Friday, August 11, 2006
Internet: Mission and Ministry part 4
The last 3 posts have been focussing on sharing some Internet resources with you my loyal readers.
Whitley College's monthly Rev Up, was last month on the theme "Internet: Mission and Ministry"
Seeing as I went along and got inspired, I thought I might share some of the inspiration with the rest of you.
Darren Rowse, the leader of the Rev Up, spoke of the three elements of Christian discipleship.
The three strands are all required if our discipleship is to be genuine.
The last two posts have focussed on Internet based resources to assist with our:
Inner Journey (personal spirituality)
and
Outer Journey (engaging our discipleship with the world around us).
Today I want to share a couple of resources for the third sphere,
the Together Journey.
This morning I was talking to a friend of mine about community. This friend lives in a house with a bunch of other Christians and is committed to engaging with the community that he lives in.
We had this conversation after I had the opportunity to go with him to visit some of the most marganilised people in his community. People with Mental Health issues, housing issues, money issues.
People who, after we get over the outward appearance are no different to anyone else.
He said to me, (I will use quotation marks to show it is his voice, but it will not be verbatim what he said) "I struggle with the idea of community on the internet. We only get to see the good side of people. We don't have to deal with their annoying habits, or their bad smells. We don't have to work out our issues with them."
As I was on the train coming home from visiting my friend, I was reflecting on what he said.
I was reflecting on whether the same could be said of the 'community' we offer in our churches.
I know even within just the youth I work with, we stuggle to build real Christian community.
Youth Group night, we have the boys on one side, and then a couple of groups of girls around the room.
Same as on Sunday morning, when I am happy to talk to some people at church, but I will sometimes also try to avoid others who I don't want to talk to.
So with that reflection in mind, I share these websites that might help in some way your own Outer Journey.
Gush is Youth Alive's internet forum for discussing all sorts of issues.
Ship of Fools is a great site, a must see. I have heard it is one of the most loved and the most hated Christian websites. It is a light hearted look at the Church, the Ship of Fools.
This is theReJesus forums.
As usual any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.
Whitley College's monthly Rev Up, was last month on the theme "Internet: Mission and Ministry"
Seeing as I went along and got inspired, I thought I might share some of the inspiration with the rest of you.
Darren Rowse, the leader of the Rev Up, spoke of the three elements of Christian discipleship.
The three strands are all required if our discipleship is to be genuine.
The last two posts have focussed on Internet based resources to assist with our:
Inner Journey (personal spirituality)
and
Outer Journey (engaging our discipleship with the world around us).
Today I want to share a couple of resources for the third sphere,
the Together Journey.
This morning I was talking to a friend of mine about community. This friend lives in a house with a bunch of other Christians and is committed to engaging with the community that he lives in.
We had this conversation after I had the opportunity to go with him to visit some of the most marganilised people in his community. People with Mental Health issues, housing issues, money issues.
People who, after we get over the outward appearance are no different to anyone else.
He said to me, (I will use quotation marks to show it is his voice, but it will not be verbatim what he said) "I struggle with the idea of community on the internet. We only get to see the good side of people. We don't have to deal with their annoying habits, or their bad smells. We don't have to work out our issues with them."
As I was on the train coming home from visiting my friend, I was reflecting on what he said.
I was reflecting on whether the same could be said of the 'community' we offer in our churches.
I know even within just the youth I work with, we stuggle to build real Christian community.
Youth Group night, we have the boys on one side, and then a couple of groups of girls around the room.
Same as on Sunday morning, when I am happy to talk to some people at church, but I will sometimes also try to avoid others who I don't want to talk to.
So with that reflection in mind, I share these websites that might help in some way your own Outer Journey.
Gush is Youth Alive's internet forum for discussing all sorts of issues.
Ship of Fools is a great site, a must see. I have heard it is one of the most loved and the most hated Christian websites. It is a light hearted look at the Church, the Ship of Fools.
This is theReJesus forums.
As usual any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.
Comments:
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Liam,
I have enjoyed the last few blogs and will use some of the sites you gave.
I hope you enjoyed your week workinh with the marginalized in our community.
It is such a pity that most christians don't even give a thought to this group of people. also a bigger worry is that Churches don't see this as a great mission field and give money and resorces.
Donna
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I have enjoyed the last few blogs and will use some of the sites you gave.
I hope you enjoyed your week workinh with the marginalized in our community.
It is such a pity that most christians don't even give a thought to this group of people. also a bigger worry is that Churches don't see this as a great mission field and give money and resorces.
Donna
# posted by 
: 10:14 pm
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