Online church

I just wrote this reply to a blog about online church being compared to fast food (http://blog.ourchurch.com/2009/07/09/online-church-spiritual-fast-food/) and thought I might post my thoughts on online church here.

I generally agree with his comparison to fast food.... Let me know what you think!

I really like online church, as last year I had to spend a year in Europe (sounds like punishment, doesn't it) and I had a hard time finding a church that I connected with. My church then started online church and I really had a great time staying in touch with my own church back home. So online church is a great alternative. It also provides some fun little things that real church doesn't...

• Globalisation: you are chatting live with a bunch of people about God from all different continents...
• Questions: The last few years have proven that people are far more open to ask hard questions when the speaker is not live in front of them! Some of us are more bold when it's online and will ask questions of others and/or the speaker that we would not ask in person (it's the age old mask thing) I would probably not make this comment if it weren't for being online!
• Dress Code: I LOVED being at church in my PJ's, slurping a coffee and dancing through the house to the worship being played! I would never do that at my church and honestly, people thank me for that! :)

Online church is fantastic, but we need real people in our life! We need real friends who see us, who can speak into our life and that will point out to us that we should not apply to America's got talent!
But every now and then, just like fast food, online church is so fun and fantastic!

I strongly suggest to someone who ONLY does online church, to try and get a group of friends together that are committed Christians that would do life with them. Not everything has to happen inside a church building....

Of course there need to be some sort of a boundary. Like accountability to someone other than yourself!

squares...

Squares are an annoying shape when you realise most of life is rectangular...

A square blanket is not very helpful when you're taller than wider (the basic shape of a rectangle and also a pretty good situation when it's about your body shape)

A square looking trash liner is of no help when you're trying to find where it opens.

A square T shirt means you're only half covered.

So what is so exciting about squares??? Nothing! That's what it is! Each side of the square is the same... There's no change, nothing exciting coming up, except a corner and then exactly the same amount of way til the next corner...

Life should be more than square! I will try and make it that! :)

The talking head up front

The more I think about it, the more I think that the talking head up front concept is coming to an end. I see it in my own life... And I am old...

Seriously though... In times of google and wikipedia and all sorts of other resources on the internet, why would I voluntarily sit down and listen to someone who's only got a very limited amount of knowledge? And by now the internet is not only at home, but it's with a lot of us wherever we go via the phone.

So even sitting in church on a Sunday morning is sometimes a bit of a drag, because I actually LIKE thinking for myself. We sometimes think that the internet is taking away from independent thinking, but I think it might be adding to it! Suddenly you have so many different ideas and things and you will have to figure out for yourlself on how to actually find the truth!

So what about the talking head up front? If the talking head up front manages to keep my attention for more than 20 minutes, then it's usually because he's using visual aids like videos etc or he's presenting it in a way that makes sense. I certainly do not like it if information is just dumped on me! I mean, who these days does?

The dumping of information assumes that a) I'm actually interested (which half the time I am not... So you got to work on getting me there) and b) I can retain that information (I am blonde, so that is a challenge at times) and c) I will use that information (usually the dumping of information means it's far too much information to remember and to use!)

I like Andy Stanley's approach to speaking! He answers these kind of questions:

What does my audience need to know?

Why do they need to know it?

What do they need to do?

Why do they need to do it?

How can I help them remember?

(that's from his book "Communicate for a change")

I would love to figure out the next generation's 'talking head'. How is this next generation going to learn?

At YWAM we do a lot of teaching and often times produce blank stares... So in YWAM we also need to think about how we can reach this generation in a way that makes sense to them.

Any ideas?