Church Cowards and the USA Today

USA Today ran an article on Wednesday entitled Some search for church by way of the Web. If you still buy the physical paper, I'm told it's on D8.

Nothing groundbreaking. Let me give you highlights.

"82% of churches with more than 200 worship attendees have a website." That could be an impressive stat. coming from a guy that started a company that built websites exclusively for churches, this is misleading. I cannot tell you how many pastors I talked to over the years who would say something to the extent of "Why should I pay you to do this when my 10 year old (Please, no more 10 year old jokes relating to my iPhone irrelevance.) can do the same thing with Microsoft Frontpage)." So, while 82% of them have websites, what are they broadcasting on them? How/What are they connecting to the culture/their target audience.

To continue quoting the article:

Semblance of a connection

This reality leaves [Steve Clark, Pastor: Evangelical Free Church of Salt Lake City] with mixed feelings. On one hand, he's glad to be communicating with people far and wide. But he also is concerned about offering a tool that creates the semblance of a spiritual connection but doesn't ultimately satisfy a thirst for God.

"It definitely concerns me if it stops there," Clark says. "That's not actually attending church. You miss the benefits of community, of being with other people who will correct and encourage you."

I totally and completely disagree with this. Are you not surprised?

You don't think community can be created online?
Tell that to the 120 people who are my friends on Facebook.

You don't think the Internet can create a venue where people can communicate, correct, and encourage?
Um, ever been on a blog? Discussion Board? Forum? Ever sent an e-mail? Ever talked via IM? All of these are viable communication forms that enable us to communicate, correct, and encourage.

I have friends across this country that I keep up with on a regular basis. We talk, we share, we pray... rarely is communication verbal. More often than not, its text-based communication via the Internet.

What's frustrating to me is that we are NOT doing things differently than the early church did. The Media Small Group I lead is going through II Corinthians. IIC is basically Paul encouraging and correcting the church in Corinth. (More correcting than encouraging, but both play a part). Did Paul do this face to face? No. He tried to, but unforseen jail time prevented him from making the trip.

So what did Paul do. He wrote a letter. Text communication. Paul didn't abandon the church he started. He didn't say "you need to figure out your problems on your own." He didn't say "Find someone else to solve your problems". He communicated with them the best way he knew how. He wrote a letter.

To quote Tom Bandy, EasumBandy & Associates (Church Consulting Company) from the USA Today Article:

"The Web has allowed people to be cowards about profound religion," says Bandy. "It allows us to hide behind our e-mail, jargon names, URLs and stuff like that. But religion is really an act of courage — to submit, to surrender, to be vulnerable to the other, to that which is beyond yourself."

Yes, people will hide behind usernames (what's a jargon name?). But they're probably hiding from judgmental Christians who would criticize them for their mistakes, views, etc. These people are searching, seeking... they oftentimes are being vulnerable. But no, really, thank you for limiting the spiritual depth of thousands of people across America who use the Internet to communicate and invest in people's livevs.

Funny. I never viewed Paul as a coward. I guess he was, though, because what he said he didn't say face to face. Maybe I'm a coward too, for saying what I say via this blog. Maybe being a coward is a great place to be.

I'll wrap this up with a quote from Paul. II Corinthians 1:13-14 "For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Comments

[Jon]

Hey Jeff,

I'm with you, but I have to push back a little. I think the Internet can be a great place to initially connect in community or continue community, but I've never seen it effectively be the whole picture. I've made new connections through blogs, but in order for them to really grow, there had to be a face-to-face meeting at some point. Sure, I can be friends online with someone, but it's never been the same level friendship as someone I've actually been present with.

I can also keep relationships going online (like, say, with a guy I knew from college who moved to FL and then hired another friend or two to move there as well). Blogs and Facebook RECONNECT like nothing ever has. It's GREAT for community. But it's still not the same as in-person. It keeps the relationship warm, but there's something about a real conversation that helps.

Maybe you're arguing a different point than I'm hearing, because you're still in a physical church with a real small group. I've spent a lot of time online and with groups in person, and I've never seen the real life change and accountability of that face-to-face interaction happen through text. It may still be there. And for some people, I think the online thing can be a great first step or way to keep (and even grow) connections. But at some point we've got to get out of our rooms and go put the knowledge into practice - serving people's physical needs and building relationships. And that's best done, in my experience, through a community I have around me.

Thoughts?

[Eddy]

I agree with you only adding this. The face to face aspect of church is important. When I first started going to Christ Fellowship my wife and I would comment on the drive home how nice everyone was. Not only nice but genuine. I suppose that you can get that to some degree online but not to the degree that I felt welcome at CF.

That smile from your brothers and sisters as you move through campus can't be duplicated online. Note: Do not send me a picture of you smiling. Anyway, to finish up. When we had small group during Ipray we shared things, lifted each other up and made each other think. Sure, we could have done it in a chat room but would it have been the same? Maybe, I don't know. Why don't we try it one day?

Well, those are my 3 cents.

P.S. God uses any tools available to reach the lost. www is no exception.

[Nathan H]

JUST watched this two days ago.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1-BGQKaKi18%26mode=related%26search=lifechurch.tv%2520praiseandworship%2520lights%2520music%2520worship%2520praise%2520god%2520singing%2520guitar