Human Beings, Not Market Sectors

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So the Churches flop on this one almost across the board.  The Church success game is mostly about putting on the event,  and surrounding it with all the "experience" which is ,  popularly speaking,  to be immersed in high-tech media.  I don't downplay effectiveness of that,  but all that "investment" in that technology doesn't have its balancing investments in relational organization;  in providing opportunities for the kind of relationship to which we are called to be present.  And here,  my vision is drawn to the living out of community as exemplified in the life and structures of The Churchof the Saviour in Washington, D.C.

The key difference in looking at people as human and not market sectors is to celebrate individuality;  in theological terms,  it is recognizing and discovering our gifts,  and what these gifts enable us to contribute to the building of a Christian community and its mission.   Central to the Cluetrain philosophy is that we enable people to thrive by letting them have their voice; and this concept is a secular close relative equivalent of the theology of gifts;  that the unique blend that we each are as human beings is of inestimatable value to the creator,  and that it is this "blend of blends" that is in full play when a Church is about the business of discerning together who they are,  and what God is calling them to do.  A Church could find few tools as powerful as things like Weblogs and supporting Web technologies to weave together a marvelous resource for sharing themselves with one another.  Even in smaller Churches,  but particularly as they get larger,  people can learn about the things which others in the community hold dear,  and discover common ground that months and years of participation in public church events would never reveal,  or do so extremely rarely.

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© Copyright 2003 Dale Lature. Last update: 9/23/2003; 3:38:32 PM.