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ONLINE EDUCATION
Many people have no time resources to devote to traditional campus life
as a full time student. Still others have few opportunities within their
own denomination (for reasons just mentioned) to have access to the widest
range of theological education options, and online education gives both
access opportunity and diversity opportunity. It is up to the online program
to get connected to as many resources as possible, and to make them easily
obtainable and painlessly distributed (which doesn't mean it has to be
free, but it can be much more efficient from the view of both the student
and the educational consortium).
I have a feeling that the concept of the consortium will be much more
popular in the days ahead. The idea of networking resources will be conducive
to the forming of numerous cosortiums of educational nature. The theological
community should be present in this movement.
Community Models
The idea of "Cybergnosis"
Cybergnosis is defined as a kind of spiritual insight through technology
(according to the context in which I first read the term). I believe it
can happen for the church. I also place a big emphasis on the word "can".
I have just completed David's book, Theology in a Digital World. I am
reflecting upon the source of my enthusiasm for information technology
(after reading the final chapter of the book).
I think it comes first as a result of the community that I have experienced
because of my "online" travels. I had, previously to my going
online, been very interersted in the subject of Churches and Computers,
but primarily as a means of accessing relevant information and resources
in a quick and efficient manner. This attraction certainly has merit and
importance and remains one of my focal points in my ministry, but it was
not until I was immersed in Ecunet that I saw a wider context for computers
in the church. I began to see the ways in which I had been drawn in to
community with people whom I had, for the most part, never seen. I also
saw how I was being drawn out of myself in a way I had never experienced
in terms of feeling much less inhibited about the value to others of what
I had to say.
This seems to be a crucial element for the church to understand. People
must feel that they are valued and needed. The Church of the Saviour in
Washington DC consists of members who commit to a mission group, and in
that mission group they center on a particular mission and on each other
in common journey. They focus on both the inward journey and the outward
journey. What they discover is that this process is crucial to "the
calling forth of gifts" in each other; gifts they each contribute
to the work of the church. People are drawn into the work of a community
which demonstrates their commitment to support them.
I feel that there must be others out there who have found the experience
of Sunday church activity seriously lacking. It is not entertainment or
stimulating thought that is needed. It is the community. It seems that
it is becoming harder to provide a "program" or present a sermon
or service which provides sufficient motivation to seek involvement or
elicit interaction (even allow for or expect such a thing as interaction).
But it seems that some of these serendipity moments, where people discover
one another through personal sharing brought about by "interacting"
on a certain issue, are often what start an avalanche of motivation and
personal stirring that result in people giving of their energies and gifts
to meet some need for a particular ministry. In the programmed atmosphere
we have so often in the church, it is very difficult to provide enough
room for exploration and extended personal sharing.
I have found that I have shared more of myself in this past year online
than I had in the previous 7 before that, (including my time at seminary,
where I would say most of my sharing during those years took place in
that year and a half I was at United). I feel an obligation; no, a "call"
to help make more of that happen for more people. The opportunity is there
to spread the opportunities around to a wider audience via electronic
communities, and also in making available to these communities the vast
resources of the theological community.
While there are certainly benefits to face to face versions of these community
formations, it seems that there are many who are added who might otherwise
remain apart for whatever reason. There are reasons of personal prescence,
whether it be based on physical attributes or personal habits, or it may
be the voice. It could also be the particular style of initial contact
a person carries on (when meeting new people or taking part in various
public functions where the others are largely unknown to them). People
often respond to this initial "facade" or "interaction
ritual" of others by associating it with other people of similar
approach, similar appearance, and similar personal habits. Thes first
impressions are often very difficult to dispel.
This "layer" of social integration is totally different
online. It seems that there is a difference on both sides of
the interaction. Online, the pressure to respond in a timely
manner is much less. One can work out an intelligent reply.
There is also an illusion of the size of the audience we are
addressing. It is much different than talking to the same group
of people in person, in a public speech, or speaking up in a
classroom or group meeting, or even in Sunday School. Even those
who are much more comfortable and confident in public find it
easier to speak their mind when there is no issue of wasting someone
else's time. Others may read what we have to say, or ignore
it, or ponder it a while. We hear back from ones who are interested
in what we say, or ones who respond with a question. There
is little worry about getting a blank stare.
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