Church as a Web 2.0 Model at Custard In The Ether

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Church as a Web 2.0 Model

By admin | October 1, 2008

In the beginning there was a thought….

…and the thought was thus:

“Church is a community, not a physical place: the Internet is a community, not a physical place”

Within my local church community the vicars have been fighting a battle to change the way we use language when referring to church - emphasising the difference between “church” and “the church building” and “church events”. Church itself is supposed to be a community - a set of connections between people reaching out to connect with outside people, completely independently of the physical bricks and mortar of the building we habitually use for the practice.

The reinforcement of this point made me think of online communities, which exist purely as connections between people, as there is no physical communal space involved - only a virtual one. Having spent so much time studying Web 2.0 communities, I was inspired to brainstorm other ways in which church fits in with Web 2.0 principles. So the thought process evolved…

“Church is a collaborative environment: the Internet is a collaborative environment.”

I’ve lost count of the number of times I have heard a preacher emphasise how much the various services and events are collaborative efforts - the number of people involved in “doing” church is usually exhausting to list. There are the flower arrangers, the cleaners, the tea/coffee makers, the worship leaders, then ushers, the church wardens, increasingly the technicians… all coming together at least once a week to collaborate in the production of a shared event/experience. As a digital writer/creator, I have found that a major driving factor in most Internet successes is collaboration and collaborative experience. Communities form online around collaborative projects and groups take ownership of such content which can be remixed and debated within the community. This led me on to…

“Church relies on user-generated content.”

This is where the theologians can start picking me to pieces I am sure. However, a great deal of the material involved in the way we “do” church is user-generated (albeit God-inspired, depending on your personal beliefs!). Everything from the worship music to the prayers to the sermons could be considered as user-generated content which is shared and commented upon within the context of church.

I could go on - looking at the distance learning model set by Paul in his various letters or the constant status updates we send (Twitter-like) to God in prayer - but I don’t want to get carried away. Basically, the parallels between church - or perhaps collective religious expression in general? - and Web 2.0 are quite striking. Having meandered into this line of reasoning, I am now looking for ways in which the reality of church can (and is) being translated into the virtual realm. What might it gain or loose in this translation? What strategies are individual church groups using to incorporate Web 2.0 equivalents to compliment the similar activities they are doing offline? What might an entirely Web 2.0/web-native church be like? Would it escape the materialistic fixation with ceremony and bricks and mortar that physical churches have to battle in order to prioritise the community focus?

A lot more thinking to be done, as always. However, serendipitously, my long-ago-ordered copy of “Religion & Cyberspace” arrived this morning, so with all this in mind I better get tucking in…

Topics: christianity, community, internet, new media, prayer, religion |

2 Responses to “Church as a Web 2.0 Model”

Kristin Says:
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Hey! I like it. Have you read Vernard Eller’s :The Outward Bound: Caravaning as a Style of the Church”? It’s on the web now. He died last year. It’s about church being of the laity rather than solely a production of the the professional clergy. The title comes from the question of Cafeteria imagery versus Caravan as church model.
http://www.hccentral.com/eller4/index.html
Tia Azulay Says:
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hi Custard, nice post. I think the comparison you draw is very interesting. It reminds me of the musings of my very good friend Nic who is involved in both digital art and redefining the church experience. You might enjoy a bit of idea cross-pollination with him… see http://soundandsilence.wordpress.com/ and also the discussion at http://capeconversation.wordpress.com.

Church as a Web 2.0 Model

2 Responses to “Church as a Web 2.0 Model”

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