I see Church publishers and organizations providing us with plenty of “religious versions” of “marketer-speak’;  phrases and lingo that does not quite ring true.  Absent,  are the “testimonies”,  the expressions;  the passion.  CHurches and their “communication” agencies have been mysteriiously absent from any discussions ,  say for instance,  in the “Social Software” arena.  The Pope’s Astrophysicist article in WIRED back Continue Reading

Commerce is a natural part of human life, but it has become increasingly unnatural over the intervening centuries, incrementally divorcing itself from the people on whom it most depends, whether workers or customers. While this change is in many ways understandable — huge factories took the place of village shops; the marketplace moved from the center of the town and Continue Reading

In looking through the intro in The Cluetrain Manifesto,  the following stand out and strike me very theologically: Because the Internet is so technically efficient, it has also been adopted by companies seeking to become more productive What is “productivity” in the Church context.  Is it not very near and dear to the heart of the mission of the Church Continue Reading

Doesn’t it say something extremely bad about the Church when I feel more “at home” and “valued” by the online community than I do when I’m “at Church”?  This morning, looking through my News Feeds,  I see Dave Winer’s post : Theoblogical explains how Cluetrain applies to churches. I had emailed Doc, Chris Locke, and David Weinberger yesterday with this email: Continue Reading

The Web itself is a good case inpoint that illustrates how Hyperlinks indeed subvert Heirarchy.  Church related folks are already out there “subverting”,  doing Weblogs, linking to valuable conversations,  thinking about how this thing called the Web can help the Communication tasks in the Church.  Staff to Members,  staff to staff,  layleaders to members, staff and layleaders to public;  how Continue Reading

There seems to be a deadly arrogance amongst Christian publishers that THEY know better than the “customer” what the customer wants or needs.  I’ve  heard people say that online discussions would only promote “people who don’t know what they’re talking about”.   While  it is certain that there will be “unwanted” opinions,  isn’t that just too bad?  How dare we insinuate Continue Reading

It is a cardinal sin of the Church and its organizations to avoid the “masses”.  On site after site,  Church site,  denomination site,  Publisher site,  almost to a tee there is a widespread avoidance of the actual conversations taking place.  Even amidst supposed “dialogue” about “what are we going to do as a Church in order to be relevant?”,  there Continue Reading

This thesis (number 6) is an important one for “Biblical Interpretation”,  since I feel that the Biblical Record is most valuable to us as an ancient conversation that seeks to tell the story of a trek with God.  Some call it “Salvation History”.  Even within its pages,  the Bible shows an evolution in the writings toward conversartion.  Paul writes “letters” Continue Reading

In The Cult of the Cluetrain Manifesto,  John Dvorak sums up his take by concluding “They’re right! I don’t get it.”.  He certainly doesn’t.  LIke this comment I found by searching on the whole phrase of  thesis number 6 on Google: 6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass Continue Reading

Number 6: The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media. Speaking of which,  one thing that occurs to me is the hyperlink thing: The kinds of conversations we can have now have never before been attempted,  one of which is the ability to “do margin notes” on anything,  and Continue Reading

People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice. People are drawn to authenticity.  It communicates to them that their own uniqueness will be appreciated,  and that their own strengths will be encouraged and enabled in such an environment.   Read more in “Theses 5”

Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived. Here,  the Church can be an unwitting violator.  The range of “theological speak” lexicons from which to draw is staggering.  Church sites are ful of this.  Some can be effective,  but usually only to the initiaited (IOW, “Preaching to the Choir”).  See Continue Reading

My sense is that there should be more similarities in practice  to COS-style Christian communities within Christian corporations than there are to “business and management practices”.  Where there is talk about being “servants of the Church” ,  the life of that community should hold more in common with the relational values pursued in Christian communities rather than those of economically driven, Continue Reading

More on Cluetran Manifesto Theses 3: Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice. Churches can miss the boat by being too “theologically brochure-like”.  It’s the theological version of corporate-speak.  I think this is especially true in “Church related businesses”.  They are “commissioned” bythe Church body to “be successful businesses”.  Too often, this results in Continue Reading

Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice. The best witness for our faith and for theological communities is the stories of its people.  The reasons why they have chosen this particular community of faith are the strongest case for “outsiders” to explore life in a community of faith.  This holds true as well for Continue Reading