Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Twitter Church

a Biblical thought...
After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever." (2 Chronicles 16:9)


a Book thought...
I’m perplexed at how anyone can hear the story of Jesus dying in our place and rescuing us out of our helplessness and have it produce arrogance in their life. (p201)
a Dave thought... from Relevant Magazine
The church has jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. New York's Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church used Twitter to update parishioners unable to attend their Good Friday service. Seattle's Mars Hill has encouraged parishioners to Twitter their thoughts and feelings during the service.

Time will tell how Twitter effects the Church. It has the capacity to make church a more immersive experience. Moreover, it can connect people across distance. It can update parishioners on events, and bring the community closer together. However, it can also make an increasingly individualistic Western Church even more individualistic.

So, is Twitter numbing and isolating us, or is it bringing us closer? It's not a clear-cut question. Used properly, Twitter can be an amazing tool for shrinking our globe, quickening international response and building relationships. When used in a self-centered fashion, it's one more piece of technology increasing the individualistic streak we see so much in Western culture and making us islands unto ourselves. In short, it has the potential to do great good, or make us far more narcissistic. The solution is to check our motives, and—as with any technology—to steward it properly. The proper use of Twitter is a fine line to walk, and it figuring it out takes a lot more than 140 characters.

Just a thought.

2 comments:

Chad Pendleton said...

Hey! This is Chad from RELEVANT. Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for quoting an article from us in your post. I also wanted to share the link to the article and encourage your readers to take a minute and go read the entire thing. It is a thought provoking piece that makes a lot of solid points on the discussion of the purpose of Twitter.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/features-reviews/progressive-culture/16625-twitter-whats-it-doing-to-us

Thanks again and great blog!

grace and peace
Chad from The RELEVANT Crew

Chad Pendleton said...

Sorry...

Here is a better link:

http://tinyurl.com/d7p3un