|
| |
|
Tuesday, February 11, 2003 |
|
|
Ian has a few pointers about not abusing ourselves at our computer related work:
"As we use computers for longer hours every day, we may notice increasing aches and pains in some parts of our bodies. These musculoskeletal problems can happen in anyone who uses a computer for long hours. The problems can range from minor muscle aches that last less than a few hours to persistent tendon problems that can last for years. The more severe problems can lead people to leave a job they like or stop doing sports activities they enjoy, like tennis or bicycle riding. So we should do what we can to prevent the minor aches of work from progressing to disabling conditions. " (click the above link to see the rest of the article)
10:36:19 AM 
|
|
|
Another in a plethora of good tips and insights from an article written almost 3 years ago, Creating A Congregational Web Site
Congregations choosing to develop web sites should make at least the same level of human resource commitment to it that they do to the Sunday bulletin or monthly newsletter.
10:21:34 AM
|
|
|
More goodies from Creating A Congregational Web Site:
Does the "look" and "feel" of the web site really portray the image the congregation wants to project?
This image is so important. A welcoming , story-rich, story-encouraging website that expresses an authentic human voice witnessing to the activity of God in their midst is such a powerful tool. My own life was forever changed and shaped by the initial act of "reading a story" which told a tale of a people who began a community called The Church of the Saviour in Washington , DC, and these stories compelled me to meet with people who were reading these stories and were wondering aloud about how a community modeled after this would take shape among us. The stories and the meetings and the relationships built around this seeking drove me to later vistit on three separate occasions the location where The Church of the Saviour built it's first "Headquarters" and where they began a coffeehouse that cam eto be known as The Potter's House. If books could instill an energy that shaped my journey and brought me into contact with others along the way (as it did yet again in 1995-96 as I participated in a group seeking to be a "Servant Leadership School" in Cincinnati). The people who say that online community and online stories cannot help build ftf community are missing the clear fact that Books (like, uh, the Bible) and other later stories published in books, have long been the impetus of stirrings to find that which has been written about and "those things which we have seen and heard". If we can get people in our churches to "log" and to "testify" to the happenings amongst them and within them in the context of a community of faith, the Web becomes a CRUCIAL TOOL FOR POSSIBILITY.
10:06:52 AM
|
|
|
This is so "key" to an overall philosophy /theology of online theological community: hospitality. To welcom and encouarge the stranger, and to make them "not stranger" but a fellow seeker.
a natural network of relationships builds up as members of different congregations collaborate via the Internet to support hospitality to newcomers (from Creating A Congregational Web Site)
9:51:15 AM
|
|
|
A sobering thought (at least it should be) on warpping the Bible and the Church in a flag and blind patriotism, from Ethics Daily
by Bob Fox 02-11-03
Our resident theologian, Ben Wirzba, age 4, elbowed his dad during a recent service. His active mind had fixed on the large cross hanging over our baptistery. "You know what you get when you turn the cross upside down??" he asked. Quickly he supplied the answer: "You get a sword!" (Click this entry's title to see the whole article on EthicsDaily.com)
9:42:06 AM
|
|
|
I've got to try and find this guy (Thomas Walker, who wrote this article Creating A Congregational Web Site). Did he ever get a Church to join him in this vision? He states it so clearly and so well.
Internet technology can play an important role as evangelism teams search the Web for compatible congregations in regions where new friends live.
9:32:51 AM
|
|
|
More great stuff from the article Creating A Congregational Web Site
It is important to remember that online community is different from the physical community of a congregation. Face-to-face community is often held together by charismatic, articulate leadership that has roots in the physical presence of individuals. Online community actually favors those who write well, are thoughtful, and are kind. On the Internet, shyness is less of a barrier and can actually enable empathetic caring and witness. Age, gender, race, physical impairment, etc., are not nearly the barriers to online community that they are in the average local congregation. A faithful venture in witness through the Internet may be able to draw on a congregation's untapped resources and release new power for mission.
Amen. There is freedom experienced in many ways, and this freedom brings together people from both groups. People who may well NOT be writers can still read in most cases, and can "catch on" to the stories and personalities of people who have yet to emerge from their social shell. Being affirmed in ftf settings by "readers" has a way of instilling additional confidence in our traditional settings personas. Online community enhances the chances. The chances of "finding comon ground" and "sharing our journeys.
9:22:35 AM
|
|
In many important ways a well-managed congregational web site will gently integrate congregational communication into the everyday lives of members.
This article (from where the above quote comes) from Fuller Seminary and Thomas Walker has the kind of flavor with which I can resonate. It emphasizes the importance of a Church's Website as a way of "telling a story" and seeking to find ways to "integrate the life of the user with the life of the Church; or for those to whom this has already happened (and hopefully there is a few of those), to help them extend their connections with others, their "schedule" and their connection to News in the world which is of concern to them in their daily living out of their faith (which hopefully will cover a lot of the news in the world today -- ie the consideration and deliberations toward war, and other concerns like those I have with the many areas of potential harm that can be inflicted by the Bush administration across the board: environment, economy, social justice, and on and on and on. There are people in the Churches that I have been involved with in these past 6 years who need something like these kinds of Church Webs to "keep their spirtual juices" going even when they are not "gathered together". I feel so "drawn" to the communty of faith at moments when I long to be "present in the flesh", and so online discussions, email, Web site news, Weblogs of others and writing my own, searching for OTHERS who are writing about similar thngs and similar concerns--- all of these are precious ----or like the mastercard commerical says: Priceless.
People of theological communities; people of the Church, sit up and take notice. "Get a Clue". Tell our story, and start by telling yours, and encourage others to do the same. We can do this. Many people have. Let's put some investment into increasing the value of the network by bringing our faith to bear on it. Lets "be present". That takes more than putting our bulletins and calendars and directions to the Church, and even our sermons on a web page. We need pictures, people, their stories, and the chronicles of our journey with a God who calls us to penetrate at all levels of society. Let's not be "strangers" in the culture that is cyberspace.
9:00:04 AM
|
|
| |
