M2LIVE is a grassroots effort allowing believers of all backgrounds to share and learn from one another.  As a series of web-based and live hands-on workshops, M2LIVE is designed for church leaders and volunteers interested in enhancing their ministry using the latest in web and social media technology.

The M2LIVE webinar showcases insights from many of today’s brightest church web evangelists. While presenters have opportunity to share their message, the format allows ample time for asking questions and interacting with the presenter. Today’s free M2LIVE webinar features a discussion of some of the values embedded in the new media and why some folks resist participation.

Join me for the discussion today. To access the webinar, visit http://www.M2LIVE.org/live at 11:30am EDT / 8:30am PST.

Marketing gurus Phil Cooke and Brad Abare appeared in a livestream chat this morning on Conversant Life.  These guys are two of the most sought-after consultants in the field of church and religious media communications.

Hearing them talk about Christians / media / church / communication / change / effectiveness is amazing because of the way they compliment each other.  They really spark one another’s ideas and their seasonings & expertise just flows.

I should say that we all serve the Center for Church Communication, the nonprofit parent of Church Marketing Sucks.  But, that’s not why I’m recommending this stream.  It’s simply because the material they have in the archives of their heads is pretty spectacular.  Encouraging us to be who we are uniquely in the body of Christ, accept changing culture rather than resist it, be transparent & tell “your” story, all very interesting stuff.

A couple of key take aways include:

• Culture is more important than vision.  If you develop a unique, inviting, rich, spiritually inviting culture your vision will fly.  If not, no matter how compelling the vision, it will fail.
• Dialog over monologue.  People want to be talked “with” not talked “to” or “at”.  Conversation is valuable.
• Next generation leaders would like the former generation leadership to “carry with” rather than “pass on to” them the truths & principles they’ve learned about the Kingdom of God.

The stream will be archived and if you missed it (starting tomorrow) you can find it at the Conversant Life site.   Well worth your hour.

Since we are still evaluating the reality & potential of church online the question just keeps coming up: “Of course, [virtual church] is possible. But is it biblical?”

The following is a response to me from Douglas Estes, author of SimChurch regarding his reflections on this post by Drew Goodmanson – Is Online Community real community; Questions about the virtual church?

A virtual church is just as biblical as a Baptist church, a house church, a Lutheran church, a megachurch, a Pentecostal church, a contemporary rock church or a traditional American fundamentalist church. Why? Because the Bible doesn’t prescribe one type of culture or ‘format’ for doing church. Period. I know that most Christians—even pastors and church leaders—will grudgingly admit this in public and not believe it in their hearts though it is the biblical viewpoint. Everyone who is passionate about the church views their version of the church to be the best, most right, most biblical, most blessed, and closest-to-the-New-Testament version of church as possible. This is not wrong but it does become a problem when we try to say that other people don’t have biblical churches (with the exception of churches whose theology/practice fall outside of historic orthodoxy). We can group current criticisms of online church into 2 main areas—and the first area, rightfully labeled, is denominationalism. This may seem kind of funny because I don’t mean that online churches are a new denomination; I mean that some people are reacting to them through the same lens (not our way = different = not biblical). Let’s consider the second area in more detail.

One important part of writing SimChurch was my starting point: I did not start with virtual churches. I started with the Bible and church history. A critical part of the research was investigating both with discernment to see if there would be anything to prevent an online church. The answer is no. And this is not an argument from silence (like those folks who say it’s okay to do drugs because they Bible doesn’t directly say we can’t), this is a ‘no’ from a close reading of the Bible and church history. In fact, anyone who has studied church history understands that God moves the church in seemingly radical directions at times. So far, most of the arguments against online church are the same types of arguments as those leveled at every new Christian group that has come along since Jesus left us.

Many of the criticisms I read seem to be written by people who are using the internet circa 1999. They forget that even older technologies such as Skype allow for a great deal of interaction, except fully physical (there is some physical because you can see the other person, wave, make faces, laugh, etc). More specifically, Drew (and others) cite verses in the Bible that deal with community and then argue that this community must be rooted in physical proximity (but not the SecondLife or Skype kind). I don’t want to (mis)characterize Drew’s argument here; and to be fair, Drew listed a few verses in a 200 word post whereas I wrote a whole book on this issue. Still, I need to point out a few serious problems with arguments like Drew and others use. SimChurch goes into much more detail, but let’s briefly look at the issues:

First, Drew lists 27 verses (all from the New Testament) that allude to community, or more specifically, what he calls “one-anothering.” These verses include loving one another (1 John 3:11) and the holy kiss one (1 Peter 5:14). In SimChurch, I defined a church as “a localized assembly of the people of God dwelling in a meaningful community with the task of building up the Kingdom.” Now, some people may tweak this but overall I feel it is a solid definition of church from a biblical and church-historical perspective (within a Protestant tradition such I come from). I think we can agree that church must be both local and a meaningful community. The problem comes in when we try to take the verses Drew cited and decide the physical extension of them. As with most of the Bible, these verses are communicating spiritual truth more so than physical truths. When the Bible tells me to love someone else, hugging is probably included in this but it is not the central meaning of the verse at hand (it is greeting). I can prove this: We don’t literally greet people with a holy kiss (at least I’ve never attended any church anywhere that does) at church. Why? Because we understand that the spiritual reality of greeting and loving another follower of Jesus is so much bigger than the physical expression. This is not to say the physical expression is not important; it’s just to say that certain physical expressions are just one aspect of it. Please note that I am also not trying to over-spiritualize this issue; I’m neither downplaying nor disregarding the physical aspect just pointing that it is only one part of what it means to have community. Again, consider people riding the NY subway to work—if you’ve ever done this, you know you unwittingly touch a lot of people due to the crowdedness of the train, but no one would consider a subway car (real) community!

Truthfully, none of the verses Drew lists speak to whether a church should meet in a building (been there), under a banana tree in a jungle (done that), or in synthetic space over the internet. In fact, as Drew admitted in his post, and any honest Christian will admit, we don’t get the type of community that the Bible describes in some/many/most/all ‘regular’ brick and mortar churches to begin with! But just because no one seems to love each other (or greet each other with a holy kiss) at First Baptist doesn’t mean we should declare it unbiblical or not a church.

Since this is a blogpost not a book, let me wrap up by saying that Drew is correct in his conclusion—we need to focus on creating biblical community. Chapters 2–4 in SimChurch go into great detail (for a non-academic book) on what church and biblical community is and how Western Civilization has so influenced this discussion as to make everything about community be tied to the physical where the Bible (primarily, but not only) ties it to the spiritual. In fact, it is the radically-skeptical Western worldview of Descartes and others that has shaped the definition of community for the average Western Christian far more than the Bible has (protests aside). In fact, we could say that if many of the virtual-church skeptics are correct—that to have real community with someone we must be in close, physical proximity with that person—then we cannot have community with God here on Earth because we can’t touch him either. Biblical community, and true presence, is far more nuanced than our materialistic, Western sensibilities can sometimes grasp.

Douglas Estes

Comments?

I get sent 4 or 5 books a week.  I have form letters both for authors & publishers saying “unfortunately, I cannot review your book because this space is reserved for discussions about the Church & media technologies”.   Sadly, there haven’t been many publications that fit well in this zone.   But recently, Zondervan sent me the book SimChurch by Douglas Estes.  I sped through it marking up every page, and realized how helpful it was to have a new set of observations about online church.   Now there’s a blog tour and a bit further into this post I’ve listed some of the blogs Zondervan invited to review / discuss / celebrate the release of this timely book.

Douglas Estes is a New Testament scholar and teaching pastor and he authored SimChurch to explore the (sometimes controversial) world of online churches.  As people (thus the Church) migrate online, we are forced to review our theology and re-assess some of our postmodern assumptions in light of our digital world.

Today I’m posting pointers to the SimChurch site, a list of the selected bloggers who are evaluating the book and a brief video clip from Douglas.  Tomorrow, I’ll be posting his analysis of a post previously put of by my friend & colleague, Pastor Drew Goodmanson at his site. (see: http://www.goodmanson.com/church-technology/is-online-community-real-community-questions-about-the-virtual-church/).  [Drew & I will be presenting together next week in Chicago at the Story Conference - come join the discussion.]

Here are the SimChurch bloggers:

• Church Relevance
• BibleDude.net
• Returned Sheep
• The Digital Sanctuary
• Lessons from Babel
• Mark D. Roberts
• Tall Skinny Kiwi
• Captain’s Blog

Now here’s a video clip to introduce you to Douglas Estes and SimChurch.  Come back tomorrow for his lengthy response to my “virtual church” question.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As we continue our march into the future, Christians are continually challenged by the global reality of the Digital Age.  Online technologies are creating an immersive culture of connectivity.  What was formerly known as back channel communication (and considered a niche stream of information) is now in the forefront of our communication preferences.

As we grapple together about the impacts that technology may have on the practice of our faith, some Pastors are writing about it (SimChurch – Douglas Estes, Flickering Pixels – Shane Hipps), some Communication specialists are making predictions about it (Ministry in a Post-Christian Digital Society – Part 1 – Jake Johnson), some University professors (Lessons from Babel – Dr. Dave Bourgeois) are studying it, some theological seminary graduates are cautioning us about it (Don’t Eat the Fruit – John Dyer) and some developers are forging ahead with new amazing new applications (YouVersionLive – Terry Storch) for harnessing it’s potential.

I’ve taken a full 10 days off blogging about technology & the church, something I haven’t done in 5 years.  I’m still pondering the polarizing and controversial conversations that surfaced at  the Christian Web Conference at Biola University.  No easy answers but lots of questions.  What are you thinking about when it comes to online church?

You are looking at an image of the logo on the first edition of Inspiren; a monthly newsletter designed by the originators of the Christian Web Conference (formerly GodblogCon).

As the web becomes a bigger part of our lives each day, faith leaders are challenged to engage people where they live.  For example, only a few years ago, the notion of belonging to an online church was unheard of.  Today, it’s often a central topic of discussion & debate.

Now with individuals spending greater amounts of time online each day and frequent personal interactions often taking place via online communication, some propose online church as the next logical step to effective gospel proclamation.

Inspiren exists to thoughtfully engage this and other topics that deal with the relationship of New Media and the Christian faith.

Each monthly installment will take the main purpose of the Christian Web Conference; idea collaboration with the intent of advancing New Media and its users for the Kingdom of God; and extend it formally beyond the weekend of September 11-12.

This first edition includes the article “Some Rough Notes on Technology, Exclusivity, and Online Church” by Matthew L. Anderson.  And the photo image above should link to my dear friend, Rhett Smith, and his article in the second installment “Christian Web Conference“.

LifeChurch.tv has done it again.  They have pioneered a new iteration of convergence by getting the Facebook team to allow LifeChurch.tv to integrate status updates into their online church Easter experiences and into Facebook itself.   You heard me right.   This is what happens when the Digerati Team eats their vegetables.

Here’s a detailed email I received from Pastor Craig Groeschel:

Easter is coming this weekend and I couldn’t be more excited about what God is going to do at each of our campuses. Let me share a few things I’d love to get your help with this Easter:

This weekend kicks off our new series, Can You See Him? This is a great series to bring along people you know! In the few minutes it takes to invite a friend, you could play a role in changing someone’s eternity.

Church Online (previously known as the Internet Campus) is exploding and we’ve got a really cool feature lined up for the Easter experiences.  Facebook has allowed us to integrate Facebook status updates into our online church Easter experiences and into Facebook itself. It’s an amazing opportunity to share the Easter message with a huge audience. You can get the full details here, but the best way to understand it would be to come to one of the 14 Church Online Easter experiences starting this Saturday night. And bring your friends on Facebook with you!

We’re adding experiences at many of our campuses and preparing for lots of new visitors everywhere. It would be great if you could serve for an extra experience, attend one of the less crowded experiences, and make an extra effort to give a warm welcome to the people you meet.

Thanks for being a part of what God is doing at LifeChurch.tv. It’s a privilege to partner with you!

Craig

Thank you Tony Steward for tipping me off early in the week about this opportunity.  And here is the LifeChurch.tv Easter link.

This last weekend London hosted an event billed as CyberChurch and Online Community Symposium.  Hosted by Andrew Jones, aka the Tall Skinny Kiwi, aka Chancellor of the virtual Suddenly Seminary, “an intimate and somewhat casual meeting for some really interesting and qualified people, divided up somewhat equally among thinkers, practitioners and supporters”.  Check out his blog for the wrap up.

Some of those in attendance included (wish I had more links; I lifted those you see here from TSK):

Douglas Estes (PhD) has a book on the theology of virtual churches coming out in a few months.

Dave Walker of Wibsite, CartoonChurch, Church Times Blog, and recently famous for his online controversy.

Bobby Gruenewald, of Lifechurch.tv on Second Life and Chris Byers & Terry Storch – Digerati maven & operator of a Global Operations Center in his palm.

Gareth Edwards runs the virtual cathedral and occasionally the main service for Anglicans in Second Life. His doctoral dissertation on Wesleyan micro-ecclesiology will be submitted this year.

Chris Teague and Lee Behar are both Americans and they represent faith based Foundations that occasionally resource internet evangelism.  Lee Behar, also a part of the GCIA, is Senior Program Officer for The Maclellan Foundation. They are a faith based foundation that have invested in a number of exciting online ministry initiatives.

Mark Howe – St Pixels Church and author of “Online church: First Steps towards virtual incarnation.”

Simon Jenkins, also a creator and leader at St Pixels and the Church of Fools experiment.

From i-church – Web Pastor Pam Smith, Karen Wellman from the i-church leadership and Caroline Birchmore who is the technical lead. Fantastic (<– Andrew says this) !!!

Tim Hutchings, PhD student focusing on cyberchurches and online faith communities.

Shannon Hopkins is the host. She has been involved in social enterprises with both offline and online presence.

Certainly, when I have a bit more time, I will follow up on all these innovative pioneers and post on their research.  I love having access to the larger, global sphere of cyber leadership.

Just before I left for Innovation3, I was contacted by my friend, Drew Goodmanson of Monk Development (and elder/pastor at Kaleo Church in San Diego).  Drew is someone I really respect, both as a Christian leader and as a savvy business person.  He was one of the first people I discovered who was using the Internet (and SEO) to reach people for Christ.  You can read his story elsewhere online but I’m inviting you to help him & those who are studying social media and the Church by taking this simple 5 minute survey.  Here’s an overview….

Are churches using the internet to gather, disciple and build community?

In the last couple years a number of new private church community networks have been launched in addition to numerous social networking sites.   We are still very early on in understanding what churches are doing effectively online.

We invite you to participate in this first survey of several that examine the State of the Church Online.  This survey in particular begins by examining what churches are doing with social and community networks.  How pervasive are the use of these web applications?

Future surveys will expand to examine what Christians are doing with social networks, how churches are using their websites and other online strategies.  Our prayer is that these studies help bring clarity and guidance for churches to pursue excellence online to the glory of God.

This survey is being led by Kevin Ring.  Kevin brings years of experience from Bainbridge Consulting leading qualitative research projects – designing and executing customer/competitive research and analysis across multiple industries, focused on Fortune 500 companies including Google, Yahoo!, Citibank, Hewitt Associates, Gallup, Bank of America and others.

The survey is free and takes very little time to complete.  Feel free to leave your name here (below in the comments) if you participate.

Link to it here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bQWu6K2vXJyKE1aGHWr8_2fg_3d_3d