discussed here, and the Internet platforms which have enabled such a spectacular growth and innovation, are poised, if we manage this well, to merge."  (Phone/Web Convergence) You can link to a written draft of the speech here.

His observations include the assertion that Mobile technology will make the Web completely ubiquitous in the near future.  Furthermore, Berners Lee advocates an open Web rather than a "walled garden" (thus Open Gardens) by using Web technology as a foundation for new innovation rather than permitting it to become a controlled environment with a proprietary ceiling.

As Christians (both leaders and laypersons) we find ourselves at a unique juncture in the history of human communication.  Since we carry the Gospel, we have something significant to communicate.  One of our challenges is to harness Internet technologies, not to control them, but to use them for the spread of the Gospel, the equipping of believers and as a service to the Kingdom of God.  Additionally, we must learn to embrace Web 2.0 technologies and utilize them effectively.  Resisting technological communication advances is unwise and will only relegate Christians in the near future to the place of having our lights under a basket. (Matthew 5:15)

The rapid diffusion of new media technologies can be seen across a spectrum of social institutions.  Advancements in specific areas often seem to inspire changes in others. Thus, a multi-disciplinary approach, observing many social institutions simultaneously and interchangeably, seems to benefit our understanding of innovation diffusion.

The Futurelab newsletter is a regular read for me.  Although its focus is education, there is much insight to be gained by observing the developments shaping education and applying them to other fields.  By bringing together the creative, technical and educational communities, Futurelab pioneers ways of using new technologies to transform the learning experience.

If you have already made the link between this and the church of the future, then I'm just preaching to the choir.  If not, check out their resources (Flux is the blog) and get inspired.

As all social institutions undergo the transformations that new media technologies will facilitate, social forecasters predict sweeping changes in traditional institutions and their modes of operation.  For example, the electronic library's usage will soon eclipse conventional library use and the Dewey Decimal system (relatively unchanged since 1963) will likely give way to tagging.  Thus, the institution reflects an evolution and its traditional operations are transformed as well.

I just received a notice from The Pew Internet & American Life Project that their new Research Center site is up. 

The site offers original content and serves as a portal to the latest findings from Pew's 7 projects:

* Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
* Project for Excellence in Journalism
* Stateline.org
* Pew Internet & American Life Project
* Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
* Pew Hispanic Center
* Pew Global Attitudes Project

I mine Pew findings regularly and consider it the the most accurate source of online research data.  Their newest publication, by director Lee Rainie, explores tagging and includes an interview with author David Weinberger. 

For other recent comments by Lee, see the September 2006 Interview with the Experts at The Digital Sanctuary.  If you're interested in a nonpartisan analysis of the uses of new media & religion, Pew is your best resource.

Again, here's the link: http://pewresearch.org/

Special thanks to Tino Buntic for coming up with the instantly viral 2000 Bloggers concept.  No doubt this innovative idea will be duplicated quite a few million times. Yes, Tino added me, but I can see I got beaten out speed-wise by Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin and Donald Trump to name a few.  I am, however, on the same row with John Smulo.  Or was…the page keeps repaginating.  Hi John.  And to the many other blogging friends I see (Billy Calderwood, HT for the tip!)

Oh yes, there will be copycat concepts, but Tino you were the first.  We salute your creativity.  Hope you didn't loose your day job having a good time.  (Oh, looks like connecting people is your day job!)  Way to be the first to use the new media in a new way. 

Now, who's gonna take this and run with it?  I hear we're already a screen saver and a book cover.  I'm anticipating the 2000 Bloggers Awards.  Best overall photo, most creative, most mysterious, most artistic, oldest, youngest, need I say more?  My personal favorite is "Peggy, As She Is" but can you find her? 

If you've made it into this group, is your goal to visit all 1999 of your co-bloggers?  So who's gonna put up the awards site?   What a link-fest.  Personally, I'm busy looking for a better photo.