Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Wireless Discipleship

I have always been uneasy with the lecture style church of the modern era. The type where one person knows everything and tells everybody what to do to be a successful Christian. You all know what I speak of. While I think community is one style of discipleship that we all want and believe in, it is also one that not many people are ready to give themselves fully to. We are trying to create a space at Life Fellowship where community is more common and easily accesible, even the community of the world wide web. We have begun the process of outfitting our whole church with wireless internet. Know I now that we are not the only church with wireless, but it seems like people in our church have never heard of any, and certainly never heard of any that encourage them to use the internet during service. "Bring your laptop, or check out one of ours if you dont have one of your own" is what we are telling people. "We want you all to be a part of our conversation and learn from each other. We are meeting at ezboards.com". We have a place to chat about the topic being discussed or a place to read the bible in whatever version you prefer and much more. Discussion and experience have always been the most efficient tools for learning. We hope this will bring a new experience to church and a new discussion to the learning. I am sure that you have all thought about the possible horror stories that could surface. What do we say to that. Well, your right. I am sure someone will go somewhere they are not supposed to. We hope that people will choose not to do that though. If they do hopefully we will be Christ like enough to say, "go and sin no more".

4 Comments:

Blogger Jerod said...

Daniel,

I know that you and I have talked about his possibility before, but the fact that you posted this today is a little alarming. My friend Glen and I, just today, were having a big discussion on this exact idea. We were theorizing on set up, and the possibility of guided content along the track of the main concept. (More on that later.)

You know where I stand on the idea, but for everyone else, here is my two cents worth: I truly believe the more sensory information sources you can make available to people my age and younger the better.

Two cases in point.

When I go to church, I'm sitting in a pew looking straight ahead, but my mind is working 2 or 3 main thoughts at once. What so often happens to me is that I will hear something, some scripture, some idea in the first 5 minutes and then I will spend the rest of the time researching, developing, foraging through my own mind. This is how I hear/learn/study (or whatever you want to call it). So many times, I think of music, art and resource that are readily available to me at my home and at my office, but for the few hours I am at the church remain unattainable. The web has transformed me (and others I believe) into a thought puddle jumper. To try to harness my thoughts on one linear subject for 45 minutes is torture. (Obviously, this is why the contemplative life is so challenging).

Case #2. The teenagers and children that I spend time around in my job have evolved into multitasking monkeys. My son Ezekiel, sits with a Nintendo controller in one hand, computer mouse in the other, staring alternately at two screens, listening to his MP3 player (blasting punk of course). It's very common to chat, talk on phone, listen to music, watch tv and study all at the same time. You might say that this is why no one is 'smart' anymore, but I feel that technology has forever changed us and has unlocked areas and abilities in our brains that were previously undeveloped.

Sure, the problems implementing this type of open ended learning are real and serious, but 10 years from now they might not be as serious as they are today.

You hit the main flashpoint with this whole idea when you said,
"I have always been uneasy with the lecture style church of the modern era. The type where one person knows everything and tells everybody what to do to be a successful Christian"Preachers (and I are one) will freak when you suggest that what they are saying isn't so completely enthralling and absolutely authoritative. The preacher becomes less 'oracle' and more Jerry Springer-style talk show host who says, "Here is where we are starting, and who knows where you will end up."

(I'll be posting more on this soon! One of my favorite discussions)

February 8, 2005 at 9:20 PM  
Blogger Jerod said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

February 8, 2005 at 9:45 PM  
Blogger Jerod said...

Here is an example of multiple information streams. Check out Deep Fried Live. OK I know its completely silly, but you see what I mean.

February 8, 2005 at 9:48 PM  
Blogger Daniel said...

Hopefully when the electricity goes off we will have started something that will continue in the homes of our friends, conversation

February 11, 2005 at 2:44 PM  

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