Comments on: Is Your Church Leadership Interactive?

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:30:23 +0000

Has anyone heard of youverson.com? If you havent checked it out. Just found out about it the other day. great way to get Gods word out.

By: Antoine of MMM

Antoine of MMM — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:36:27 +0000

Roger, you stated:

Relational development is not an issue of digital versus live.

I totally disagree. If you are using a social network, chances are that those that are already on are forging relationships and have bonds that are just as relevant as those which were previously done over live channels. If you are making these points of connection, then you have to be ready to engage in them as you would in other connections (with the same ideas of permissions and boundaries that one would in former media connections).

Study social interaction and online community development in the past 20 years and you will notice that as the technology has increased the ability to, relationships have formed just as much, if not stronger in some cases, due to those digital ties. Its not enough to ‘twit’ a conversation because its convenient. Twitting is now accepted just as much as a phone call and the rules of engagement and responsibility of the church there are the same as they have always been.

If one has to ask themselves ‘if they will engage’ but has already built the road ‘to engage’ then we have to step back and really assess if the technology is relevant or if we have missed the point of discipleship and relationship as the Commission has called us towards.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:59:27 +0000

Antoine,
Relational development is not an issue of digital versus live. it’s a tough thing, especially for me. I think what it boils down to is intentionality, or as you put it, “the goal should be interaction.”
Sometimes having more media makes it easier to manage our interactions, but, at least in my case, I still have to ask myself “am I genuinely engaging with people, or am I just checking it off of my list.”
just because I’ve given people a way to connect with me, doesn’t always mean that I will engage. kinda sad, actually.

By: Antoine of MMM

Antoine of MMM — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:41:38 +0000

Part of me wants to go, yea! at what’s been said here. But I don’t think any mof the comments are pushing interactivity far enough. Of course, considering how I just posted on how I think Nokia Mobile gaming environment N-Gage is an opportunity for evangelism, I am pretty sure that I am running way before we as a Body have even begun walking totally.

That being said, its not just that aspect of using blogs and social networking tools, but transforming your relationships as these threads have more relevance to the lives of those around you. If you will, the goal should always be interaction, we just now have more threads towards getting there. I’d even wager that there is a literal limit as to how much interactivity we can have in this case because we are now using these tools as relationship enablers.

The question is, after you have added the Facebooks and the MySpaces, is the status of your relationships stronger, or just digital?

By: » The World is Not Flat: The New Media and it’s Burgeoning Influence Upon the Church

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:28:39 +0000

[...] Ware posted Is Your Church Leadership Interactive, which I talked about a little earlier in the week. Cynthia is a great blogger to follow on this [...]

By: Kindle Blog - Sharing the Power of Prayer » Blog Archive » Future Church: Be Like the Internet

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:53:44 +0000

[...] Read Cynthia Ware’s related post – “Is Your Church Leadership Interactive?“. [...]

By: Terrace Crawford

Terrace Crawford — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:31:36 +0000

I so agree Cynthia. I think this is why so many pastors are now blogging, as well as using other means of media to make touches with their people.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:12:15 +0000

Thanks Ryan – I’ll email you.

Rhett – this is why you are the web evangelist, and to the college cohort, no less.

Robert – we cannot use one another for cross-referencing because since we think exactly alike it’s kind of like self-referencing.

And, the most significant aspect of interactivity may not be seen until the iGeneration comes of age – when interactivity & being wired will be seen not as novelty but as normative.

By: Robert Yang

Robert Yang — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:03:11 +0000

Since rolling out our new social prayer website, I’ve certainly met my share of church leadership that embrace the “many to many” aspects of interactive communities and others that don’t get it yet.

Even though the interactive crowd is a much smaller community, I believe their numbers will grow mainly due to the fact that using today’s online communication tools will only help to grow their ministries – online and off.

And that growing reach will be powerful evidence for interactivity that today’s leaders will not be able to ignore for much longer.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:27:42 +0000

cynthia, I would love to hear from you. it seems that my email was wrong on the last post. this one should have it correct.