The Church Sofa

1. Include. Don’t exclude.

Community matters and the more inclusive the community is the more resourceful and broader reaching it can be. Geeks get this intrinsically. The Church? Not so much. You are sometimes more likely to hear church folk quoting Jesus saying, “I am the way,” in order to exclude someone, than you are to hear them quote him saying, “Judge not,” in order to include them. We should take a cue from my geek brethren on this one.

2. Other paradigms make the world better not frightening.

Just try telling a “Vampire Diaries” geek that vampires can eat human food. “Um, no they can’t.” Put them in conversation with a “Twilight” fan and then they are all, “Yeah, I can totally get that.” Conversely, tell a Baptist that you can sprinkle water on the head for a baptism, and they’ll tell you “Um, no you can’t.” Put them into a conversation with a Presbyterian and then they are all, “You are so wrong.” Geeks get that their fandom matters more than the dogma — even though the dogma matters. Speaking of which…

3. Dogma is for guidance not final formation.

We church folk sometimes let the dogma get in the way of the destination. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rules and regulations to the point that they become the end all be all — even when they sometimes run counter to key teachings of Jesus. Geeks don’t. For them while the dogma is good and even life giving, when it is getting in the way of the bigger story or even the larger community, they have no problem getting a dogma transfusion. Time Lords never break the First Law of Time — except when they do.

4. Be obsessive — not obnoxious.

There’s nothing wrong with geeking out over something. It’s actually really, really good (and a lot of fun to boot), and in some ways church folk have been quite good at this. I mean, just ask a life-long church goer what it means to be “saved.” They will go on and on and on about Jesus and the crucifixion and sin and salvation and they won’t let up — even if you ask them to stop. You know, on second thought, don’t ask them about it. You see, there is a difference between obsessing over something and being obnoxious about it. No means no. Learn where the line is.

5. New is good.

It’s sort of strange. God is frequently found in Scripture doing a new thing and even says it out loud, “Look, I’m about to do a new thing!” OK, we get it already! Except we don’t. Frequently, Christians are found resisting change. That’s not true with geeks. A new season of our favorite show? Yes! A new take on the intricacies of the space-time continuum? Excellent! New interior of the TARDIS? Well, OK, there are exceptions to every rule. So, it’s mostly true with geeks. It is also part of why the culture is going to be around for some time to come. Some would argue it goes back as far as Celtic Druids. Appreciation and even excitement about all things new is part of what gives a movement the ability to adapt to change. (But seriously, Moffat, a new TARDIS interior? I guess it’ll grow on me).

Read the rest over at Huffington Post.