*We say its a competition… we have no prizes or anything so please dont get too excited…
Archives For Church Life
Image purchased by Digital Fingerprint from iStockphoto
Once upon a time, not too long ago, I pondered online what to do for a #digidisciple post. There was a suggestion that as prep for this years Christian New Media Conference, I should look at ‘story’…
I guess I don’t have a story to tell here, more a stream of consciousnesses…
So do we actually hear many stories in the church? I guess we tell Bible stories in church, but do we tell our stories? When I hear about stories being told in church, I think less of the Bible and I picture people giving their testimonies. The church I used to go along to made a big deal of people standing up and sharing their “testimony” (Normally the story of how they became a Christian), while the church I go along to now doesn’t seem to make a big deal out of people sharing their testimony, but maybe this is a Baptist / Anglican thing?
The thing about testimonies is that even though they are known for a telling of how you became a Christian, they are also known for telling of what God has done in your life recently. What if we don’t feel God is doing anything special right now? Is the church only excited about people sharing exciting stories of grace and lives being changed?
Do we only tell stories in Church that have a start and a finish point? Is life that neat and tidy?
We’ve looked at enough stats on the Big Bible to suggest we live in a world that now partly exists online.
The wonderful thing about today’s Twitter and Facebook influenced world, is that we all have a way of telling the story of our lives, which is what’s happening with personal stories being shared ranging from being jobless to expecting a new child. With people sharing their stories to a world that they hope is listening, I do wonder, what stories does the Church seem interested in? Is there enough space for the sharing of our personal stories? Is your church Twitter account used to advertise events and services, or is it also used to retweet news from other people? Is there encouragement within your church to meet up face to face? Does your church Facebook page get advertised in order for awareness of it to be increased?
I guess a quote from last years Christian New Media Conference could sum this all up.
Share your life online. Someone may be better off because of it.
- What place do you think Storytelling has in church?
- What are the best examples of personal story telling that you’ve found online?
- How do we tell someone else’s story?
This post originally appeared on The Big Bible
Welcome to this weeks edition of the weekly round up:
- Norman Ivison over at Missional Musings looks at 8 ways to keep young adults out of your church, very useful reading for some people! (with thanks to @freshexpression for the tip)
- The guys over at Church Mag, argue why you shouldn’t tweet during a sermon. How do you feel about people who tweet during a sermon?
- Dean Roberts looks at a brand new type of social network!
- Chris wonders what the church could learn from Apple?
- Phil Cooke shares how he finds inspiration.
- … and finally… Vic The Vicar provides evidence that THAT ukraine goal wasn’t over the line…
Ecumenical isn’t the easiest word to say…
Continue Reading...Ok.
So over the last two Tuesdays we’ve looked at where Church should meet. We’ve looked at if it should meet in a church building, or someones home / flat / school / shed etc… What about online?
Hope you dont mind, but in order to finish off looking at where church meets, I’ve fished the below out from the archives. This post originally appeared on the Big Bible website:
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Available from http://www.twelvebaskets.co.uk/view/images/people-online-church
This post is going to be a mess, but hopefully in a good way. Hopefully you’ll see why. Hopefully I’m not about to kill the Big Bible readership in one foul swoop.
I was going to write about my day…
You see, I’m not a morning person. Yet somehow between when I stumble bleary eyed out of bed, and putting one foot in front of the other as I walk out the door, I have already checked Twitter.
I get on the bus, and if I remember, I try and read a Bible chapter on the iPhone. While a friend of mine across the city uses his YouVersion Android app to run through a Bible Reading Plan. While this is going on, other people receive teaching from famous voices on podcasts, have personal worship times thanks to the MP3s on their headphones, and can connect with other like minded Christians via Twitter.
Every couple of weeks, a friend and I meet up after work. Have a beer, share in each others lives, and work though the Bible. Obviously not by using a book… but by using our smart phones.
I was going to share my worries that maybe we’re making it too easy for people to feel they didn’t need to go to Church. I was going to ponder if online communities like Twitter, ease of access to worship tunes, and ability to watch sermons online were giving people the chance to have their church on tap.
But maybe I was being too harsh? I was going to post something like the above, but then a @bigdaddywhaleposted the below on Twitter:
I belong to many expressions of church. My favourite right now is Twitter. Thank you my family.
If that left me thinking, what he followed up with was almost like a slap around the face:
This is my #Digichurch this is where I heal my hurts
Many expressions of Church… Twitter. The Pub. Google Hangouts. Sunday Mornings. An Online Service.
The end of Acts Chapter 2, tells of the early Church meeting in each others homes, sharing in each others lives. Are we simply just doing the same thing in our digital lives? Just on Twitter accounts, blogs, and Google Plus pages?
If we are living lives in a digital space, do we need to have a rethink about what it means to be Church?
So I’m sorry.
That was all a bit messy. But isn’t that what it’s like to be in a church any way?
- ”This is My Church, This is where I heal my hurts” – Taken from the Faithless tune: “God is a DJ“
Hello, and welcome to the this weeks weekly roundup:
- @JoRoyal talks churches, Twitter, and if its peoples “thing”.
- @OlMoore reminds us to look at far we’ve come…
- Vicky Beeching looks at the growing trend of buying Twitter followers.
- Vic The Vicar shares some feedback he’s received…
- We’ve updated our 12 baskets portfolio…
- … and finally try tweeting a photo of what church means to you, with the hashtag: #thisischurch then check it out on thisischurch.me
I imagine that if we were to list the questions asked by church going folks over the ages, one of the oldest might well be: “Where do we ‘do’ Church?” Where should people meet together as a community of believers?
So for the next two weeks we’re going to be asking: “Should Church meet in a church or a shed?”
Available from http://www.twelvebaskets.co.uk/view/images/allotment-plot-with-shed-empty-chair-and-green-vegetables-chippi
Now, I just want to be clear. I don’t really mean a shed. I mean any building that isn’t a “church building”, so therefore schools, homes, pubs, sheds etc…
This week, we’re going to look at why Church should meet in a shed? (With thanks to our sample group who offered a lot of opinions on the subject)
- Churches that don’t meet in a Church Building, don’t have to worry about fixing the spire.
- We can keep the focus on meeting where people are.
- Its easier to invite someone to church in your home… Apparently.
- Need to put a chair stacking rota together? Meet in someones home… they already have chairs.
- Find it difficult to find something to lean when you make sermon notes? Meet in a pub… they have tables!!!
- No cold church halls!!!
- You’re not going to have everyone complain about the tea
- Meet in a pub? Get a pint.
- Meeting in peoples homes increases the chances of sharing each others lives and journeys…
- By meeting in a shed you can be thankful you don’t have to be “distracted” by maintenance issues… thereby making you far more spiritual then that lot up the road that meet in an old unusable church building…
Next week, we’ll look at why the Church should meet in a church building
- Does your Church meet away from a church building?
- Any particular reason why?
Communion, (otherwise known as Holy Communion, Eucharist, The Lord’s Supper, The Breaking of Bread, and Mass) is an act of Christian worship which involves sharing bread and wine between the people present. This is to remember The Last Supper and the events that followed it.
A solemn act of worship to remember the ultimate act of love.
Sadly sometimes people do take communion for various reasons:
- Because Church happens so early in the morning that you skipped breakfast… And that bread looks good.
- Because you’re in the church worship band, and every gig needs alcohol.
- It’s a rite of passage.
- It’s kinda the reason why we are there in the first place…
- If you’re a Christian and have a drink early on a Sunday morning, that’s ok and socially acceptable.
- Because if you take a big enough lump of bread, you can save money on lunch…
- Because (by sharing one cup between many people) we prove Christians don’t get ill.
- Because seeing how high Jesus’ blood alcohol level is, makes us a little less guilty about our own.
- Because they have real wine… and your last church used the non alcoholic stuff…
- Think how long the sermon would be if the communion wasn’t there, as such people take Communion because they’re thankful.
Any other reasons?
Welcome to the weekly roundup for this week:
- Getting us started… the Liturgy blog has picked up on the campaign by Biblical Missiology against some choices that organisations like Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL are making in their Bible translations
- Archbishop Cranmer brings a very sensible response to the said “campaign”. (On a personal note, I’ve heard how great these translations are, and how much they help discussing Christ in a non Western context. Long may the great work of Wycliffe and others continue!)
- Richard Littledale has a well spent 30 seconds.
- The Rev Giles Fraser asks Richard Dawkins a simple question…
- Continuing the Mars Hill / Church Discipline saga, christianitytoday.com has a story on leaders being “removed from ministry” (h/t
@Maylor ) - …in case you missed it, it was Valentines day this week… here are 10 ways to have a horrible first date if you’re a Christian.
Well. The news is filled with reports of how cold its going to get this weekend, so stay in – and give this list a read!
- Richard Littledale reminds us Gods promises.
- The eChurch blog looks at the most search Bible passage on Biblegateway.com
- There have been an interesting amount of comments recently about the issue of discipline at the Mars Hill churches in America. Possibly out of these comments, marshillrefuge.blogspot.com has been formed. I’d recommend checking out the first post before passing judgement to quickly.
- Phil Maylor plays Wheres Jesus?
- The Baptist website Beyond400 wonders a world without denomination
- As someone who feels a little separated from Manchester at points… I cant help but feel a little intrigued by praylovemanchester.com. If you’re based in Manchester, it may be worth keeping an eye on this.
- … And Finally… The Church Mouse has returned for a one blog post about Ladies Hats…