One of many signs of the increasing awareness of the importance of technology for ministry was The Clergy Journal’s April/May 2011 edition’s theme: Technology and Community: Building Community. Keith Howard, past executive director of the Emerging Spirit initiative of the United Church of Canada, and Aaron McCarroll Gallegos, executive producer of wondercafe.ca, contributed an article entitled “Technology and Community Building,” which includes these challenging words:
Social media creates new ways of relating with one another – in the local church and the global sphere – based on networks of shared interests and passions. In some locales the new networks will replace gatherings in physical space; in others they will supplement the traditional experience of church. More than ever, relationships will be what the church is all about.
. . . Within the conversation, authority no longer rises from position or rank – another significant change in practice, if not in theory, for the church. Authority now flows from the value of insight and contribution to the conversation (p.53).
The authors conclude their brief article by calling upon readers to formulate and engage deep ecclesiological questions (p.53).
So What?
While we must recognize that virtual presence and community are not the same as in person presence and face-to-face community, we must also be careful not to label either as an exclusive way of being church nor to uphold either as a timeless ideal. Toward that end, I outlined the three options Christians have for answering the question Is Virtual Community Real Community?
I appreciate the opportunity to participate in many communities and number among them the real communities that gather together in the same physical space as well as those who assemble virtually.
As you consider your own local church, which area of community building do you see as the greater challenge over the next few years: on campus or online? Why? What resources has your parish committed to overcome the obstacles that might impede this growth? How do these two expressions of community work together to strengthen the church?