How I have lived and served in the church for over 20 years, though ment to enage people, has really served to cut me off from life with people in the community. I had to spend so much time in an office studying, managing, running, organizing all the "Stuff" in the name of reaching people. That became a lonely life.
I have come to see that it was really a dysfunctional one too. A life that never enabled us to build the relationships we need to be healthy, nor to to accomplish what we said we wanted..... opportunities to introduce the the person of Jesus to others. We have this contrived "goldfish bowl" approach to our faith. Members, and ministers alike, see their job as herding the fish into the goldfish bowl (Church building) and let the preacher do the fishing from a raised platform. The fact that the method does not work any more in the west, for the majority of churches, is rarely questioned....you are just accused of not working it well enough (You are always the problem - not hip enough). God bless that road too. However, there is a more enjoyable relational way these days. Public teaching has it's place, but it should never be seen at "The Thing" as it is often seen to be these days.
Here is a good quote from "Viral". This has been an insightful book that is challenging my view of culture and "the times". Frankly what most are writing about this culture, at this time, has proven, for me, to be a waste of time. Because we Gutenbergers are reading other Gutenbergers books -who often see a black hole on the horizon, or a new hip restructuring of what we have as the answer. I love the new connected and relational dynamic that is emerging in the western googler. It has great possibilities, and a more joy filled life of interaction, rather than isolation as one rally's the wagons in a circle. I'm tired of all that sentiment.....I'll stand for the same truth, but not this disjoined apporach to life, ministry and the world, that we are calling church today.
I have come to see that it was really a dysfunctional one too. A life that never enabled us to build the relationships we need to be healthy, nor to to accomplish what we said we wanted..... opportunities to introduce the the person of Jesus to others. We have this contrived "goldfish bowl" approach to our faith. Members, and ministers alike, see their job as herding the fish into the goldfish bowl (Church building) and let the preacher do the fishing from a raised platform. The fact that the method does not work any more in the west, for the majority of churches, is rarely questioned....you are just accused of not working it well enough (You are always the problem - not hip enough). God bless that road too. However, there is a more enjoyable relational way these days. Public teaching has it's place, but it should never be seen at "The Thing" as it is often seen to be these days.
Here is a good quote from "Viral". This has been an insightful book that is challenging my view of culture and "the times". Frankly what most are writing about this culture, at this time, has proven, for me, to be a waste of time. Because we Gutenbergers are reading other Gutenbergers books -who often see a black hole on the horizon, or a new hip restructuring of what we have as the answer. I love the new connected and relational dynamic that is emerging in the western googler. It has great possibilities, and a more joy filled life of interaction, rather than isolation as one rally's the wagons in a circle. I'm tired of all that sentiment.....I'll stand for the same truth, but not this disjoined apporach to life, ministry and the world, that we are calling church today.
"I believe it is more natural incarnate the gospel in TGIF Culture (Texting, Googling, Iphone, FaceBook) than in the world of the Gutenbergers. In other words, Googlers (be they disciples or not) are better positioned to encounter and engage with the Jesus of scripture than the Gutenbergers have been, since Gutenburgers were inclined to refashion the Jesus of Palestine into a Western-size-fits-all Savior. The church may wake up to find that Jesus's time has come for the TGIF Culture becuse it is more organic than linear, more kinesis than stasis, more circle than square. For this reason, Googlers may be the best hope for the future of the church in the west.
Gutenbergers suited their times well. But in the Googler world - the age of experience, participation, image, and connection - Gutenbergers have proven to be unwilling to let go of their fixed position. Meanwhile Googlers, for a variety of reasons, are more adaptive to the future while being anchored in the past. To add to the sadness, many Gutenbergers are putting more and more distance between themselves and what God is doing in the world.
While the Googelers expend enormous amounts of energy seeking to satisfy their urge to connect, Gutenberger Christians continue to per sue their fascination with terminologies, definitions, formulas, and what Sigmund Freud called 'the narcissism of small differences'. While Googlers are getting by with acronyms and finding friends everywhere, Gutenbergers are delving into words about words that have been written about God's words. It's an overstatement, but in place of vulnerable, transparent, biblical relationships, Gutenburgers often choose a spiritual path that leads away from the practical outworking of life and faith and people."
(Leonard Sweet, Viral: Social Networking.....pg 18)
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