Web Development Calling

I have been struggling with what my next step will be.  I have been standing back and doing what I consider basic and simple tasks,  which fall far short of my full vision for what Church Webs can be.  A "Web-site Commmittee" has met,  but when I sat back and "tested" to see if anybody would come back to me and ask "How can we do task A" and start doing it now? Nobody did.  I feel that the larger vision,  which includes Weblog writing,  writing of testimony about what a particular ministry or group has done for a person,  and continued writing about how a ministry is hapening....none of these have taken hold.  Indeed,  the whole idea of conversing online seems alien and even "dangerous" to some. 

I'd have to agree.  It IS dangerous. It's extremely dangerous.  But that DANGER is neccessary.  It may put us in danger of becoming CHURCH in a new way.   The discussion around what happened in our community immediately following Sept. 11, 2001 was an indicator of what many had thought was a point of omission in the corporate life of our community: speaking the truth to power.  To be silent on that first Sunday after the 9/11 events seemed to many to be a glaring deficiency.  A message board to which everyone was invited was a source of offense to some,  and others wondered if it was appropriate to "air our dirty laundry". 

Even prior to these disagreements,  I experienced an opposition to exploring the area of Website investment as mission.  Again,  in two "official" gatherings designed to explore these issues,  resistance to the idea was expressed.  "Websites are really just informational";  meaning something like "brochureware".   Some took this approach becuase they had the impression from the previous online discussion about the Sunday following 9/11 that online discussions provide an opportunity to "gripe".   What had happened ,  however,  is that exactly none of the other offerings designed to invite dialogue elicited a response.  The Council of Bishops President made a statement opposing  impending "preemptive" war on Iraq,  and NOBODY commented.   A statement drafted by Sojourners on a Christian response to terroirism was posted,  and no dialogue happened. 

Much of the problem stems from the fact that there is absolutely NO encouragement from the Church leadership.  Member Websites are listed in the "Official" Church e-mail,  but mine is not among them.  I feel resistant to asking why.  I take it as an offense.  Here is my "area of call" to which I am devoting all my energies,  both volunteer and vocationally,  and I am experiencing no confirmation of this from the place (the Church) which holds the responsibility to be an enabler of call,  and a resource to build the structures that would utilize this call.

It is a point of great frustration that among our number,  many of whom certainly know how to seek out and explore Web sites,  and in the midst of a people whose calling is to help each other discover their calling and then support and celebrate that calling when it is identified,  that there is nobody reading what I am offering.  One Church member who has been the most encouraging of me and my efforts has circulated the URL of my writings to members of the Website committee,  and nobody has commented on them besides her.  I get the feeling noone has even taken a look.  This strikes me as moving against the spirit of discerning mission,  and against the inclination we should have to provide an atmosphere of affirmation for the journey which leads us all toward that which God is calling us to do with our gifts.

As the the chairperson of the Communications Committee, Lauren has taken steps to raise the possibility that there is something to explore in my vision,  and also to say that "Dale needs help" becuase he cannot do it alone.  This is true in more than one sense.  I cannot provide all of the content,  nor even be expected to be the one who does all the updates.  It may be possible to update Sunday information and GraceNotes and the occasional new page,  but to be "a Church on the web" and produce an accurate and up to date account of our life together and our sense of mission,  it is not possible to funnel it all to my desktop.   And here is where my energies reach a point of being tapped out.  I can no more sustain this than someone who sits in a Bible Study week after week with the nagging sense that something is missing. 

When I came to this Church,  I immediatly felt that here was a people who made it a point to "speak the truth to power" in a number of ways.  Here also was a people who were about reconciliation,  and about discovering mission.  As I began to envision what story needed to be told,  I saw in the diversity of outreach already being offered in various ministries that here was a Church with the variety of missions that called out for their story to be shouted from the rooftops.  Here was a people who were socially and politically engaged for the purpose of proclaiming liberty to the captives,  and did it very specifically.  Here was a people who were about a radical notion of reconcilaition and affirmed the unestimable worth of the individual before God in a variety of persons,  however otherwise labeled by society.   These realities of this community are the stuff of which powerful stories are made. 

There are stories waiting to be heard amongst us.  The stories are not just for the Web public but for the internal life of our community,  upon which our very health as a people of God depend.  We are so cut off at many points from the journeys of one another.  Corporate worship depends for its strength and undergirding on a sense of being on journey together,  and without a deeper dedication to knowing the journeys,  we will not have a clue about how to affirm gifts in one another,  or even be aware of what needs celebrating amongst us.

This kind of reflection is never finished.  But it is neccessary for us to keep returning to it.  It is always the option available to us other than throwing in the towel.  Always, in the midst of any structure for containing Christian community,  the spirit blows where it will,  challenging,  calling,  confronting.    I am about the task of how to "communicate" this "activity" that God is doing,  encouraging,  and accomplishing,  as well as that which God still seeks response.  It is only when we are able to articulate this vision of the Kingdom of God in our midst that we can find our own place in it,  and in so doing, produce testimony that will help others who seek a place for expression of their own call. 

© Copyright 2003 Dale Lature. Last update: 9/23/2003; 3:38:41 PM.