Shane Hipps book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and the Church offers the intriguing point of view that the tools we use effects, our outlook on the world, and also how our culture interprets the Gospel in light of this perspective.  In many ways, I believe Hipp's is on to something here. He argues that the inventions of the telegraph (non-contextual information), radio (corporate auditory exerience over distance), and photography (visual concreat intuative impressions) are replacing the personal, linear, abstract, and rational thinking associated with the printing press.  Carl Hoffman provided a good overview of Hipps book in his blog Latte Life at the Crossroads and asked a key question "Couldn't social media networking pave the way for more frequent and focused face-to-face human contacts?"

My response to this is Yes, social networking can provide more frequent interaction, and in doing so provide more intimacy between individuals by providing on-going glimpses into each other's lives. This provides a personal context for the weekly encounter in the Atrium between worship services with a chance encounter on the street, and makes those all too brief discussions much more meaningful and powerful. However, what's more important is the implicit agreement between two individuals upon Which social network or electronic medium to use and to actually Use it. Without having a common environment, the conversations simply don't happen. Or discussions are held by part of the group (or congregation), but the rest are unaware of where and and what is taking place.

This is where I think the church leadership can facilitate ministry in the community, by intentionally understanding and participating in the top one or two online communities being used by the congregation.  This does require familiarity with the tools of these community, developing new habits, and an agreed upon communication strategies, such as publicly commenting (the verbally in person) on issues and themes which arise in online communities or devoting a portion of each workweek to comment and respond (textually on the net) within a community.

However, we as a congregation need to provide feedback as to wether or not there is value or need for an active ministral engagement in our on-line communities. If there is consensus that more of an on-line presence would help cultivate a spiritual community and foster a Christ like character, we'll need to do some research here though and find out what on-line 'places and spaces' are the most popular and who is actively using them.

Let us hear your thoughts.