I get emails regularly about online church campuses. I've been holding on to quite a few links but wanted to post on this one before it launches rather than after. (See Holy Trinity Ripon.)
It's been a couple of weeks since I was first contacted by Nicola David; she's the project leader for the new site with a projected launch date of early June. Nicola wanted to draw my attention to this specific ministry because it's a collaboration between The Church of England and The Methodist Church. Appropriately called Church on the Net, it's an evangelistic project designed to help bring the concepts of God and church into the comfort zones of people who are in no way currently engaged with either.
I love this idea because it seems that when Jesus went to select his disciples, he didn't pick any of the already religious folks of His day.
The opening address will be presented by the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu - second in seniority in the Anglican Communion after Rowan Williams (Canterbury).
The Revd. Dr. Steven Croft, said "Church on the Net is one of a range of ways Christians are extending a new invitation to community, to exploration and to faith through fresh expressions of church. I warmly commend it." It's officially registered as a 'fresh expression' of church in the UK (www.freshexpressions.org.uk).
Nicola asks me, "Is it church or is that a debate?" Good question. A place designed specifically for outreach is more like what we in the US would think of as a Christian coffee shop or bookstore. But that's changing.
Additional posting here and some other links on innovative cyberchurches along the same lines from Dr. Heidi Campbell who is one of a handful of researchers studying such phenomena.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
sounds awesome, i will haveto check it out! thank you
I will be interested to see what this site looks like when it’s “in production.” The current page is a statement of what they intend to do but perhaps not yet an example of actually doing it.
Cynthia, may I pick a nit with one of your comments? You said, in reaction to “it’s an evangelistic project designed to help bring the concepts of God and church into the comfort zones of people who are in no way currently engaged with either,” that you love the idea because “it seems that when Jesus went to select his disciples, he didn’t pick any of the already religious folks of His day.”
This seems to me apples and oranges. I agree that he didn’t pick the overtly or professionally religious. I don’t agree that he brought the concept of God into anyone’s comfort zone. It seems to me that if Jesus was concerned with comfort zones at all, it was his concern to challenge and even violate them. “Eat my flesh and drink my blood” is not comfortable even for us, let alone a society that was concerned with keeping kosher. “Take up your cross and follow me” was probably a little off-putting in a political environment where prisoners were routinely tortured to death (crucified) along the major roads.
I want to learn how to contextualize the Gospel so that it won’t be rejected for reasons of “packaging.” But if it fits in anyone’s comfort zone, I have to wonder whether it is the same Gospel Jesus preached? I believe it is possible to contextualize a challenging message and still have a challenging message–a message where the challenge itself is better understood because we contextualized it. I hope that’s what we are about, and I hope Church on the Net will find a way to do it.
Sorry for being so picky about your words when you were obviously not being polemic but just reaching for something nice to say about this effort. Still, when you mentioned Jesus in the context of “comfort zone” my cognitive dissonance detector went somewhere near the red zone.
Bob - speaking of cognitive dissonance, I don’t see you as a nitpicker - omnivores are usually too absorbed in innovating for that kind of thing!
I think we’re clarifying. Seems like the term in question here is “comfort zones” - used by the Church on the Net site to refer to a way to get the gospel to those who are “uncomfortable” in zones that feel overtly religious.
Jesus did this when he went out from the temple and spoke to whomever he encountered (fishermen, tax collectors, wayward women…) knowing they had yet to embrace the choice to follow the One who could transform their lives. Strategically proclaiming the “good news” outside of the temple seems to be what they mean.
We may be wondering about their ability (or lack thereof) to produce bona fide decisions for Christ and certainly about their ability to follow up and disciple individuals who make decisions (which is likely not what their site is about).
Abandoning our personal comfort zones seems obvious when declaring someone other than ourselves as the Lord of our lives. Therefore, your words “a message where the challenge itself is better understood because we contextualized it” make complete sense to me.
Lastly, the goal of my site is not just to spotlight what I agree with. That’s why one never knows if one appears on my sidebar for agreement or disagreement
The Church on the Net seems noteworthy to me because it is conceptually innovative. My site attempts to explore what Christians are experimenting with in terms technological resources (media & online technologies) to enhance church experiments and to extend Christianity’s presence online.
And yes, in case you really are a nitpicker disguised as an omnivore, I should move my book categories elsewhere.
Hi Bob
Is & was Jesus comfortable? No, I agree, he isn’t wasn’t.
But is going to church comfortable? Yes - it’s one of my greatest sources of comfort. And that is what we mean.
Nicola
Project leader, CotN