I may seem to be, to those around me, somewhat lacking in “outgoing” qualities, and then, when I’m not, I often feel I am perceived as “Nerdy”; getting all juiced about something that is not clicking at the same pitch and energy as it is within the other person. That is particularly true when it comes to some of my thoughts about the Church and its use of the Web and related technologies. I am becoming increasingly hopeful that my present job will be moving into an implementing stage of some of this in the very near future. But in the meantime, I long to find a Church community that not only sees the potentail in this, but seeks a way to incorporate it as mission. I deeply believe that it is a vital needed structure for thw Church to implement for the sake of communicating the vast range of personal thoughts, individual faith stories, descriptions of various outposts in one’s journey, and collaborative technologies that help us to keep in touch more often and more fully.

Now I do not believe that this can be done without some physical community intentions and/or copmponent to it. But this also not to say that it has to START with a physical communityh. I belive that physical communities; face-to-face (ftf) communities can develop as a result of various folks discovering local people resources that they were not aware of, because they just happen to miss the various traditonal communications that were inviting them to participate. Also, an existing ftf community can greatly expand the reach of the stories of its participants via the use of Web trchnologies such as blogs, forums, data-driven calendars and resource lists, etc.

I have grown into the “Church and the Web” as mission as I have learned the technologies, experienced the power of the “VIrtual Community”, and envisioned the possibilities to “distribute” more widely the experience of sharing faith stories, sense of call, personal struggles, corporate experience (the experience of people as a community and the journey to find corporate expression as a body). The Church of the Saviour “reached out” with their stories via the pen of Elizabeth O’Connor’s books that related the history and journey of The Church of the Saviour. And this was a traditional print-based outreach. But it reached many in far away places, and was powerful enough to instill in readers the urge and calling to pilgrimage to Washington DC and see this thing. The Web, and Weblogs, and forums, and portable technologies (ala Smart Mobs) hold so much possibility; the Church of the Saviour could increase its reach dramatically, and also “resource” its existing “member base” and “intern base” in dramtic fashion. Their Servant Leadership School has been providign resources of classic stature for years; they need to provide and encourage Web-based communities that also stress implementation at the local level. Their list of resources alone is invaluable and a Must-have for today’s Church. Today’s Church needs the prophetic insight and witness of this community that has gtten it right to a degree that far outdistances the efforts (or lack thereof) of most of Christendom. If that sounds a little strong, be aware that everybody I know who has been touched by this community is keenly aware of how the Church in general is sorely lacking in almost every area. But let is also be known that I also believe that this model is available to those communities who make a commitment to be a “New Community”, and listen and explore the urgings of the prescence of God that calls; The Church of the Saviour began with Call, and all its missions begin with Call.

Somehow, there is a place for Web Ministry; there are needed elements where Web technologies can provide a container and a structure that can lead to connected-ness of story, connectedness of resources, and connectedness of Call; so that these things can be shared to the extent they were intended, and provide another way of telling the story of the “things which we have seen and heard and experienced”.